A Congress Rescue

Advanced Logistics under an Aggressive Timeline Saves a Life Sciences Congress

The Event

A global healthcare company hosted various meetings throughout the week at the annual European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Paris, France.

The Challenge

Within an expedited timeframe, our customer needed assistance with strategic congress management and logistics support, specifically planning multiple meetings/meeting types during the ESMO Congress. That which typically requires 6-8 months planning lead time, our team had 8 weeks to accomplish given the condensed timeline. Adding to the challenge, Paris shut down for holidays for 2 weeks during our 6-week planning phase.

The Highlights

• Pre-Event
  • Managing all of the pre-event planning including:
    • Managing attendee registration
    • Securing hotel room blocks
    • Managing speakers for each symposium
    • Arranging speakers’ transportation
    • Submitting requests for approval of auxiliary meetings
    • Sourcing meeting locations
    • Coordinating all onsite staffing
  • Our Paris-based, French-speaking associate working in-person with restaurant vendors to ensure the venues selected were optimal for each dinner and meeting
  • Utilizing our in-house compliance team to ensure all events were within the Congress and country guidelines
• Event Management
  • Providing on-site staff for the 5-day Congress and all ancillary meetings
  • Managing a total of 28 events, both prior to and during ESMO, among which were:
    • A pre-conference social gathering for 200 attendees in Paris
    • 16 total ongoing events including networking dinners and business meetings
    • Business meeting management for 10 events hosted in business meeting rooms; our team managed nine room transitions throughout the day
  • Our on-site team directing the minute-by-minute oversight
  • Contingency planning for AV emergencies
  • Transportation throughout the day for our team dispersed in multiple locations

The Results

With foresight, ingenuity, contingency planning, and MTA expertise, our Global Experiences Team worked steadily and purposely to successfully manage a total of 28 programs related to this Congress event within less than 8 weeks of planning.