Case Study: The Australian Defence Science, Technology & Research (ADSTAR) Summit

Who 

The Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), its staff, Defence personnel, scientists, researchers, students, academics, industry partners and government officials.

What

The Australian Defence Science, Technology and Research (ADSTAR) Summit. An inaugural three-day hybrid event bringing together leading minds working in AI, Cyber Security, Biotechnology, Warfighting, Engineering and Physics with a central theme of RESILIENCE. An opportunity for collaboration and innovation to build the nation’s sovereign Defence capabilities.

The Summit featured a robust educational program with highlights including panel sessions featuring international keynotes from the US, UK, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

The event also included workshops, an interactive wargaming experience, an exhibition hall and a start-up alley, welcome reception and gala dinner.

Our Challenge 

Working on a brand new event always comes with initial challenges but the passion brought forth by both the clients and the TBE team was a real driving force for success. With the aim to create a must-attend biennial event for the wider Defence sector, all planning activities were executed with long-term goals in mind.

With no prior sponsor or delegate database list to draw from it was imperative that together with DSTG our teams used specific lead-gen activity to build a mailing list. As well as gaining a strong list of sponsors to not only support the event monetarily but give additional cachet to potential attendees.

How we did it 

• Identified and targeted industry and Defence-related media platforms for event awareness
• Always-on social media communications
• Coordinated a large number of speakers from across the globe
• Provided opportunities for speakers to present virtually
• Managed sensitive and classified information with the utmost care and respect
• Engaged with registered delegates and conference database via frequent informative EDMs
• Used Augmented Reality messaging pre-event (to Defence personnel and at significant related event), and in printed collateral (OOH posters, decals) and and on-site (in the event guidebook)

Highlights

• International Plenary Sessions
• Wargaming Experience
• Gala Dinner
• Conference branding including lanyards that were so well received many delegates asked for extras to take home to family and friends!

Case Study: The Australasian College of Dermatologists 54th Annual Scientific Meeting

Who 

The Australasian College of Dermatologists (ACD) is the sole medical college for the training and continuing professional development of medical practitioners in the specialty of dermatology.

What 

ACD’s Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) is one of College’s primary educational events, promoted to, and attended by Fellows, practitioners, students, clinicians and nurses from across Australia and overseas. The Meeting provides delegates with a vast educational program which includes keynote lectures, e-Posters, oral presentations and workshops. Connecting with one another through social events and networking opportunities between delegates and exhibitors are also main components of the Meeting. This year’s Meeting was the first in-person event for College since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our Challenge 

As well as this ASM being the first in-person event to run again for ACD, the Meeting was also Think Business Events’ first foray back into IRL events! This was a challenge unto itself, but one the team were excited to tackle head on. After years of executing virtual events, there were many factors to be considered that just hadn’t been relevant for a long time.

Re-establishing the procedures and processes that come with bringing masses of people together like the logistical operations, event features like signage, name badges, staffing and volunteers, and exhibition builds were all things the team needed to consider and reacquaint themselves with.

The conference program covered 21 different topic areas which created quite the puzzle when putting the program together. And managing expectations of delegates for what was, for many of them their first event back since the start of the pandemic. It was also important to offer sponsors and exhibitors the reassurance that professional events were back on track and worthwhile to them to continue to include in their overall marketing plans.

How we did it 

• Regular meetings with the committee to openly discuss any challenges or roadblocks
• Regular internal meetings within the TBE team to support one another on individual tasks related to the conference management process
• Worked with ACD and the ASM committee members in a true collaborative relationship
• Promoted the value of F2F conferencing to delegates through clear and emotive messaging via email marketing
• Offered an on-demand content option that was available post-event
• Offered sponsors the option to support silent sessions that were adjacent to the main program within the exhibition hall along with other branding opportunties

The organising committee made an additional effort to offer a number of events in the social program to give attendees plenty of options to socialise and network. They included:

• College Party
• Meet the Board Mixer
• Awards
• Tennis Tournament
• Golf Tournament

Case Study: The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists 52nd Annual Scientific Congress 2022

Who 

RANZCO is the dedicated college for ophthalmologists working in Australia and New Zealand.  

