After two years of online meetings, it is my great pleasure, on behalf of my co-congress presidents Veerle Visser-Vandewalle and Makoto Nakamura, to welcome you to the 73^rd Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC), to be held from 29^th May to 1^st June 2022, in Cologne – in person! As a society, we succeeded in continuing our activities in both pandemic years by virtual means thanks to the support of Conventus. However, the strong wish expressed by many, to meet colleagues in person, to exchange ideas and experiences and enjoy the social interaction, could not be neglected anymore.