Challenge
The highly anticipated EWMA conference attracts around 5,000 delegates and exhibitors each year making it Europe’s largest and most impactful wound care event. In addition to scientific presentations about the latest news in wound management, the conference also offers a wide variety of workshops, networking events, independent symposia, and project meetings as well as a large industry exhibition. The variety of participants and the fact that most key players within the field participate in the conference makes it a unique networking opportunity.
CAP Partner has supported the European Wound Management Association (EWMA) with secretariat services and as its core Professional Conference Organizer (PCO) of the annual EWMA Conference since 2001. Since then, the EWMA Conference has grown into Europe’s largest and most impactful wound care conference.
Key challenges included:
Organising a complex and large-scale conference such as EWMA 2024 involves several challenges:
- Satisfy a diverse audience with high expectations of the scientific program: The conference EWMA caters to a broad range of professionals in wound care. As a scientific conference, it caters to nurses, tissue viability specialists, dermatologists, podiatrists, endocrinologists, doctors, wound care researchers on all levels, and innovators in wound care. This demands the scientific program to encompass various levels of wound care and wound management knowledge and interest.
- Attracting and accommodating a large number of registrations: One challenge for EWMA 2024 is to ensure a high number of registrations to support the conference economy. This calls for thought out PR and digital marketing strategies targeting relevant audience groups in nearby geographical areas as well as collaborating closely with local partners in the UK such as the Society of Tissue Viability. The conference aims for 4,5000-5,000 conference participants from across the globe each year.
- Seamless abstract handling experience: To ensuring a smooth experience for abstract submission, notification, and presentation uploads, EWMA 2024 needed high-quality and reliable abstract handling management process, where support and timely responses to submitters with questions were key.
- Organising and managing the large exhibition: The sheer scale of the EWMA conference called for efficient collaboration with venue, sponsors, and exhibitors to organise and manage the EWMA 2024 industry exhibition.
- Increased Focus on Sustainability: In 2024 EWMA Conference theme focused on sustainable and collaborative wound care calling for continuing earlier years’ focus on sustainability initiatives to reduce the conference’s carbon footprint and promote sustainable and innovative wound care practices.
- Increasing Brand Awareness: The EWMA 2024 Conference was an opportunity to also increase the general brand awareness of EWMA as an association – including its membership and network opportunities.
Solution
To address these challenges, CAP Partner focused on the following initiatives:
Some of the solutions included:
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- Satisfy a diverse audience with high expectations of the scientific program: As the professional background of delegates ranged from nurses, specialist nurses, tissue viability specialists, dermatologists, podiatrists, endocrinologists, doctors, researchers, and innovators in wound care, requiring the scientific program to encompass their many different levels of knowledge and interests. We addressed this by implementing a total of 14 parallel scientific tracks featuring a broad selection of topics important to the wound community creating a programme experience with something for everyone.
- Attracting and accommodating a large number of registrations: Implemented targeted PR and digital marketing strategies and built excitement through collaborations and partnerships building upon the existing strong global network within the EWMA association.
- Seamless abstract handling experience: To accommodate this, we offered a smooth abstract submission system with notification and follow-up emails to the submitters well before the conference. Before the conference, all presenters had the opportunity to upload their presentation online or to wait until the conference. Furthermore, quick support and short response time to submitters with questions were key. For EWMA 2024 more than 1100 abstracts were submitted and to handle this amount of abstracts in the review process, abstract reviewers from the Scientific Committee reviewed all submitted abstracts in the system. The abstracts were handled in a blind review, with limitations put on the information reviewers could see. This is adjusted for each conference depending on the wishes and traditions of the specific association.
- Organising and managing the large exhibition: Through CAP services as secretariat support for EWMA, all practical arrangements related to sponsors and exhibitors before, during, and after the conference. With 165 exhibitors showcasing innovative products and services, efficient space management and support were crucial to ensure a successful exhibition. We worked closely with the venue’s planning team to ensure all necessary information is provided to the exhibitors on behalf of the venue, we are the link between venue and exhibitors.
- Increased Focus on Sustainability: To strengthen sustainable initiatives, sustainable wound care was implemented as a theme in the scientific program. Also, conference organisation included af focus on reduced material usage (online EWMA Documents to supplement physical copies), water stations and e-mail and push-notifications in the EWMA 2024 app reminding delegates to bring their own water bottles nudging delegates towards a a sustainable behavior. Certified carbon-neutrality also factored in when selecting ExCel London as the venue for the EWMA 2024 conference.
- Increasing Brand Awareness: Implemented a communication strategy focused on positioning EWMA and promoting the conference as a not-to-be-missed event in the wound care community. A strategic content marketing strategy using email marketing and heavy social media promotion along with influencer collaboration with a well-known wound care influencer.
What the Participants Say
Outcome
The conference EWMA in 2024 was a significant success, drawing a large and diverse audience from around the world. The post conference survey from the EWMA 2024 Conference in London showed that no less than 97.2% of the participants felt that the conference met or exceeded their expectations and that 97.1% of the participants said they use the lessons from the conference in their daily practice.
Notable key numbers reflecting the success of the event include:
- A total of 4,995 participants attended from a total of 92 countries.
- A total of 1,400 presentations by more than 800 speakers.
- Over 1,100 abstracts were submitted and reviewed through a seamless process ensuring high-quality presentations at the conference.
- Exhibition included 165 exhibitors showcasing innovative products and services.
- High satisfaction rates among delegates where 97.2% of the delegates felt that the conference met or exceeded their expectations and that 97.1% of the delegates said they use the lessons from the conference in their daily practice.
Slide through the memories
Copyright: European Wound Management Association
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Conference Organiser and Sponsorship & Exhibition Experts
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