While meetings, in general, are still struggling to reach the pre-COVID numbers due to inflation and lingering global mobility difficulties, the case of ICOPAnhagen was no different. One of the challenges was to reach a significant number of in-person and online attendees, according to targets.
A greater challenge appeared in mid-June (just two months ahead of the congress) when key suppliers announced price increases, applicable effective immediately.
The marketing team continued to tackle the challenge of reaching the attendees’ target by promoting individual and group registrations. Three registration periods were marketed: early rate until June 1st, regular rate until July 27th and onsite rate until the event’s starting date.
Meanwhile, with the procurement team’s support, senior account manager Sigal Ben Peli started renegotiating services with suppliers to counterbalance the sudden price increase announcement.
To support the operations of the Kenes Group team formed by 18 members from Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal and Israel, a total of 20 local volunteers were enrolled, giving more students from relevant fields the opportunity to gain professional experience and young parasitologists to showcase their own research in the posters area as part of their volunteering agreement.
The World Federation of Parasitologists was gladly satisfied with the attendance which reached a total of 1,500 delegates from 95 different countries, 300 of them joining virtually. The welcome reception and closing ceremony created remarkable memories among delegates.
