ABPCO – REWARDING EXC
CN looks at three ABPCO award winners to find out what the benchmark is for excellence in events going into 2022
n line with this month ’ s UK and Ireland theme , the Conference News team have been reflecting on the annual Association of British Professional Conference Organisers ’( ABPCO ) Excellence Awards .
Taking place in December each year , the awards highlight best practice , creativity and success in association conferences .
The winners are chosen from a shortlist by their fellow professionals and peers , ensuring only the best receive the ultimate accolade each year .
With a constitutional requirement that the ABPCO membership include both in-house and agency PCOs , awards are given each year to the best conference within each of those sections of the membership . Last year an additional sustainability award was also given to an industry supplier .
Best Conference by an In-house PCO
The RCP ’ s annual conference was scheduled for April 2020 . However , like so many events due to take place in the early months of Covid-19 , it was dramatically impacted by the pandemic . At that stage there was simply no option to convert to digital or hybrid , so the event was postponed
Stats : Name : Royal College of Physicians – Medicine 2021
Date : 8-9 January , 2021 Delegates : 1,440
to January 2021 , with the full confidence it would take place as normal and in-person .
However , the pandemic once again impacted the event and , with rising cases and further national lockdowns , the decision was taken to move the conference online with three months to go .
Across the two days , Medicine 2021 needed to offer delegates clinical learning , networking opportunities and interactive sessions – all delivered by a team coming to terms with and learning how to use digital event technology .
Importantly , as a world leading conference with a history of success , high profile speakers and high-quality learning and networking ; all of this needed achieving in a way that would engage attendees through the screen . This was despite the prevalence of “ zoom-fatigue ” as well as exhaustion amongst the medical professionals likely to attend , many of which were sitting at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 .
In just three months the RCPs team of conference organisers , producers and developers created an interactive , user-friendly virtual conference platform that was fit for purpose . Specifically , to manage the huge quantity of content across
multiple medical disciplines , specialities and subject matters it was created to deliver various stream running concurrently . This core offering was supplemented by a dedicated on-demand section offering 13 sessions of additional content , an embedded networking lounge , a wellbeing area and eight virtual skills workshops .
During the event itself the organisers were thrilled to see the hard work pay off , with delegates easily navigating the platform on their way to talks , sessions , panel debates , networking and an “ exhibition ” area where they could view and meet sponsors .
With such a dramatic shift in the conference ’ s format it rapidly became apparent that more than www . conference-news . co . uk