What 

RANZCO’s Annual Congress is attended by Fellows, practitioners, researchers, students, clinicians and nurses from across Australia and overseas. The Congress and provides the delegates with a rich program of educational sessions, lectures, e-Poster modules and keynote addresses by prominent individuals. The Congress also includes the sub-meeting for RANZCO’s Practice Managers Conference. 

Our Challenge 

After the 2020 and 2021 congresses were postponed due to the pandemic, the RANZCO and TBE teams were committed to running the event in early 2022. Hopeful the congress could go ahead in person, with only 8 weeks to go the collective agreement was that it was still too risky to forge ahead as a hybrid event, and like many before it, was changed to fully virtual.  

This was particularly challenging as RANZCO had not run any kind of virtual-only program prior to this. With a huge number of delegates and a complex program, the pressure was on.  

In hindsight this ended up being the correct decision as the week of the Congress many northern parts of Australia experienced terrible flooding and the event would have been a wash-out anyway.

How we did it 

• Working directly and collaboratively with the RANZCO Board, Program Committee and Chair
• Implementing all the knowledge and experienced we had gained from two years of running purely virtual conferences
• Included interactive elements to engage the delegates and allow speakers to feel as though their presentations were being watched and absorbed, included the use of Live Polling which gave symposia and courses an exciting ‘real-time’ feel. Further there was Live Chat and Q&A functionality, resulting in high levels of engagement and interactivity between speakers, and amongst delegates themselves.
• Offering on-demand content for 90 days post-conference including all concurrent sessions and Practice’s Managers Conference that was running simultaneously on Day 

Key Learnings

• Teamwork really does make the dreamwork; with four teams (Think Business Events, RANZCO, Cvent and The Gilded Wing (AV)) putting in a huge amount of work we managed and executed one of the most well-received Congress’ in recent times.
• Ease of movement between sessions created a new level of flexibility

Feedback on the virtual platform included exclamations such as;  

• Surprised how good the virtual set up was  
• Ease of use and navigation  
• Easier and cheaper to attend  
• Professional  
• Reliable  
• Flexible  
• Liked having access to on demand content 

Case Study: Australian International Education Conference 2021

*This case study was original published on the Cvent website 

Case Study: Australasian Diabetes Congress 2021

Who 

The Australian Diabetes Educators Association (ADEA) and Australian Diabetes Society (ADS) come together to present the leading research and investigations into management and care solutions for diabetes in Australia, New Zealand and other Pacific nations. 

What 

The annual Australasian Diabetes Congress. Attended by educators, clinicians, students, researchers, physios, dietitians, and other healthcare workers. 

Our Challenge 

With the 2021 Congress planned to go ahead as a hybrid event, with under 6 weeks to go, the decision was made to go fully virtual, again. After delivering a successful virtual congress in 2020, we knew how to execute this is a short timeframe although some minor challenges still remained: 

• Creating a sense of engagement and excitement for our Zoom-fatigued attendees 
• Give our presenters and speakers a streamlined operation from the back-end of the online platform 
• Deliver again on the social event element 
• Better access to delegates for sponsors and exhibitors 

How we did it 

• Technology. Offered professionally produced videos for keynote speaker presentations, and timely audio/visual support to all other speakers, delegates, sponsors and exhibitors. The 2021 Congress also saw us change our digital platform partner to Cvent. This meant we were able to provide extended support and virtual specific features.
• Engagement. We knew many of our delegates felt some Zoom-fatigue so it was important to have an MC who was personable and engaging during the Congress days. We invited back the same MC from the 2020 Congress to give a greater sense of continuity and consistency.

We also enabled a feature which allowed delegates to set up direct and one-on-one appointments with each other to continue discussing topics raised in presentations, live Q&A sessions and areas of interest presented in the e-Poster modules to further encourage networking and peer engagement. 

Post-conference engagement included the shareability of our digital photo mosaic wall. The final image cleverly spelt out ‘ADC Insulin 100’ (with the smiling faces of our delegates), helping to celebrate 100 years of insulin, a hugely important milestone in the diabetes industry.

• Access. The new platform allowed for much better access for our sponex stakeholders, with virtual meeting rooms set up for delegates to connect with sponsors face-to-face. 
• Content. It was more important than ever to offer our delegates a program that included rich content and was able to be re-engineered for a purely online format. We worked closely with the ADS and ADEA to deliver on this along with including an ePoster module presentation area which was very well received.

