Basic Event Information
Date: November 2020
Location: Online
Organiser: AIM Group International
Client: FIMP (Italian Federation of Paediatricians)
EVENT CATEGORY: B2C
EVENT SUBCATEGORY: Best Association Conference, Congress / B2C
EVENT FORMAT: DIGITAL
Event description and key objectives
A beautiful house in 3D welcomed paediatricians for their annual congress, redesigned into virtual version. A simple user experience, a pleasant visual aspect, great interaction among participants, richness and variety of content and personalisation made this first experience a novelty in the sector and a real success.
“With open arms … at FIMP House” provided a unique and unprecedented experience for a medical-scientific congresses. The transformation of the annual congress into a digital format allowed the client to meet in a new way, keeping both participation and involvement high.
After a fruitful collaboration for many years, the AIM Group team designed and organized the entire project together with FIMP. The objectives of the event were to Re-design the XIV National Scientific Congress of the Italian Federation of Paediatricians (FIMP), which should have been held live on Lake Maggiore (Italy); Make the most of the opportunities offered by the virtual environment in terms of imagination, participant interaction and multimedia; Even if it is not possible to meet physically, to not lose the human touch and spontaneity typical of the live conference experience; offer varied and current scientific content that can be enjoyed in a simple and personalized way.
Key challenges
The solution is a creative project conceived from scratch, forgetting the format and methods typical of the traditional physical event, to give life to an original event, tailor made for the community of family paediatricians. From the title, to the choice of the platform and to the development of the 3D image, from the setting to the content organisation, everything has been designed to facilitate education and knowledge sharing in a simple, direct and effective way.
The main challenges were related to maintain a high level of interaction and spontaneity as the paediatricians community is used to informal meetings and open discussions about their daily clinical practice, so in some way to we must accompany the guests to forget about the digital platform and feel comfortable and at ease.
Creativity
Virtual but with a human touch.
At a time when social distancing is in force, in which we are all at home due to COVID -19, FIMP decided to maintain the contact with its members, offering a unique and personalized place where they could meet.
Usually we meet in a conference center, a public and neutral place, but in this historical moment it was thought that it was better to meet at home, from home, in a large hospitable and welcoming villa, where they could discuss in serenity and simplicity, in a serious and respectful environment, not too formal but efficient. FIMP thus welcomed its members and all those who chose to attend to the FIMP House.
The congress was celebrated in virtual mode over 3 days, from 15th to 17th October, when the FIMP House opened its doors.
Innovation
As simple as a visit to a friend’s house
The access to the house was in the main entrance by ringing the bell and entering the password. The living room was the heart of the house, from where you could make a tour of the house and find the different rooms which were allocated different sessions and topics of interest.
The navigation was simple: Click on the TV monitor in the room and the broadcasting of the sessions starts and if you want to ask a question just click on the appropriate button and start the chat. An Info Point staffed by the Organising Secretariat answered any questions or delegates could consult the Program, which was a catalogue placed in the middle of all the rooms.
Personalize the use of content
Each participant could move freely among the rooms and the garden, looking around and staying according to their interests and their time. Each visit was personal and unique.
The Dining Room was the setting for the plenary sessions, held every morning and accredited for CME. From the Living Room, you could access the afternoon sessions, which took place in parallel in the Kitchen, in the Bedroom, in the Study and in the Garden. The Kitchen was dedicated to issues such as proper nutrition, vegetarian cuisine or diabetes. In the Bedroom issues related to neuroscience and sleep disorders were addressed. The Study gave space to infantile neurodevelopment, hypotonic children, gastroenterology, the appropriateness of antibiotics. In the Garden, you could find sessions
Measurable results
The results were excellent, also considering the intense daily work for paediatricians, who were very busy at the forefront of assisting young patients in times of Covid-19, and that it was an absolute debut.
Satisfaction from the Scientific Society was undoubtedly high. As Dr. Paolo Biasci president of FIMP states: “The title of the event, “with open arms” at FIMP House, was particularly apt to describe the experience we would like to offer to our members. We welcomed many participants into our virtual home and there was active participation and great interaction, with many questions and discussions even among the speakers. It was a good congress and we received great appreciation for the content. This year, thanks and congratulations are particularly warranted, because everything was new and everything went well. A big thank you to the wonderful team of AIM Group, a great team that has been assisting us for some time and will continue to assist us in the events to come”.
Here are some numbers which give the idea of the participation and interaction:
- 1000 credentials assigned
- +700 paying registered participants
- +800 delegates connected to one single session on Saturday morning
- + 7450 accesses to sessions during the three days congress
- +5800 accesses to the sessions in the living room, the plenary ones
- +870 request of info managed by the AIM Info Point during the 3 Congress days
- + 850 single visits to expo area
- + 200 chats managed
Communication
To communicate this innovative project in a short and direct way and help participants to use the platform, it was decided to realise a demo virtual tour of the FIMP House with one of the doctors moving through the different digital rooms and presenting the topics, the agenda of the congress, the features of each space, the services at their disposal and the opportunity to interact. The brief, effective video tour was really appreciated by physicians and contributed to approach the new tool with more confidence.
