41 Case study
WAY TO GO
Cameron Roberts attends the European Aids Conference 2021 and discovers the challenges in planning an event for the medical community
A virtual meeting of minds
Community during Covid
The conference itself was planned in changing times , the decision to take the show hybrid and curate content for both in person and online audiences . The twist being that both versions of the event would have a strong community feel , highlighting the London HIV and AIDS community as well as the global one .
Shamkh added : “ I think the real difference with our 2021 bid is the focus on the face of HIV and AIDS in our local community in London . Our bid , being very community focused , reinforced the importance of our story and the legacy of this edition of the event .
“ It ’ s a very different-looking congress to the way it should have been , it ’ s now very much a hybrid conference . It ’ s also really one of Europe ’ s first medical events to return in a hybrid format .”
On-site at the event , there were numerous moving recognitions to the AIDS community , from an info board highlighting Newham ’ s ( the London borough around ExCeL ) AIDS community , to the AIDS Memorial Quilt , which pays tribute to those who have died of the illness . The challenge was recreating this “ in-room ” feeling online .
Matthew Hodson , local community co-chair , EACS and lead on EACS Legacy Programme , said : “ A lot of the things which we ’ re doing as part of the community events are also available on the conference website . For example , seeing the panels from the AIDS Memorial Quilt live was an incredibly profound and moving experience . But we ’ ve also got the film on the conference website , which goes into some of the stories that are told by the panels .
“ I think organising a hybrid conference is sometimes like organising two conferences , we ’ ve had an online one and the real life one . Even down to the level of we must have two chairs for every session , because we have one person who will be monitoring the online conference , the online delegates and the other person to be monitoring the delegates in the room . It has been a very exciting challenge for us .”
To round off my time at the conference I asked Bhagani and Hodson about their final notes on delivering a hybrid event planned during the pandemic .
Hodson pointed out his key to success for a hybrid event , saying : “ It is about having a clear vision of what we want to achieve and what learning we want people to experience . It does feel that we have been organising this conference on shifting sands .”
Bhagani finished strongly , saying : “ Hybrid is definitely the way of the future . All meetings will have that digital element . If you ’ re going to do that then plan early , start early . This is crucial , because it takes a long time to get this right .” www . conference-news . co . uk