Key Learnings

• Include smaller and more interactive workshops and social events to combat the difficulties of networking amongst a large group of people in an online environment.  
• Strongly encourage the use of PowerPoint/Zoom background to give the Congress a complete look and feel across all presentations and keynote addresses.
• Continue researching innovations in program delivery and include Q&A function on ePosters
• 90% of attendees surveyed found the Congress very good or excellent, and 94% found the Congress organisation very good or excellent

Case Study: Dietitians Australia 2021

Who 

Dietitians Australia is the leading voice for nutrition and dietetics in Australia. DA aims to support, provide education, train and advocate for their members, and in turn create a healthier and happier community.  

What 

The annual conference is usually a time for members and other stakeholders to come together, network, learn and support one another’s work and research in the sector. With positive thinking, DA2021 was intended to run as a hybrid event with an emphasis on as many delegates and presenters attending in person as possible. Committee, organisers, delegates and speakers were all looking forward to coming together in ‘real life’!  

Our Challenge 

Unsurprisingly, with the ongoing pandemic continuing to rear its ugly head, the decision was made to pivot from a hybrid events to a fully virtual conference. So, with advice given from our experienced and professional team, Dietitians Australia felt comfortable in moving the entire conference online and was assured there were plenty of positive features to be gained within this new format.  

Coincidentally, the keywords of the conference, Transform, Reinvent, Diversify, were now not only relevant to the dietitians but to the event staff too! 

Some challenges we faced moving to fully virtual were: 

1. Short turnaround time; with only four weeks until the conference was to begin, not much time was allowed to change tact and execute all elements involved in running a virtual event. When you consider the usual time given to organise an event it was considerably less. 
2. Communicating with all relevant stakeholders about the change of plans. How was this information to be relayed to the right people, at the right time without information overload! 
3. Training on the event platform (Cvent) for speakers, chairs and delegates, as these members weren’t familiar with operating through this particular online platform. 
4. Replicating a live Q&A session. 
5. Encouraging and supporting speakers to complete, record and upload a clear and well produced presentation. 
6. Offering ROI to our sponsors and exhibitors. 

How we did it 

With the combination of our dedicated event team and our digital operating platform Cvent, TBE was able to successfully run the DA conference in a fully virtual format.  

1. Planning. With general uncertainty around in-person events it was imperative that we had a contingency plan that involved a pivot to fully virtual. When the decision was made, we were ready to roll out. The coordinated effort between the team gave us confidence and allowed for a smooth transition. For example, our delegate services team applied the partial refunds between the in-person and virtual rates, giving delegates assurance of the process/switch.  Our sponex team had sponsorship entitlements ready to switch to virtual offerings and concessions were made where appropriate.
    
2. Content. Sunday workshops which were previously offered at an additional charge were switched to complimentary/bonus content. Going fully virtual meant all conference content was available on-demand for 90 days post-event.
    
3. Partnerships. Due to the long-lasting relationships that Think Business Events value, our venue partner generously offered a postponement of our booking and we were able to transfer the booking to a future date.
    
4. Communication. Clear and consistent communications were made to stakeholders via direct emails and calls, and eDMs, so all parties involved were kept up-to-date on the latest news and information. It was important to TBE and DA that our delegates and speakers had plenty of time to rearrange any plans and movements, therefore the next day, an email was sent to all registrants notifying them of the change in detail. Information on social media and webpages was also updated at this time. In moving to a virtual format, Chairs and speakers were sent calendar invites for their presentations so there was no confusion about when to present in AEST. These invites included a link to the platform 30 minutes before they were due to speak so any technical issues that may arise were dealt with prior to their presentation.
   
5. Tech & Support. As our speakers were now required to either pre-record or present live on the day, we offered support and guidance around producing these videos. Our chairs and moderators were offered four training sessions and were heavily encouraged to attend. Not only did these sessions give our chairs and moderators confidence in navigating the platform it gave us insight into some operational queries we hadn’t expected. If personnel were unable to attend these sessions they were recorded and circulated for on-demand viewing.  In-depth support was offered for issues like audio/visual, platform navigation, moderation, live streaming and page access. Recreating the real-life Tech Room was made possible with the Green Room feature of our platform. The Green Room was populated with techs from CVENT to approve and suggest optimisations for speaker presentations, and TBE staff were also on hand to answer any questions. Guidance was beneficial in building speaker confidence for managing these new processes in their personal home environments.
    
