The World Congress of Paediatric and Adolescent Gynaecology WCPAG19 took place at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre 30th Nov – 3rd Dec 2019. Entegy Partner, Eventium worked with leading Professional Conference Organiser, ICMS Australasia to develop a comprehensive event technology solution with complete service package.
Event Snapshot
30th Nov – 3rd Dec 2019
Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre (MCEC)
Event App + full service content package
Objective
Siobhan Jensen, Event Manager at ICMS Australasia, says the objective of the Congress is: “To provide a platform for those involved in paediatric and adolescent gynaecology. The benefits of attending the Congress for our delegates was they got to hear some of the latest, breaking and pain free ways to assist children and teens with gynaecological issues, with lectures and displays from gynaecologists all over the world. Additionally, the Congress featured a mix of children and teen patients with gynaecological issues who talked about their own journeys from a patient’s perspective, giving many of the practitioners an inside view.”
A focus on going green
Siobhan says technology was a large facilitator in decreasing the events carbon footprint: “The Congress had a ‘Green Initiative’ and it was important that we demonstrated steps in achieving this. Additionally, we wanted this Congress to be as modern and forward as possible, of which technology plays a major part.”
Green initiatives included the Congress event app, digital abstract book, plastic bag ban and the venue (MCEC) which has a 6-star green-rating and Gold EarthCheck Accreditation.
A Congress app packed with features and information
As part of Eventium’s offering they designed and implemented the app content which included an extensive 4 day program, social events, 80 posters, 89 abstracts and a variety of destination information for international delegates.
Siobhan cites the level of functionality and robust information resources as integral to a successful Congress app: “The program set up – linking speakers to the program and then their abstract meant people could easily flick between the speakers details and paper they were discussing, as well as see any further information about the speaker or additional presentations they may be giving.”
Destination information included a Melbourne ‘Bucket List’, local eats, weather, and hotel information. “Being able to include the ‘General Information’ with images was very handy for the international delegates” said Siobhan.
Achieving high app adoption
Siobhan explains how they worked with Eventium to promote the app in the lead up to the event: “The app was promoted in newsletters leading up to the Congress, in a final delegate email send to all registered attendees with download instructions and the onsite pocket program given to each delegate. It was also featured on the back of each delegate’s lanyard with all Wi-Fi and download instructions, so that we could encourage and assist them to download it easily whilst onsite.”
As the Congress was following steps to reduce their carbon footprint they did not print any programs, however an online program was still available for anyone that wanted to print it.
“We find challenges with some delegates who are still used to the ‘old ways’ we still put together a full online program book which was a bit of a duplicate of the App information, which delegates can download in advance and print if they wish. We are hoping that the need to create this online program book will be phased out.” said Siobhan.
In Summary
The benefits of an event app are clear to the ICMS Australasia team:
- “Being able to provide instant notifications to our delegates,
- Minimising use of paper and printing when it comes to the abstracts/ papers/ presentations that will be discussed
- Instant updates to profiles or calendars and event descriptions
- Giving our Sponsors a further opportunity to promote themselves and their brand.” said Siobhan
Eventium have worked with ICMS Australasia on over projects to date and is an obvious technology partnership: “The team are very responsive to our emails and phone calls and we always find a quick turnaround in projects with great service. They also know all the tips and tricks to assist when we run into any issues, and are prompt to solve them no matter the time.” said Siobhan.