Virtual Educa Connect 2020 | Eventex Awards & Premios Eventoplus Winner

Client: Virtual Educa

Event: Virtual Educa Connect (http://virtualeduca.org/connect/)

Service: Virtual event management; Online activities; Q&A facilitation; Marketing

Challenge

The Virtual Educa congress is a unique event focused on innovation in education for social transformation and sustainable development. This year it was set to return to Europe and fill in a gap for education providers in the continent. Due to COVID-19, the congress had to be postponed to November. In two and a half months, the online event – Virtual Educa Connect – had to be put together in terms of the academic program and building the virtual environment to host the event. The expectations were for a large event and heavy platform traffic, due to it being free and addressing such a hot topic in the field. This meant a close collaboration between Virtual Educa, the Kenes Spain team, as well as the global Kenes IT department.

Solution

With the event being advertised by top Spanish newspapers, in addition to the Kenes Spain marketing efforts with an online advertisement, email marketing, and social media promotion, the registrations reached an all-time record of over 84K people. Kenes IT ensured that the platform will sustain the traffic and the experience will be smooth for all users.

To reinforce the Virtual Educa’s brand and mission to support education providers, selected live sessions were broadcasted on both Facebook and YouTube. All delegates and viewers responded very well to the event and the content and were very engaged on all social media channels and the platform.

Outcomes

The collaboration between all parties was smooth and Virtual Educa Connect was an easy-going online experience, even with peak traffic of nearly 7,000 users logged in at one time.

The sessions that were the most attended featured the opening with the Spanish and Portuguese Secretaries of Education, the inauguration ceremony with the Spanish and Portuguese Ministers of Education, as well as a few sessions that discussed reinventing the role of technology in education, very pertinent to the current climate. Overall, the pre-recorded videos had 7,6 million impressions and a landslide of positive comments from all participants.

After the event, for a two-month period, the academic content can still be accessed by both registered participants and new registrants at a minimal fee. Virtual Educa Connect creates the foundations of the World Congress, which will take place in November 2020.

 

Watch an interview with the event’s project manager, Alexandra Boriceanu.

The event is a Gold award winner in the Online Educational Event category at Eventex Awards 2021.

It also won Bronze at the Premios Eventoplus Awards in the Best Congress or Conference category.



A successful event in the rage of the pandemic – ATTD 2020 | Eventex Winner

Innovation & Creativity

The uncertainties caused by the outbreak raised many questions from participants and conference chairpersons and for that reason, Kenes Group set a plan to ensure the success of the event and the safety of speakers and delegates.

Objectives, Planning & Execution

Kenes Group has been closely monitoring the situation and the risks nearing the event dates. Regular meetings with the conference chairpersons took place to discuss any uprising developments or changes. All delegates were informed about the outbreak and its effects on the host destination, any travel information that they had to be aware of, such as the World Health Organization’s (WHO) advice on how to stay healthy while traveling.

Onsite safety was provided with new measures on hygiene in the venue, the provision of anti-bacterial gels and making available masks for all delegates.

For all registered participants from China who could not travel, but also for everyone who had an interest, including the participants onsite, a significant part of the conference was live-streamed.

Effectiveness & Results

All the measures and the plan in hand resulted in a successful event and ATTD marked a milestone event in a time of crisis.

The 13th International Conference on Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD 2020) brought together more than 3800 prominent healthcare professionals from 81 countries, start-ups, and investors, reaching a new delegate record in a time marked by massive event cancellations.

The overall feedback has shown that participants’ overall safety was delivered above and beyond.

“We need to keep on providing healthcare professionals platforms to meet for finding solutions to pertinent problems of our society, such as diabetes, as there are over 400 million diagnosed around the world, according to WHO,” commented Ori Lahav, VP Clients & Operations at Kenes Group.

“At the ATTD Conferences you can meet people that come because they want to contribute and be part of the ATTD Community that really moves things forward and strives to make a significant change for the lives of people with diabetes”, said Prof. Tadej Battelino, Conference Co-Chair.

The event is a Bronze award winner in the Medical Congress category at Eventex Awards 2021.



PARTNERING IN CRISIS – CHEST Congress 2020 and Bologna Convention Bureau

Client: American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST)

Event: CHEST Virtual Congress 2020 in partnership with the Italian delegation

Partner: Bologna Congressi

Bologna Convention Bureau helped Kenes Group to conduct the needed site inspections, support with the destination promotion, and the social program, while forging and strengthening local partnerships. With a worsening local situation in Italy in February, followed by the announcement of a global pandemic and worldwide lockdowns, the event had to be called off. This was the time when all partners came together in order to find the best solution for CHEST.