6. SponEx Engagement. Reinforcing the positives around virtual events like; the gaining of exposure at point of engagement. Branding has high visibility in the actual program with sponsored videos being shown at the beginning of sessions showcasing thank-you’s and company logos. Delegates are switched on at this point giving sponsors confidence they’re in the right place at the right time. Exhibitors are saving money on fit-out, staff, travel. 

Results 

With only a small percentage of registrants deciding to forego their attendance, the many hundreds who did come to enjoy the conference were more than pleased with the result. Some encouraging outcomes we found were:

• Online networking opportunities; through Cvent’s easy to navigate platform delegates were still able to converse and create engaging discussion with their peers. We found particular positive outcomes around the live Q&A sessions. These became much more dynamic, encouraged more discussion due to the different perspectives available with an array of speakers involved. 
   
• Content on-demand; sessions and posters are available to delegates for 90 days from the conference date. This allows attendees to feel confident they won’t miss anything and are able to go back, make notes, and delve deeper into their chosen subject matter. With the many concurrent sessions running, this will continue to be an advantage of virtual and hybrid events in the future.
   
• Delegates numbers were only slightly down on usual registration levels from when the conference was planned for a hybrid format. We successfully kept close to 100% of all hybrid attendees. Our highest attended plenary session attracted roughly 75% of an in-person session and our closing ceremony (which included awards and announcement of next year) saw an incredible 200% increase in attendees from previous in-person iterations. 

Key Learnings 

• Presentations are recommended to be pre-recorded to create a more streamlined operation of the virtual format. Although this means videos must be recorded and uploaded two weeks prior to the event this helps to minimise any changes required on the day around order of speakers and general run-through. We will continue to offer our keynotes a professional recording session to elevate their presentations.
• Live Q&A sessions are enjoyable and can be much more dynamic than a standard in-person Q&A. Discussion is expanded and delegates and speakers are able to gain different perspectives and be introduced to subject matters they may not have been in a single session, in-person format.
• Keep it simple; for confidence levels and general experience we’ll continue to use a video platform that speakers are familiar with and offer support information in video format where applicable.
• Continue to engage delegates at the beginning of plenary sessions with casual polling questions to increase the feeling of togetherness.
• Social events should still be considered a valuable component of virtual conference. Even a one hour casual catch-up with delegates’ cameras on can do a lot to build a sense of community and remind delegates of their peers and colleagues.
• Survey feedback told us 77% of attendees found the virtual format of the conference good or very good although 62% would still prefer to attend an in-person event in 2022. 

Case Study: RANZCO – Sponsorship

Over the years RANZCO has continually implemented new tactics to evolve their sponsorship offerings to remain an attractive option for exhibitors.  But they believe one prime strategy has been the most beneficial of all. 

Like most conferences, for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) sponsorship and exhibition plays an integral role in the success of their annual scientific congress.

But for RANZCO it’s not just about revenue raising.

“While the exhibition certainly accounts for a consistent revenue stream, we see the exhibition as an avenue for people to meet and connect face to face with peers and suppliers,” says Sarah Stedman, RANZCO Manager – Events and Industry Relationships.

“We want to make our exhibitors as diverse as our delegate base so we can meet the needs of our various special interest groups.  So, each year we want to ensure there’s a strong mix of multi-national groups, single operators and not for profit organisations.”

RANZCO treats their exhibition area as a way to connect peers and special interest groups.

To achieve this objective year after year, RANZCO needs to continually evolve their sponsorship offerings to maintain a viable option for industry support. While doing so they need to remain cognizant of industry guidelines and codes of conduct.

Since 2011 – we’ve been involved with RANZCO every year since 2011, bar one – Think Business Events (TBE) has worked with RANZCO to implement a number of strategies to generate sponsorship loyalty and value.  In this time, we’ve significantly increased the footprint of the trade display from just over 2500 sqm to 4500sqm.

The secret growth factor

Undoubtedly, there’s been one strategy that has been the most beneficial and rewarding of all.

Listening.

