 This year, the European Geosciences Union has decided to take our annual General Assembly online once again. However, unlike in 2020, we've had much longer to prepare. We really wanted to listen to you, our members, when figuring out what this year's online conference would look like. So today, I'm very excited to give you a first look around our brand new virtual conference centre that was designed based on your feedback from last year's online meeting. I missed standing in front of the posters and discussing the presented data directly with the authors. And I also missed casually wandering through the exhibit hall and speaking with the various exhibitors about their products. We miss these things too, which is why, in collaboration with our conference organiser Copernicus, we have created a much more complete conference experience. One of the biggest changes you'll see is in the format of the scientific presentations. I feel the live chat session combined with a pico can be a nice way to be more inclusive. Also, I think it's especially good for early career scientists. At least in our session, early career participants seem to be more active. There were a lot of benefits to last year's chat format, especially in terms of inclusivity, but many people missed the ability to give a live talk. So this year, we've created a new format that keeps the chat features that people enjoyed and combines them with our presenting interactive content format, the pico, to create the VPico. VPico sessions will be divided into two parts. An overview during which each speaker will give a live verbal summary of their work in a series of two-minute talks, followed by longer, more in-depth conversations held in individual chats. We hope it will be the best of both worlds. I missed the unexpected and planned meetings that occur when you are actually together. These are important for networking too. It's clear that our community really missed the variety of networking that usually comes with an in-person conference. That's why we've created several different ways to network, from text and video chats to one-on-one meetings and larger division social events. So you can find the kind of gathering that's right for you. There will also be ways to plan your own spontaneous networking events. It was good to attend some short courses and get some very useful tips to apply in my daily professional life. Short courses are a very popular part of the General Assembly. So we're very pleased to offer a more complete short course program this year, as well as a jobs and career center so that our members can explore all the opportunities available to them. I like live streams of great debates and union symposia, as well as recordings of short courses, to be able to look at them again afterwards. Just like in Vienna, we will be live streaming and recording our keynote events, the great debates in Union symposia. This year, we will also be recording dozens of 2020 and 2021 medal and award lectures. All of our keynote events and medal lectures will be available for on-demand viewing during the whole conference period. I missed my favorite restaurant in Vienna. While we can't help you get to your favorite Viennese restaurant, we are going to bring a taste of our wonderful host city to your VEGU21 experience. EGU has partnered with the Austrian Tourist Board to transport you to a digital Viennese café where you can go on city walking tours, soak up some art and music and perhaps even learn how to cook your favorite Viennese meal. Last year was a huge learning curve for us at EGU and in the process of addressing your feedback, we've created another brand new experience for our community. We ask for your patience if there are any technical issues and we hope you will set aside plenty of time during the last two weeks of April to fully engage in the platform that you helped create. We are really looking forward to gathering online for VEGU21, a unique opportunity to share your science, discover new ideas, meet old and new friends and be inspired.