Challenge

The efforts invested in building strategic relationships pay-off the most during a crisis. The situation with the CHEST Congress showed how consistency in working together throughout the years in fact creates one team, striving to achieve a common goal.

The process began with open communication and complete trust. All partners showed a lot of flexibility when it came down to the decision of postponing the event, joining research data in order to find not only the best possible dates for the event but also to find new opportunities for everyone involved. With full transparency and putting the event goals in the centre of all efforts, the work proved smooth and the collaboration – truly successful.

Solution

While the situation around the CHEST Congress scheduled for June 2020 mobilised all partners, it was in fact their joined long-term vision and fruitful collaboration that proved the solution. Each partner aims at bringing value to the client and their event and everyone play a different role in this puzzle. But long-term collaborations are not built to benefit just one event in a single year, but rather to create a multitude of successful future events in the years to come.

With the many unknowns, the ongoing lockdowns and overall stress of not knowing what to expect, flexibility, understanding, and being simply human were vital for the successful outcome of this situation.

Outcomes

A very successful CHEST virtual congress, in partnership with the Italian delegation, was put together in June 2020, highlighting the connection with Italy to 3,150 participants. While we cannot say with certainty when the event will take its physical shape, Bologna Congressi has applied special flexible clauses to the contracts, helping Kenes Group manage the risk.

Future planning

Both the city of Bologna and Bologna Congressi used the long months of lockdown to develop effective safety measures, according to some of the Kenes Group recommendation, for the return of in-person events with the following activities:

  • Creating a catalogue: “Bologna, Safe City for Events” gathering the most practical information for event planners on how to host safe events in the Metropolitan City of Bologna
  • A venue redesign and new tailor-made solutions on offer for optimal in-person meetings, such as:
    • Rooms equipped with new audio/video technology, including the latest generation streaming service;
    • New and larger entrance foyer;
    • New exhibition hall of over 3,000 sq.m. directly connected to the Palazzo dei Congressi and the Ex-Gam;
    • Easily accessible information protocol on all prevention measures.
  • New services offered by other suppliers in the city include:
    • highly trained personnel on the operation of the new event formats – in-person and online;
    • reinventing the delivery of catering services following the latest food protocols;
    • transportation services with high hygiene protocols;
    • solutions for physical distancing – signs, materials, and more;
    • and more.


CHEST Virtual Congress 2020 in Partnership with the Italian Delegation | Eventex Winner

Client: American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST)

Event: CHEST Virtual Congress 2020 in partnership with the Italian delegation

Service: Virtual event management; ePosters; Online activities; Q&A facilitation; Gamification; Marketing

Challenge

Due to COVID-19, the planned CHEST Congress to take place in Italy, June 2020, was postponed to 2021. In order to fill the educational gap and give the opportunity for accepted abstract submitters to publish their latest research in 2020, a one-day educational congress was created. The challenge was to find the perfect format to deliver the content while reaching the maximum number of delegates and doing all that while providing an engaging educational meeting.

Solution

26th June 2020 turned into a true celebration for chest physicians. CHEST and Kenes Group organised a 6-hour event that would be ideally fitting the time zones in the US and Italy. In order to create it, Kenes Group created the perfect mix of platforms to support the event, followed by a number of rehearsal meetings. Orchestrated by 10 people at Kenes, with a 3-week lead time for marketing, the congress was successfully produced with overwhelmingly positive feedback from delegates and speakers alike.

Outcomes

The CHEST Virtual Congress was free for participants, supported by an educational grant received by Elsevier – the publisher of the journal CHEST. This enabled 2,100 participants to attend the event live and have the opportunity to claim 5 CME points afterward. With all sessions and meeting materials being hosted online for three months, delegates can register late, consume the content at their own pace, and upon completion also claim CME points.

CHEST Virtual Congress featured:

Some of the social media buzz during the event:

 

The event is a Bronze award winner in the Virtual Experience – Healthcare category at Eventex Awards 2021.