Each year we hold annual exhibitor feedback sessions, where at the close of the conference, we have a meeting with all sponsors and exhibitors to obtain feedback on what worked and what didn’t.   We also undertake to get feedback from delegates, Fellows and Associates to get their perspective and what they want to see in the exhibition.

“We listen to what they say and ensure we react to it the following year,” says Sarah.  “It also gives us an opportunity to gain an insight from exhibitors as to what’s happening at other conferences and exhibitions that may benefit our meeting.”

From an organisational perspective, RANZCO has been able to rely upon Think Business Events to integrate feedback and ideas into their conference.

“It’s the continuity of Think Business Events’ service and in-depth knowledge that’s really helped,” says Sarah. “Over the years TBE has developed strong relationships with the sponsors and exhibitors involved.  This mixed with their extensive understanding of the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturers Code of Conduct and knowledge of different venues helps in translating ideas and feedback into workable options for our congress and sponsors.”

A Buffet of Opportunities

Denise Broeren, Think Business Events Director and RANZCO Conference Manager believes the annual sessions have clearly resulted in the development and nurturing of relationship and the building of trust in the process.

“Sponsors and exhibitors know we have their key interest at heart,” says Denise. “That we’ll keep evolving the Congress and sponsorship opportunities to ensure we deliver value for their participation.”

This year, the team will be introducing a shopping cart menu outside of the traditional gold, silver categories to provide value to all participants.

“We want to ensure that those companies who have been supporting us for the last 20 years – especially those small business operators with minimal budgets – can also get maximum exposure at a reasonable cost,” says Sarah.

RANZO’S TOP FIVE SPONSORSHIP INNOVATIONS

From listening to the feedback of our exhibitors and sponsors over the years we responded with integrating these key strategies:

1. Buffet Menu: A move away from the traditional gold, silver, bronze categories to offer a shopping cart option that allows a company to choose their entitlements.
   “Rather than telling a company they need to slot into a category, we will tailor their package to them enabling them to meet their own objectives providing better bang for their buck.”
2. Branded Catch-up Zones: After feedback from delegates of the lack of places to sit or eat food away from exhibitors, we created 6×3 branded, catch up zones outside of the exhibition hall.
   “It was a win-win scenario. While delegates were able to retreat from the exhibition zone, we were still able to provide sponsors an opportunity to expose their brand to their audience.”
3. Education Hubs: The introduction of an education hub into the exhibition area where sponsors can run 15-20 minute information/education sessions for delegates during lunch. “It extended educational opportunities for delegates and connection opportunities for exhibitors.”
4. Innovative Merchandise Ideas: We provided sponsors with the opportunity to provide branded, reusable water bottles for all delegates.
   “We installed water dispensers around the venue and the water bottles had to be used by delegates wanting water. It resulted in the branded water bottles being highly visible throughout the entirety of the conference.”
5. Longer Lunches: We extended the lunch breaks from 60 minutes to 90 minutes to provide more opportunities to connect.
   “RANZCO is a typically busy Congress, where there are a number of special interest group meetings during lunch breaks. By extending the lunch hours we were able to maximise opportunities for people to attend meetings, eat lunch and visit exhibitors.”

Testimonial from Sarah Stedman, RANZCO Manager – Events and Industry Relationships.

“It’s the continuity of Think Business Events’ service and in-depth knowledge that’s really helped. Over the years ,TBE has developed strong relationships with the sponsors and exhibitors involved.  This mixed with their extensive understanding of the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Manufacturers Code of Conduct and knowledge of different venues helps in translating ideas and feedback into workable options for our congress and sponsors.”

Case Study: World Federation of Occupational Therapy 2018 Congress

WFOT:  Our history, our challenges and our lessons
A strong relationship between TBE and WFOT has seen the delivery of a second successful international congress – despite the natural disasters!  We share the details here.

In May, the Think Business Events team travelled to Cape Town to deliver a global congress for more than 2,000 occupational therapists.

In an industry where a large congress is generally organised on the ground by a local PCO, our involvement was definitely an anomaly.

But it certainly wasn’t a first for our team. Think Business Events has developed a long trusting relationship with the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) and South Africa was the second international congress we delivered together.

Why?  Because over a decade as a collaborative team, we’ve built significant trust in the process.

OUR HISTORY

Denise first worked with WFOT when the international congress was held in Sydney in 2006.   Her management skills were so well respected, WFOT approached Denise to get involved with the 2010 Congress in Chile.

