NCRI
IN-HOUSE CALL
Written by Stuart Wood
“The
floorplan was
redesigned
from a grid-
style layout
to something
that looks
more like the
shop floor of
IKEA.”
6
The Gallery
AEN investigates how the NCRI’s
annual Cancer Conference was
transformed, making it as accessible
for patients as it is for researchers
“ASSOCIATION EVENT PLANNERS often
think that because things have always been
done in a certain way, they shouldn’t be
changed. But there are so many ways to
innovate just by looking at things from a
different perspective.”
Nicole Leida, head of conference and
Events at the National Cancer Research
Institute, has been delivering events in the
medical sector for almost 15 years. She
previously served as head of events at the
Royal Society of Medicine, but her current
role has seen her transforming the NCRI’s
annual Cancer Conference into a more
accessible and informative event, for both
patients and researchers.
The key to this transformation, she says,
is to ask ‘why’. Doing something because
you have always done it is not a good
enough reason, and can lead events into a
dead end. “I am not advocating changing
things for the sake of it,” she says, “but
I always ask myself why we are doing
something a certain way. If I can’t easily
find an answer, then it is time to revisit it
altogether.”
Among the changes Leida and her
team made to the conference were the
inclusion of ‘demystifying today’s science’
sessions, aimed at patients, carers, and non-
specialists. They also added a ‘Dragon’s
Den’ session where researchers pitch
their study ideas to a group of patients
and carers, who provide feedback and
comments on how they could make it more
meaningful.
Alongside these changes to the content,
the show floor featured additions such as
more casual presentations inside inflatable
igloos, a wellbeing programme and a
www.aenetwork.co.uk
passport competition. The floorplan was
also redesigned from a grid-style layout to
something that looks more like the shop
floor of IKEA, with a beginning and end.
All of this helps to increase engagement,
and provides a welcome break from the
academic discussions taking place around
the research.
The goal of all these changes is to help
patients, researchers and carers form
mutually beneficial connections with one
another - whether this means sharing ideas
for a paper, or providing advice on caring
for a loved one. “A lot of what I do entails
talking to people and trying to translate
ideas into practice by making people
connect through events,” says Leida.
“For me the key to success is to be
humble and never stop learning. There is
so much happening in other sectors and
events, and if we are able to translate these
ideas in our day-to-day, I think we will
continue to innovate and thrive.”