Case study
ABPCO CASE
STUDY:
BIOSCIENTIFICA
8
AEN reviews winning case
studies from the Association
of British Professional
Conference Organisers most
recent Excellence Awards
THE ESPE MEETING is the flagship event
of the European Society for Paediatric
Endocrinology. Running since 1962 it
provides a global platform for scientists
and doctors to share the latest research
and clinical advances in paediatric
endocrine care, helping to improve the
lives of children with endocrine diseases.
After a year off in 2017 the ESPE Council
and Programme Organising Committee
had high ambitions for the 2018 Meeting
in Athens, to build on the success of
previous years, as well as securing the
event’s position as the go-to international
meeting on paediatric endocrinology. ESPE
exists to support its member and delegate
communities, and the 2018 meeting was
developed in close collaboration with
these audiences.
These high ambitions were threatened
when the meeting was unexpectedly hit
by tropical storm Zorba, a rare ‘Medicane’
which resulted in local services and
transport being severely disrupted, and
scuppering plans for open air social
activities. One high-profile plenary
speaker could not attend when his flight
was cancelled due to the adverse weather.
This could have been a disaster, but the
Bioscientifica team worked with a local
AV company to Skype the speaker into
the main auditorium, ensuring his lecture
could go ahead. Social events also had to
be relocated, last minute and transport
arranged to ferry delegates from hotels to
the venue.
Despite all these significant challenge,
ESPE 2018 emerged as the most successful
meeting in the society’s history attracting
over 3,500 delegates: 7% more than
in 2017 and 17% more than when
Bioscientifica took over as PCO in 2014.
• The meeting received over 1,300
abstracts, the highest number in its history
• Exhibition space was sold out
• The scientific programme received
overwhelmingly positive feedback from
delegates; 86% were ‘very satisfied’ or
‘satisfied’ with the programme content and
81% either ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’
that they’d learnt something new that
would directly benefit the care of children
and adolescents with hormone-related
diseases.
• The meeting abstracts also received
significant media attention with 524
news stories across 31 countries, this
was a testament to the high quality and
international significance of the research
submitted.
• Despite the relocation of the social
events, 75% of delegates rated the social
programme as either ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
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