Events Calendar

ECCMID 2015: Raising the Bar – Again!

The 25th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2015) opened its doors to nearly 11,000 participants, over 200 sessions and 165 exhibitors for a record-breaking annual meeting in Copenhagen.

Since its founding in 1983, the managing society, the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) has evolved to become Europe’s leading society in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases with members from all European countries and all continents. The 4-day conference, the largest of its kind in the world, included keynote lectures, symposia, educational workshops and meet-the-expert sessions on parallel tracks covering the entire field of infectious diseases and clinical microbiology.

Boosting those Numbers

“The steady growth in importance of ECCMID has made it our mission to maintain or even increase the excellence of this congress,” commented Prof. Murat Akova, ECCMID President. “We wanted the 2015 conference to exceed not only last year’s numbers in terms of delegates, but we also wanted to widen our global reach and promote the event to prospective members, especially those located outside major European city centres. This meant a change in our thinking, in our approach, and more importantly, in how we marketed the conference.”

Actual & Virtual

Conference promotion, marketing and awareness on a global scale was the job of the Kenes Marketing team. To promote ECCMID 2015 meet the client’s needs, Kenes concentrated its efforts on social media channels, namely Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and produced and posted a host of video clips on YouTube – all on a dedicated ECCMID channel. With all social media channels up and running the entire year leading up to the conference, Facebook and Twitter were filled with active, informative postings and really heating up for real-time tweets onsite.

This year realised unmatched online and social media successes as well, with more than 8 million impressions on Twitter, an increase of 290% over last year’s congress, and over 5,000 downloads of the congress mobile app, which helped participants plan schedules, map the event and book and attend sessions of their choice. Even more impressive was the conference Hybrid session that was streamed live to China, the innovative ECCMID TV, a dedicated TV station inside the conference venue that hosted ECCMID committee members, guest speakers and VIP lecturers.

Click HERE to view comprehensive footage and interviews from ECCMID 2015.

Changing the Face of the European Stroke Organisation Conference

This event set the stage for the future of Europe’s highest quality scientific programme across a range of stroke specialities, all aimed at reducing the incidence and impact of stroke in Europe by changing the ways that stroke is viewed and treated.

The Client

The European Stroke Organisation (ESO) is a Paneuropean society of stroke researchers, national and regional stroke societies and lay people organisations that was founded in December 2007. It was formed as a merger of two previous stroke related associations, the European Stroke Council (ESC) and the European Stroke Initiative (EUSI) to harmonise stroke management in Europe.

The Challenge of Change

During the advanced planning stages of ESO 2015, the organisation had a falling out with their partner association with whom they shared the 2015 conference. As a result, ESO voted unanimously to act independently and initiate their conference. They set out to establish a conference in direct competition, at short notice and with a less attractive venue in terms of weather and viable transportation. All this without sufficient financing, very little reserves nor a substantial annual profit from two decades of conferences to call upon. And of course, very limited time to take action.

Seeking ‘High’ Quality in the ‘High’ Lands

ESO needed a partner to help develop and implement this new conference concept with a fast turnaround to host global delegates in Glasgow just months away. ESO partnered to Kenes, renowned for their ability support and manage meetings from the get-go through onsite administration until the last delegate has left the venue. The entire congress was initiated, organised and skillfully managed by Kenes and ESO 2015 yielded overwhelming results.

 

Hosted at the SECC in Glasgow, the conference welcomed over 2,600 delegates, far above the expectations of the ESO. “We anxiously await ESO 2016,” comments Kennedy Lees, ESO President. “From our high-level scientific programme to the quality and scope of the onsite technologies and overall administration, the conference was truly flawless. ESO 2015 is a testament to the professionalism of our organisation and we could not have achieved any of this without the strong support, partnership and trust of the Kenes team.”

“Kenes Group: problem-free, heartfelt and successful.”

Q. The society has been around for many years. Can you tell me more about its history?

The Society was founded in Ankara in 1975, then under the leadership of Prof. Şerafettin Özkurt. From 1990-2000, Prof. Özer was the Secretary General and later, President of the Society, from 2002-2015. Today, we are one of the leading national associations with over 2,000 members and branch offices in Istanbul, Izmir and Adana. The Society represents graduate students and professionals in both basic and applied biochemistry (i.e., clinical chemistry, molecular biology, biotechnology, molecular medicine, and bioinformatics) and we also welcome non-resident scientists as honorary members, as long as they are Turkish citizens.

Q. What is the Society’s central role?

We are the umbrella organisation for establishing and supporting professional contacts and information exchange in the fields of basic and applied biochemistry, mainly by organising activities and events. In addition to initiating collaboration between professionals in the field, we aim to advance biochemistry research and to improve undergraduate/postgraduate education. The Society strongly supports enhancing patient care through training on competence, quality and accreditation of Turkey’s medical laboratories, towards improving standards and service. We also work closely with the Turkish Ministry of Health and other non-governmental institutions, assisting with policy development and related health issues.

Q. As a returning Kenes M+ client, what are the 3 most important things that you, as a society, have come to depend on from a PCO?

Competency, sincerity and transparency. Simply put, we are two entities that know each other very well and work well in harmony. My one wish is that this partnership continues well into the future.

Q. What, in your opinion, makes Kenes unique?

Being well organised, competent, honest, earnest and transparent.

Q. Tell me about the most memorable congresses during your partnership with Kenes M+?

Together, we organised the 31^st Federation of European Biochemical Societies Congress (FEBS 2006), Balkan Clinical Laboratory Federation Congress in Antalya (BCLF 2007), International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine WorldLab (IFCC 2014) in Istanbul, and for the last decade, each of our Society’s national annual congresses. We are now working on the 41^st FEBS congress in Kuşadası (Turkey) 2016, on this year’s national congress and we collaborate on many society workshops.

Q. How do you envision future congresses and Kenes’ role in organising your events?

The Society has become very successful with the support of our young colleagues and through the organisation of our congresses. We have achieved this by working with Kenes M+, as we plan and carry out every step – together. Kenes M+ is not just a PCO for us – we see Kenes M+ as a true partner.

Q. If you had to describe working with the Kenes M+ team in 3 words – what would they be?

Problem-free, heartfelt and successful.