We came on board to manage the six-day congress and associated events.    Being a bilingual event (English and Spanish) language differences presented a few barriers along with the earthquake a month prior to the event dates and a volcanic ash cloud that grounded all air traffic in Europe as delegates were preparing to travel to the Congress.

We successfully delivered the Chilean Congress, with just under 2000 delegates and featuring 696 presenters, 989 posters, five pre-congress workshops, and three social events across five venues.  You can read more about the Chilean Congress here.

BACK TO WFOT 2018 SOUTH AFRICA

The success naturally evolved into the management of the South African Congress held in Cape Town, 21-25 May 2018.

While this time language difficulties were of no concern, time zone implications, cultural differences and another natural disaster were challenges that needed to be dealt with.

Timely issues

Working collaboratively with an executive committee based in Australia and the UK in addition to the local organising committee in South Africa, time zones were a challenge.

“It was a case of one group starting their day while the other was finishing up,” says Denise.  “So, there was a lot of late night Skype meetings and being super responsive on email replies knowing the time difference could contribute to additional delays.”

Conference cultural differences

From a Professional Conference Organiser perspective, a local South African PCO was acquired to assist with helping interpret the cultural differences between the two countries.

“While international convention centres operate very similarly across the world, there are some things common in Australia that aren’t necessarily true for South Africa,” says Denise. “So, we appointed a local PCO to help review contracts to ensure we were agreeing to standard terms and conditions. They also helped provide local knowledge by putting us in contact with respected and reliable event suppliers.”

Another natural disaster

Cape Town is currently experiencing a severe drought where rainfall diminished so rapidly the reservoirs supplying the city water dwindled to approximately a quarter of normal levels.

The city was set to turn the taps off – with ‘Day Zero’ announced to be in line with the Congress dates.

With the issue attracting global attention, delegates were highly concerned about travelling to the country and depleting the minimal water resources further.

“We received a flurry of emails from delegates concerned their presence would put unfair pressure on the city’s low water resources,” says Denise.  “While in the scheme of things, the impact of our delegates on the water supplies was minimal, it would have a greater impact on the tourism industry if we didn’t attend.”

Think Business Events, together with WFOT, set up a communications campaign to alleviate delegate concerns and stress the importance their tourist dollar would bring to the city in its time of need. In addition, advice was provided on how to effectively conserve water while they were at the Congress.

The Convention Centre also implemented measures by turning off taps in the bathroom, supplying hand sanitiser in its place.  Bottled water was provided to delegates to encourage them to think wisely about their tap water usage.

Embraced by the Global Occupational Therapy Community

Despite these external challenges, the Cape Town Congress was thoroughly embraced with more than 2025 global Occupational Therapy community members in attendance.

More than 85 nationalities were present with the top 10 countries represented included South Africa, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and Japan.

From the very beginning South Africa was a popular choice.  Here are the stats from this exceptional five-day congress:

• We received 2,459 abstract submissions from 76 different countries.
• We had 1,150 speakers present across the five days
• We held three keynote addresses, three symposia, a student forum, a panel discussion
• We hosted 10 pre-congress workshops, 13 in-congress workshops, 3 exhibitor workshops, 10 site tours and 71 oral sessions
• We presented more than 800 posters across five days

From a professional Professional Conference Organiser perspective, it was one of the most challenging and rewarding events we’ve managed to date.  We look forward to bringing the congress alive again in Paris for 2022.

Testimonial from Marilyn Pattison, WFOT President

“Think Business Events have once again assisted us to deliver a highly successful congress which left delegates buzzing for weeks. The Congress provided us  with a unique cultural event with TBE guiding us through the myriad of choices and opportunities the location presented.  As always their team were supportive, friendly, calm and professional – a true pleasure to work with. Thankyou TBE.”

Case Study: Aspect Autism in Education Conference 2016

The committee of this conference were challenged with the need to schedule in 400 speakers across a two day conference and still maintain a high level of energy.  It was a lesson in inclusion and interaction.

When you face the quandary of having to create an event that caters for both industry professionals and families programming can be difficult.

When you need to schedule in some 400 presentations in a 2 day program as well as speakers who are on the Austism spectrum as well as a plenary speaker with limited English, programing becomes even more challenging.

