LESSONS LEARNT

The power of being alone

I started my brand-new role at the height of lockdowns when everything was closed, and everyone was working home-office. My training was conducted completely online. At first, it seemed rather daunting having to learn about a completely new role remotely, listening only to explanations provided over Teams meetings and having nobody sitting directly next to me to turn to for help.

I realised the benefits of learning almost completely by myself with no direct help around. I could sit in the peace and quiet of my own home, being able to dive deep into my new tasks, without any distractions office environments usually cause. Being alone allowed me to digest the situation and the new knowledge I was acquiring much deeper and much more analytically. Later, this precise experience helped me build my confidence and made me a lot more secure in my job.

The power of technology

Before the pandemic, online events were somewhat an option, but rather overlooked and not taken too seriously. Putting together online events, however, became the norm and it opened my eyes to what technology can do for people and organisations.

The crisis showed me that it is possible to work successfully in unusual circumstances such as lockdowns and isolation if you are creative and hard-working. I started seeing technology more as a partner that was there to help. For the first time, I saw clearly how the technology we enjoy nowadays empowers and opens new possibilities. I think it was an experience the industry needed to have to move forward.

Event-ing online

Another lesson I learnt well from joining the meetings industry during a pandemic was how an event is organised completely online. Now, I am grateful I got the chance to see how this works as I believe people will expect to see an online component at every event they are interested in from now on. I would dare to say that they might give up participating in an event altogether if there is no option at all to join online. I am glad I could see the creation process of virtual events.

Adapting and making the best out of anything

There is a popular saying that goes like this: “If life gives you lemons, make a lemonade”. And I couldn’t agree more. Perhaps the most important lesson I learnt is that instead of giving up when the going gets tough, furloughing staff or pausing your business altogether, you can turn the situation to your advantage and adapt to the new reality.

Adaptability might not be possible for all walks of life, but I think the events industry demonstrated a problem-solving approach.

Overall…

No one can tell exactly what the future holds but educated guesses can be made. The world is slowly exiting the pandemic now and physical events are cautiously coming back. I would say people will certainly expect options to attend online, have health safety guarantees when attending.

Personally, as a young professional who joined this industry during such unprecedented times, I can’t wait to see the future lessons to be learnt. A lot will happen on many levels, and I believe the events industry will only continue to evolve and become more exciting and interesting.

Andrea Peycheva
Marketing Coordinator at Kenes Group

This article was originally published in IAPCO’s Magazine, The PCO (pg. 20 -21): https://bit.ly/3N9C211 

Ori Lahav is the third CEO in the history of Kenes Group. The last CEO change was done in 1999 when Dan Rivlin took the role from his father and Founder, Gideon Rivlin. With this, Dan Rivlin takes on the role of Executive Chair and Chief Vision Officer (EC & CVO). With his accumulated experience and expertise, Dan Rivlin will continue to give Kenes Group its time-honoured stability in addition to focusing on aspects such as creativity and impact through the development of new lines of business and Original Events, to name a few.

Ori Lahav has a long-cultivated leadership journey at Kenes Group since he joined the company in 2013 as Associate Vice President Marketing, bringing more than 15 years of marketing experience to the management team. At the beginning of 2017, Ori moved to lead the Client Accounts & Operations as Vice President, while he also joined the IAPCO Council (IAPCO – the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers). In 2020, Ori became President of the association – a role he has passionately fulfilled in the toughest moment of the industry, leading IAPCO to safety during the pandemic.

Dan Rivlin, EC & CVO, commented: “Ori is a natural fit for the CEO position. I expect him to bring his character and personality to this new and demanding role. Both Ori and I see eye to eye on the most underlining issues and we plan to continue to grow the company in the same spirit.”

“I am honoured to count on this trust and recognition from Dan and the rest of the global team. It is an exciting time to be in our industry and I plan to make the most of it for Kenes Group,” added Ori Lahav, CEO.

To strengthen the company’s strategic approach, the management board was expanded in the past few months, aiming to elevate the participation of proven and long-standing Kenes Group leaders and talents. The following new roles were successfully incorporated into the company’s leadership:

• Uzi Drori joins the management team as Chief Information Officer. Uzi joined the company in 2009 and was instrumental in the company’s successful pivot during the pandemic.
• Limor Cunia joins as Vice President Clients & Operations – a direct successor to Ori Lahav’s position. Limor has been in the company since 2006 and has a vast track record with various congress accounts.
• Adi Ingber joined Kenes Group earlier this year as Vice President of Human Resources bringing over 15 years of experience in HR.
• Avital Rosen has taken over as Vice President Business Development, continuing the successful acquisition of new clients. Avital started her journey at Kenes Group in 1991 and has over 200 successful congresses behind her.
• Audrey Alloul has taken the lead of a new department in the company as Vice President Digital, focused on the digital services of Kenes Group. Audrey joined Kenes Group in 2005 and was a key force behind the creation of VirtuOz – the company’s virtual events platform.
• Lior Miles joined the company in October 2022 as Chief Financial Officer, coming from a global high-tech company to support the navigation of the complex economic landscape o the meetings industry.

