Start up
10
July 2016
Starting up FLOREtina
AIM Group International shares a successful
‘Start Up’ story for a first congress edition
FLOREtina: a new launch with success in its vision
Global PCO, the AIM Group,
was challenged by the Eye
Clinic of the Florence University
Hospital and its director Stanislao
Rizzo to meet the following set of
goals for a new European retina
congress launch:
• To position the FLOREtina
Congress as an educational
forum with the aim of becoming
an important biannual meeting
in the congress arena
• To boost participation through
the international relevance of
speakers who focused on a welldefined topic
• To create a new type of congress
within the retinal discipline
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• To make it unique from
competitor events
• To position the conference as the
most updated educational event
in its field
• To create a networking platform
• To be innovative.
Florence was the destination,
given that the organiser was based
at the Eye Clinic, although the
city unquestionably has great
international appeal and has
hosted an ICCA Congress.
The AIM Group was brought
in as PCO due to its knowledge
of ophthalmology and its
experience in the world of medical
associations.
The congress took place 1013 December 2015.
AIM Group’s solution was to
tap in to the ‘start up’ mentality
approach and identified seven
key points:
1) Begin with a great product.
The way to start designing and
defining a great congress, says
AIM, is to establish a project
team to work closely with the
organising committee and the
programme committee to address
goals and objectives. Drawing up
a strong and appealing scientific
programme was the first step to
providing an innovative event.
Precisely what they meant
by being innovative included
providing pioneering topics in
the programme such as imaging,
different diagnostic techniques
and different treatment
approaches. It also meant
providing hands on innovation
through video presentations
and live surgery demonstrating
new medical apparatuses and
surgical procedures (including
the presentation of an artificial
retina implant that used an
avant-garde surgical technique
for the first time).
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