This is the scenario the committee of the 2016 Aspect Autism in Education (AIE) Conference faced for their recent May conference.

“Believe it or not, there is very little research internationally on educating those on the spectrum, so we really wanted to create a program that was a showcase of the strengths and skills, rather than the deficits, of people on the spectrum,” said Dr Trevor Clark, Conference Chair, AIE Conference. “We wanted the conference to be of value and that delegates left with a better understanding.”

With an aim for the conference program to be high on energy and learning the committee set about creating a program that had varied styles of presentations including a creative program, lightning and talking poster presentations and practical classroom demonstrations.

A creative space program was a hugely popular segment of the conference, where students on the spectrum got to showcase their special talents.  This included a collage display of artworks, sculpture,  a film by Ben, a 14 year old student of Aspect (and a Tropfest 2016 finalist) and music videos and instrumentals.

The lightning and posters talks were both designed to create more face to face interactions between attendees.

The lightning talks – five minute informal presentations providing snap shots of current research – proved to be a great avenue for more free flowing dialogue between authors and delegates.

“We received a lot of positive feedback about the lightning talks.  It was innovative and encouraged a high level of participation and is a format we will definitely include in our 2018 conference.”

An open plan model classroom was a highly praised component on the program providing delegates a practical experience of what it’s like to be on the spectrum in the classroom.  Facilitators provided demonstration of the successful techniques used in schools where participants became the students.”

With the 2016 conference now behind them, and plans already in place for 2018, the committee will continue to look into expanding the program with more practical opportunities for delegates.

“The feedback from delegates showed us that there is greater demand for these practical experiences, so the model classroom will be expanded even further in future,” said Trevor.

“Delegates really found that this 2016 conference program was very inclusive and we will be looking at how we can expand upon this to attract an even larger variety of attendees to our next conference.  It will be about finding the right balance without overwhelming people.”

Testimonial from Dr Trevor Clark, Conference Chair, AIE Conference

“I have worked with Think Business Events on three different conferences in 2009, 2014 and 2016 and cannot speak highly enough of Denise or the Think Business Events team.   They are a highly experienced company that provide clear guidance throughout planning, are open to innovation and are committed to the success of your event.  Many of our key stakeholders in the conference also had high praise with regards to their dealings with the company.   Putting on these conferences was a great risk for us for many reasons, and we had complete trust in Think Business Events to take guide us through the process successfully.”

Think Business Events takes expertise to Chile!

It seemed like a good idea at the time – a wonderful opportunity to run a congress of this magnitude in another country. And so it was that when the World Federation of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) approached Think Business Events to organise their 15th International Congress in Santiago Chile, Directors, Denise Broeren and Kim Stevenson jumped at the chance.

Denise had managed the 14th International Congress in Sydney in 2006, and had the advantage of prior experience, and understanding of the occupational therapy (OT) culture from managing both national and international OT Conferences. So in late 2008, when the local committee in Santiago asked WFOT for help with planning, they turned to Think Business Events to take up the challenge.

Think Business Events was appointed to manage the six day Congress and associated events which featured up to 12 concurrent sessions, with a total of 696 presenters, 989 posters, 5 pre congress workshops, and 3 social events spread over 5 venues! Think Business Events role included managing the extensive program, online abstract submission and review process, international marketing, sponsorship and exhibition, registration, logistics and supplier management; whilst a Local Manager in Santiago secured local suppliers and worked as a secretariat to the local committee.

It was the first time that WFOT had presented their International Congress as a bilingual event – but to add to the challenge, even meetings and daily communication with the local organising committee in Santiago were bilingual! Regular teleconferences kept us in touch on a regular basis, with each meeting including a translator, so that every sentence, every question, every idea and every decision had to be translated. This resulted in lengthy meetings and lack of fluid discussion due to delays of the sequential translation.

All official documentation was professionally translated, but daily communications with delegates, suppliers and committee were ably helped by bilingual staff in the Think Business Events office – and ‘Google Translate’ which became our faithful friend! Denise remembered “There were many funny ‘lost in translation’ moments, but we soon learnt that ‘Hasta Pronto’ which most Spanish speaking delegates signed off with, did not mean the rather abrasive literal translation of ‘See to it quickly!!’ but a more friendly meaning of ‘See you soon!’ “