These changes come as a result of the company’s constant adaptative attitude in facing the many societal shifts that the world continues to experience. As pioneering and innovative leaders of the industry, Kenes Group welcomes this new structure as the beginning of a more flexible, sustainable, and human-centred chapter.

For more information, contact:

Estefanía Zárate Angarita

Marcom Manager           

Email. eangarita(at)kenes(dot)com

The AD/PD Conference 

The Kenes Original Event AD/PD™ Conference 2022 marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the AD/PD™ series of conferences. By merging with the AAT-AD/PD™ Advances in Alzheimer’s Therapies Focus Meeting, AD/PD™ is now transformed from a biannual into an annual meeting, with a continuing focus on the ADVANCES IN SCIENCE & THERAPY of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases and related neurological disorders. 

This year’s edition of the AD/PD™ Conference provided up to 42 points of CME/CPD accreditation to international medical and scientific professionals worldwide engaged in the neurodegeneration field, from basic scientists to clinical investigators, and from established leaders to young upcoming talents.  

A large number of reports about the AD/PD™ 2022 have already been published, inter alia, by the Alzheimer’s Forum, Video Journal of Dementia, BioSpace and more.

A hybrid experience  

The lessons learnt from the virtual experiences in 2020 and 2021 were foundational for this successful execution of the first hybrid AD/PD™. During six consecutive days, there were six parallel halls – four of which were streaming in real time – 49 exhibition booths, 929 mobile app installations, 1,601 e-poster viewings and 107 sessions were broadcasted  live, with an engaged interaction from the delegates on VirtuOz who exchanged more than 1,200 messages through the Q&A and chat options during the event. 

To ensure a smooth operation of the live broadcasting and the interconnection of speakers on-site and online, the IT department at Kenes assembled a support crew of technicians in Rome and another one in Lisbon. In total, 57 team members participated in the procurement of the hybrid format: 20 took care of the streaming, 30 produced the pre-recorded sessions, five moderated the Q&A, and two handled the monitoring of three cameras on-site. 

VirtuOz Navigation Video:

In the words of IT Director Uzi Drori, the main challenges included:

“finding the appropriate technology, combining software and hardware, recruiting the right people, training them during the weeks prior to the conference and getting all the required equipment to the venue.” 

The Organising Committee consolidated by Abraham Fisher, Roger M. Nitsch, M. Windisch, Ezio Giacobini, and Gabriel Gold, stated that:

“the live video transmission worked exquisitely well, so that even on-site participants used them for convenience and personalisation of their congress experience. Also, the Hybrid Forum discussions were a tremendous success with both onsite and online participants over multiple time zones.” 

The Online Community for all Neurodegenerative Disease Professionals AD/PD™ Education complements the AD/PD™ Conference during the rest of the year, before and after this core event. The AD/PD™ Education Community supplements the live conferences and provides a space for education, reflection, and interaction in the field of neurodegenerative disorders. There are also several services at the AD/PD™ Education platform, such as eLearning courses, discussion forums, meeting materials, and much more, which are offered free of charge.  

AD/PD™ KEY FIGURES

Top 3 countries, in-person: 

1. United States, 491 participants  
2. United Kingdom, 218 participants 
3. Spain, 170 participants 

Top 3 countries, virtual: 

1. United States, 567 registrations
2. United Kingdom, 94 registrations
3. Japan, 87 registrations 

#ADPD2022 

Social Media has increasingly been used by healthcare professionals to nourish the scientific conversation. Therefore, Kenes events have a strong focus on reaching the right audiences on social media channels during each congress.  

The AD/PD™ 2022 had a noticeable impact on social media engagement. The most interaction of all was registered on the microblogging service Twitter where 962 users joined the conversation using the hashtag #ADPD2022, generating 3,316 posts and a total of 8.1 million views. 

#TogetherAtADPD

In total, 48 pictures were shared on social media as part of the Photo Contest. These are the two winning photos:  

Kenes Group continues to develop new strategies, methodologies, reflections, and training to enrich all educational formats, including large international conferences and events.

Kenes Group excelled with Gold in two People’s Choice awards – one in Brand Experiences with World Stroke Day 2021, and the second one in Marketing, Communications & Strategy with the campaign #25DaysOfGratitude. The World Stroke Campaign was also awarded Bronze in Cause Event. This is not the first recognition of the campaign. It won a Gold award in the Cause Event category at the 2020 Eventex Awards.

Two events finished with Silver – ESPNICX 2021 in the category Virtual Medical Meeting – an event organised on VirtuOz, and in People’s Choice Events was the World ATM Congress 2021 with its strong return to an in-person trade show after the pandemic.

