Through their 2016 Symposium, AIPES raised awareness of their activities to patient associations, and started a direct discussion with the highest EU authorities
Association of Association Executives
The Association of Association Executives supports employees and officers of associations to enhance their skills and knowledge and to improve their own performance as well as that of their association.
Through their 2016 Symposium, AIPES raised awareness of their activities to patient associations, and started a direct discussion with the highest EU authorities
One of our Working Group (New Technologies and Innovation Working Group in Nuclear Medicine)
AIPES secretariat
David Crunelle, Working Group member, Corporate Communication Integrator
Tools & Systems
Monkey Survey and hard copy questionnaires gathered at the Symposium and during the networking session.
Introduction
The opportunity given to our members to receive, in a single conference, the forefront information on the latest work carried out by the four most important players in nuclear medicine was highly appreciated by all of them. In addition, during the networking lunch, they were able to exchange on subjects of common interest, the space that was dedicated to the post symposium being particularly adapted for these discussions. Several members thanked us for the good initiative that allowed them to meet convivially, while they are often competitors on the market.
Discovery
At the end of the last AIPES symposiums, we started a survey amongst the audience, as well as a survey within our members. This helped us to focus on a topic that was sure to keep our audience interested and participative. Monkey Survey and hard copy questionnaires were gathered at the Symposium and during the networking session.
Objectives
International visions of the market
While it is always challenging to organize an interesting symposium or a conference for physicians and other technical experts in the medical field, it was decided to bring speakers from all over the world, including the US, in order to compare the European vs the international visions of the market.
Advanced techniques
The speakers were asked to present their subjects in a language and with examples accessible to
the general public so that everyone be able to understand the advances of this technique, which is too little known by the large public, despite being indispensable in the context of the diagnosis and therapy of certain cancers.
The importance of the discipline
Our objective being to make European decision makers aware of the importance of our discipline and convince them to support our approaches at national levels, the meaning of our speech had to remain easy to convince EU Parliament representatives who do not necessarily have a scientific background.
Activities
The day of the 2015 Symposium, we started a survey to gather the thoughts, feedbacks, and suggestions from the audience in order to prepare the next symposium.
A week after the 2015 Symposium, we launched an online survey (using SurveyMonkey) for a more general feedback of the symposium organisation.
AIPES Symposium - topic
During the Innovation Working Group we discussed the next topic, decided the timeline and started to contact the key speakers.
Location was also a key element in the organisation of the event. It had to be symbolic more than just nice or enjoyable. Hence the choice of the Solvay Library, which is not just another meeting location in Brussels, but a part of medical history.
Main activities:
September 2015:
First survey done, during the previous symposium
October 2015:
Online survey
November 2015:
Working group meeting to set the theme, talk about speakers S
Schedule for the rest of the year
January 2016:
Symposium theme & title set
Budget decisions re speakers and promotion set
Location and catering booked
March 2016:
Website update with name, teaser and short descriptions
June 2016:
Meeting with speakers in San Francisco, during a congress
Symposium invitation
Personal invitations are sent
Website is updated and registrations are open
July 2016:
Booking of thirs parties services: photographer, camaraman, video producers, physician copywriter, moderator, hostesses
Flights and accommodation is booked for the speakers
August 2016:
Graphic design work and production
Email reminders are being sent, and additional invitations by snail mail
Early September 2016:
Event is sold out
Active lobbying to have the Commission MEP to show up at the event
Materials produced for the symposium:
Banners (PVC) to decorate the location
Roll ups with Members logo
Roll ups with the event identity and additional displays placed on the way to the location
Personal badges with the event identity
Speakers bio mini folder
Programme of the symposium
A ‘package’ with the association latest productions (annual report, activity report, printed newsletter, DVD of previous symposium, other working group documents) which was equivalent to the ‘bags’ that are distributed at various fairs and congresses.
Every single document printed had to be made in a very high quality standard (stock paper, matte finish, selective UV, eco-friendly). It had to look and feel premium.
During the event:
Conference calls at the AIPES Symposium
Since a symposium is a one time event, we decided to maximize the content of the symposium by filmingit, to slice it into sections that we would make available online. We used to make DVD’s of past symposium, which were very successful, but a chaptered online symposium has a wider audience. The plan is to also add subtitles later on.
Meetings & conference calls
Face to face meetings and conference calls took overall 5 full days. We had to add numerous phonecalls through the year, but nothing that would exceed a few hours a month.
Innovation
Succeeding to get the presence of the EU Parliament Representatives for Health & Industry, out of their own premises, to join the conference at the historic Solvay Library (where the first congress of physics took place with Albert Einstein and Marie Curie in 1929) is a success in itself.
Our members, either radiopharmaceutical or medical equipment producers, appreciated the opportunity given to them to make European decision-makers aware of the importance of nuclear medicine, a discipline which remains a niche market and which must fight to assert its importance for the future and bring new therapies, such as personalized medicine, at the forefront of the 21st century medical technology.
The Symposiums are available for the public, Physicians & medical students through YouTube and DVD are distributed to our Members.
Marketing
We decided that the symposium would be free because it was not a course nor an initiation. Our association wanted the information given to be a request to the concerned (and carefully selected) audience to look at the evolution and the important developments realized in recent years in nuclear medicine, to the benefit of the patient.
Marketing strategy:
Top level worldwide speakers
Beautiful location outside of the traditional EU institutional Brussels “bubble”
High level guest speakers VP of EU Commission and former Commissioner for the Industry – intensive lobbying for his presence... as all EU Commissioner
Limited availability : only 100 seats
Personalized invitations – no large emailing
Dedicated online registration website to ensure commitment from attendees
Extended session of networking scheduled in the afternoon
Challenges
We had to fill a room with scientists who basically know everything about the subject (Nuclear Medicine), so the biggest challenge was to keep them interested. To do so, we successfully did two things :
We asked them :”what do you want us to talk about next year?”
We invited top level key speakers (mostly from the US, for a European audience)
Achievements
Sold out event a month before Symposium date
EU located attendees coming to see specific speakers from the US
Speakers wanted to do post symposium interviews to highlight specific points raised during the panel discussion
To secure themselves a seat, many attendees wanted to already register for the 2017 symposium, which doesn’t even have a date or a title yet
Strong presence & commitment of EU delegates
5 new members and associate partners joined our membership after the Symposium
What would we do differently?
Due to the success of the symposium, we would have loved to have it webcasted somehow, in order to allow the people who couldn’t register on time to follow everything online. It’s a question of cost and technical aspects that we will definitely consider for the next symposium.