Historical Virtual Meeting for AAT-AD/PD™ Focus Meeting 2020

Challenge​

AAT-AD/PD™ 2020 was scheduled to take place in April 2020 in Vienna, Austria. Yet, with mass lockdowns around the world amid a global pandemic, it was clear that the physical meeting at that time would be called off. However, Kenes Group together with the scientific committee reacted quickly with a creative solution for an entirely virtual meeting.​

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Solution​

The team had under three weeks to convert a meeting into an entirely virtual experience. This was all possible thanks to the flexibility of the IT team at Kenes Group. Working around the clock, the IT experts assisted personally 250 speakers to pre-record their sessions. 14 forums and sessions were live-streamed during the event, adding new content to the platform daily. ​

 

Outcomes​

Apart from the statistical feedback that proved how effective and well-done the meeting was, there were numerous positive comments shared over social media and email with the Kenes team and the scientific committee:​

  • Total attendance of the event was 1,143 delegates, where nearly 200 delegates registered after the announcement for moving to virtual​
  • 1,073 users logged in at least one time
  • Forum discussion attendance – between 395-965 users​

Access to the virtual meeting will be provided to all registered participants. The online sessions will be available until 30 June with an option for late registration.

 

Read more here

Sneak peek to the platform



World Stroke Day 2019 – Don’t Be The One Campaign | Eventex Winner

Innovation & Creativity

World Stroke Day supports WSO’s mission to deliver lives free from stroke by informing and educating the public about the disease, how to spot it, how to prevent it, and how to live the best possible life after stroke.

The Kenes Associations team managed for a second year the campaign on behalf of WSO, supporting the development of all strategies and the delivery of the annual campaigning guides, toolkits, and resources to inspire and support members to join in a globally coordinated, collective action on stroke awareness.

Today stroke is the leading cause of disability worldwide and the second leading cause of death, but evidence suggests that almost all strokes could be prevented with action on a few key risk factors. Despite the evidence and potential for stroke prevention over the past 10 years, the lifetime risk of stroke in adults over 25 has increased from 1 in 6 to 1 in 4. The 2019 World Stroke Day campaign focused on bringing global attention to this new statistic as evidence of the urgent need for action at the individual and policy levels in relation to stroke prevention. The public communication element of the campaign highlighted that one in four of us is at risk of stroke calling on everyone to take simple steps to prevent stroke with the hashtag #DontBeTheOne.

Objectives, Planning & Execution

The goal of the 2019 campaign was to increase its reach compared to 2018 and prove that the world can come together to show the difference it can make when we face stroke as one. With a well thought out PR and social media campaign in the lead of 29th October, everything was put together to support an awareness campaign to reach beyond borders and social strata.

A WSO Regional Congress in Manila on Oct 6th was used as the launch of the countdown to World Stroke Day and a local sporting event was used as the ‘firing gun’ for a series of physical activity events in three continents, identified as the ‘World Stroke Day Relay’.

Online the campaign team developed a completely revamped website that provided enhanced access to tools that would help individuals identify and address their stroke risk factors. A video, risk assessment app, and information leaflets on each of the top 10 key risk factors were provided via the website and promoted on social media channels. Partnership with the World Heart Federation supported the development of materials on atrial fibrillation, a specific and underdiagnosed cardiac condition, and enabled WSO to raise awareness of stroke associated with World Heart Day and Atrial Fibrillation awareness month.

Effectiveness & Results

On 29th October 2019, the world transformed as millions came together to fight stroke together. The campaign resulted in:

  • 125 World Stroke Day events registered
  • 69M people reached via various media outlets sharing World Stroke Day press releases
  • 700,000 people saw Don’t Be The One posts on Facebook
  • 1,100 new Facebook followers
  • 2 million #DontBeTheOne mentions on Twitter
  • 25K visits to our new campaign website
  • 20,000 downloads of the StrokeRiskometer risk assessment app
  • Over 9,500 documents downloaded
  • World Stroke Relay carried the prevention message for World Stroke Day around the world. Participating countries included the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Zambia
  • High profile ambassadors included the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison who shared a video on Twitter highlighting the FAST message. The world champion cyclist Alberto Contador took a break from training to deliver a video message to the campaign too.

The event was a Gold award winner in the Cause Event category at Eventex Awards 2020:

What one of the Eventex judges said:



World Hospital at Home Congress – First of its Kind | Eventex Winner

Innovation & Creativity

The World Hospital at Home Congress is a first-of-its-kind international platform to advance the hospital at home (HaH) model, instituted by the Kenes Group Original Events team. The goal of the meeting was to provide all parties, from healthcare practitioners to policymakers, dedicated education, and a place to showcase homecare best practices and technologies.