VirtuOz, the wizard solution to virtual events that Kenes Group launched at the end of 2020, finished with three accolades – Silver in Virtual Event Platform, as well as in Virtual Events Team, and a Bronze in People’s Choice Suppliers.

Audrey Alloul, VP Digital at Kenes Group, commented: “We have been on a winning streak at Eventex Awards for the past five years and have expanded in different categories too. I couldn’t be prouder of all our teams delivering such great work consistently. I also wish to highlight the team behind VirtuOz, who are currently driving virtual events to new heights. Kudos to you all.”

Kenes Group was one of the companies with the most accolades at the 12^th edition of Eventex Awards – eight in total. Eventex Awards 2022 received 606 entries from 33 countries. It’s truly an honour to be recognised and awarded among so many other brilliant events and projects from around the world. Founded in 2009 to celebrate creativity, innovation, and effectiveness in the industry, today Eventex Awards is the most esteemed accolade in the world of events and experiential marketing.

For more information, contact:

Magdalina Atanassova

Marcom Director

Email. matanassova(at)kenes(dot)com

Our team is beyond excited about these results so far and we cannot wait to share the winners, that will be announced the next 3rd of May.

 ” The program hand in hand with our unique virtual platform, offers a totally distinct experience and engagement. “

The FRPT looks to build a worldwide organisation of scientists and professionals interested in the rapidly developing field of FLASH Radiotherapy using protons, electrons, heavier charged ions, and photons. This conference brings together industry, researchers and students with professionals working in clinical oncology to provide a multidisciplinary forum about the latest developments in FLASH Radiotherapy. All modalities related to FLASH-RT were discussed with the best international experts in the field: clinical trials, protocols, mechanism, new horizons and more.  

After several months of preparation, the FRPT 2021 was turned to fully virtual only one week in advance due to lockdowns in Vienna, Austria and took place in the Kenes VirtuOz platform which offered a format that successfully approached clinicians, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiotherapy technologists, and nurses worldwide.

According to Limor Cunia, Director of Client Accounts at Kenes Group, “the volatility of the situation enforced us to strategically plan and prepare for transforming the hybrid into a fully virtual online event.” For the FRPT 2021, the Kenes team together with the speakers had created pre-recorded sessions and interviews that facilitated the restructuring of the event. During the live sessions, the attendees could vote, interact, and network with each other and the speakers. 

“We can’t ignore it; people do have a zoom fatigue. However, the program hand in hand with our unique virtual platform, offers a totally distinct experience and engagement. The nice correlation between the two, has created a positive buzz among the participants. They felt the need to be present and take active part in the live sessions and beyond”, added Cunia.  The content of the FRPT Conference 2021 is available and accessible on demand until March 3rd, 2022.

All the speakers remained part of the scientific program which only had to be slightly adjusted to match time zone differences. The flexibility of the sponsors, attendees and the Kenes 15-people team behind the FRPT Conference was crucial for the successful outcome. The FRPT 2022 will take place in Barcelona, 30 November – 2 December 2022. 

Here are some of the Twitter mentions of the #FRPT2021:

The FRPT looks to build a worldwide organisation of scientists and professionals interested in the rapidly developing field of FLASH Radiotherapy using protons, electrons, heavier charged ions, and photons. This conference brings together industry, researchers and students with professionals working in clinical oncology to provide a multidisciplinary forum about the latest developments in FLASH Radiotherapy. All modalities related to FLASH-RT were discussed with the best international experts in the field: clinical trials, protocols, mechanism, new horizons and more.  

After several months of preparation, the FRPT 2021 was turned to fully virtual only one week in advance due to lockdowns in Vienna, Austria and took place in the Kenes VirtuOz platform which offered a format that successfully approached clinicians, medical physicists, dosimetrists, radiotherapy technologists, and nurses worldwide.

According to Limor Cunia, Director of Client Accounts at Kenes Group, “the volatility of the situation enforced us to strategically plan and prepare for transforming the hybrid into a fully virtual online event.” For the FRPT 2021, the Kenes team together with the speakers had created pre-recorded sessions and interviews that facilitated the restructuring of the event. During the live sessions, the attendees could vote, interact, and network with each other and the speakers. 

“We can’t ignore it; people do have a zoom fatigue. However, the program hand in hand with our unique virtual platform, offers a totally distinct experience and engagement. The nice correlation between the two, has created a positive buzz among the participants. They felt the need to be present and take active part in the live sessions and beyond”, added Cunia.  The content of the FRPT Conference 2021 is available and accessible on demand until March 3rd, 2022.

All the speakers remained part of the scientific program which only had to be slightly adjusted to match time zone differences. The flexibility of the sponsors, attendees and the Kenes 15-people team behind the FRPT Conference was crucial for the successful outcome. The FRPT 2022 will take place in Barcelona, 30 November – 2 December 2022. 

Here are some of the Twitter mentions of the #FRPT2021: