PLENARY International Congress of Human Genetics Q RevPAR Around the World
POST CON ICHG/ASHG: ‘Biggest and Best Ever’
[attendance] outside North America by 10 percent.”
MEETING: International Congress of Human Genetics (ICHG) 2011, which co-located with the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting at the Palais des congrès de Montréal on Oct. 11–15. Held every five years, ICHG was organized by ASHG and attracted more than 7,000 participants.
CHALLENGES: Speaking with Convene for a Pre Con interview (available at http:// bit.ly/pre-con-ICHG), ASHG Director of Meetings Pauline Minhinnett, CMP, CEM, was most concerned that the exhibit space at the Palais was smaller than what ASHG usually works with.
But that turned out okay. ASHG had anticipated having 200 booths in its exhibit hall, but “we got quite creative,” Minhinnett said, and ended up selling 268 booths — by offering smaller, 8' x 8' booths in its new “global village,” and by finding
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INITIATIVES: At first, ASHG envisioned the exhibit hall’s global village as a place where international human- genetics organizations could set up — “to say that we welcome the international crowd,” Minhinnett said, “and that it’s not just an [ASHG] meeting.” But ASHG also added lounge seating and Internet access, creating a focal point on the show floor. “It was full all the time,” said Joann Boughman, Ph.D., ASHG’s executive director. “There were some new international collaborations born at this meeting, because people had a place to meet each other and could discuss science and what they might do together.”
“pockets of space” toward the back of the hall for exhibitors who had missed the deadline. “We added free lunch for attendees in the back of the hall,” Minhinnett said, “and that really helped keep the traffic and keep those exhibitors happy.” ASHG was also worried about how its own atten- dance might be affected by meeting in an international location. That turned out to be a valid concern — to a point. “We did lose about 20 percent of our U.S. attend- ees,” Minhinnett said, “but it actually turned out still to be a success in our eyes, because we increased Canadian participation by 14 percent and international
pcma convene December 2011
Another new initiative — plenary debate sessions that tackled controversial topics within the profession — was equally well received. “The keys to the debates were bringing together high-profile and/or well-respected people on the panel,” Boughman said, “and allowing them to say, ‘This may not be exactly what I personally think, but I’m going to put this argu- ment forward.’” The result? “Biggest and
best ever,” Minhinnett said. “That’s what our leadership is telling us. That’s what the attendees are telling us.” n — Christopher Durso
WORLD PARTY: ASHG introduced two well-received new initiatives at ICHG — plenary debate sessions (left) and a global village in the exhibit hall (below).