CN details how Wheldon Events utilised RefTech ’ s ASPods to gather valuable data at DEMEC

Background The Developing Excellence in Medical Education Conference ( DEMEC ) is a bi-annual conference with conference management provided by Wheldon Events . The 2021 event was held over two days at Manchester Central and attracted 1,400 delegates from the medical education and training community , which was a mix of 500 delegates attending in real life and 900 attending virtually .

The challenge The fourth DEMEC took place in December 2021 . “ It was vitally important for the event to be held in an environment that was as Covid-safe as possible , but still feel inclusive and welcoming ,” said Natasha Dougall , owner of Wheldon Events .

The in-person element comprised five plenary sessions and 30 seminar sessions held in four tracks over the two days . “ We needed to get delegates into the plenary sessions as quickly as possible to avoid queues ,” says Dougall .

“ Delegates had to pre-select their seminar tracks , so the entrance to each room needed to be monitored to ensure they were in their chosen sessions . We would normally employ a person with a scanner to stand at each room , but we

Battery-powered ASPods ‘ worked really well ’

wanted to cut down on non-vital human interaction .”

The solution “ We have worked with RefTech to provide the registration and scanners for DEMEC since its inception in 2015 and they suggested their ASPods would help ,” says Dougall .

The Autonomous Scanning Pods ( ASPods ) are free-standing and completely wireless , allowing them to be placed anywhere and moved easily . They allow delegates to self-scan their badges on entry to an event and at key check points such as entry to seminars . They help to remove human contact and thus reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission , whilst being a live scanner that works in real time to capture data and cross-check

delegate information against the registration database .

“ On day one the RefTech team placed three ASPods at registration , two at the main door to the plenary room , and one at a side door . Another five ASPods were placed on the entrances to each of the seminar rooms ,” adds Dougall . “ On the second day , two ASPod units were moved to the top of the escalators so that repeat delegates could just scan their badge without having to go back to registration .

“ Having the ASPods outside each of the session rooms enabled us to cross-check who attended . Collecting data this way also meant that each session host could easily send out follow-up literature and educational resources to the attendees .”

Each ASPod is battery powered , negating the need for it to be placed near a plug socket . The ASPods have space for event branding or signage .

“ We branded the ASPod to promote our event and to remind delegates to present their badges at each of the rooms ,” says Dougall .

The verdict “ Although we introduced the ASPods to create a more Covid-secure event , we will definitely use them again at our next event because they looked great and worked really well . They enabled delegates to enter our event and seminars easily and quickly , whilst capturing delegate information in real time ,” adds Dougall . CN