The main challenge was to bring together practitioners from this niche field, who aren’t part of any established community yet. We wanted to offer a unique platform that provides enough room for discussion to this audience, which was eager to meet like-minded people and share challenges and best practices.

Objectives, Planning & Execution

Among the session formats, there was a lot of interest in the one-on-one meetings, campfire discussions, and the house of demonstrations – a set onsite that served to present different solutions for treating patients at home.

There was also a session on the authentic experience of the participants that joined the Madrid HaH Tours – three groups visited respectively a hospital, a HaH unit, and a patient’s home, to learn first-hand from Spain’s model.

The delegates were delighted to meet the event mascot, a cat called Homey, who carries the power of healing from the inside out, while helping people feel calm and at home.

Effectiveness & Results

The attendee feedback was overwhelmingly positive thanks to compelling content and engaging session formats and tools.

The inaugural edition of the congress gathered more than 400 participants from 40 countries. The interest in the event surpassed all expectations with over 200 speaking and abstract submissions. The scientific committee made of Dr. Itamar Offer (Sabar Health, Israel), Prof. Bruce Allen Leff (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA), Dr. Michael Montalto (Epworth HealthCare, Australia), and Dr. Beatriz Massa (Spanish Society for Home Hospitalisation, Spain), accepted 45 oral presentations and 93 posters.

Prof. Bruce Allen Leff, co-chair of the event commented: “We talked a lot about the HaH community that this meeting has helped to build, but with this congress, we became a tribe. A tribe is a group of people who are “your people” in a deeply meaningful way. We addressed the models, technology, scalability, and more but for what I am most pleased is what the future holds – HaH is a major culture change, and we will continue developing it beyond borders through more meetings and the dedicated WHAHC community space.”

With packed two days, delivering nearly 24 hours of education, the next step for the World Hospital at Home Congress is to administer a dedicated community space. It will be used for data exchange and education, scalability and definition forums, and open discussions and information on policy, regulatory, logistics, and technology for HaH. The second WHAHC congress is already in planning.

 

The event was a Silver award winner in the new category Brand Experience – Healthcare at Eventex Awards 2020:



CANSO Air Traffic Management (ATM) Gala Dinner | Eventex Winner

Innovation & Creativity

The 2019 themed gala dinner was held in the Casino de Madrid, a showcase of Renaissance art and architecture that once again opened its doors exclusively for CANSO. This year the event celebrated the pioneers of aviation and their extraordinary achievements. The entertainment took the audience on a journey through some of the most inspirational moments in the history of the aviation industry, while indulging in world-class cuisine. During the dinner,t the attendees enjoyed the performance of two opera singers telling a true love story of a couple in the 40s. The story happened between an aviator, a very famous partner of the Casino of Madrid, and an upper-class lady. The event finished with a toast and a swing band.

Objectives, Planning & Execution

The objective of this annual gala is to celebrate with a themed event the pioneers of aviation and their extraordinary achievements.

The CANSO Gala Dinner 2019 told a love story that everyone fell for. The whole theme flowed, from the greetings to the food, trough the entertainment and the final act. The venue and the theme were masterfully weaved together too.

It all began with the representation of the skies above Madrid, that has a very special colour and when it is a little cloudy, it is spectacular. For that reason, at the event, there were two cloudy girls: actresses dressed in a cloud with Cirque du Soleil aesthetics, welcoming guests with a real airplane trolley customised for the event.

The entertainment continued to tell a story of the skies. There were two opera singers telling the love story between Benito and María. A play in three acts, which tells the love story of an aviator, a very famous partner of the Casino de Madrid, and an upper-class lady.

After the first two acts, once the dinner was over, all attendees were invited to go downstairs for the cocktail dessert, when Benito and María appeared and performed choreography with a gestural dance like a silent movie. They came together, in party dresses, in love… and they sang together. Benito proposed marriage to María and proposed her to fly with him, becoming the first woman in Spain who flew on a plane. She said yes, and they closed together with a toast.

Effectiveness & Results

The goal of the gala dinner is to provide an opportunity for all key players to connect, celebrate, and engross themselves in a surreal evening to get inspired to reach new heights starting tomorrow. With the 2019 edition, all goals were ticked-off and well achieved.

What did one of the judges at Eventex Awards say:

 

The event was a Bronze award winner in the Sustainable Event Category at Eventex Awards 2020: