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Client Name:

American Society of Transplantation

Event:

Fellows Symposium on Transplantation

Organization Overview:

The American Society of Transplantation (AST) is dedicated to advancing the field of transplantation and improving patient care by promoting research, education, advocacy, organ donation and service to the community. The organization is open to physicians and health professionals interested in transplantation, medicine and biology.

Event Overview

The “Fellows Symposium on Transplantation” is an annual event geared towards fellows, residents, trainees, pharmacists and other junior medical professionals. Designed to be interactive and engaging, this symposium historically draws around 200 attendees interested in learning more about a career in transplantation medicine, surgery or research.

“The Fellows Symposium on Transplantation is one of the few meetings we host where we cast the net and invite non-members to join,” says Amber Nolan, Associate Meeting Manager for the American Society of Transplantation. “This event typically takes place in person, but in light of the pandemic and in the best interest of our attendees, the symposium pivoted to a virtual approach for 2020. This more than doubled our typical attendance, with a total of 580 people signing up.”

Challenges To Overcome

According to Nolan, the goal of the symposium is to give attendees that opportunity to form meaningful connections and spark interest in the field of transplantation. The event’s planning team needed creative strategies to maintain engagement from the comfort of attendees’ homes and offices.

“Even though the symposium was virtual this year, we still wanted a way to deliver that in-person element of the event,” Nolan says. “We investigated pc/nametag’s virtual attendee engagement kits because we were looking for a way to bridge the gap between our in-person and virtual meeting, but still ‘sell’ the event to attendees.”

pc/nametag sent Nolan and her team a sample attendee kit in the mail to help her team visualize the concept. She says this was an instrumental part of gaining approval from the organization’s Chief Development Officer and other stakeholders.

“It was helpful to see what the kits look like in person,” Nolan said. “This way, we had a concrete example of the product and how we could incorporate our sponsors through branded gifts.”

Nolan says that the Symposium was able to purchase attendee kits for the first 200 people that signed up for a full-access event pass. The organization was also able to break even on the cost of the kits with the help of event sponsorships. Sponsors were given the option to choose from a variety of pre-selected branded items including gift cards, hand sanitizer, face masks and other gifts. All kits included a themed t-shirt.

“The ordering process was easy from the start,” Nolan says. “The kits needed to be ready well before our event and pc/nametag made sure these deadlines were met. Their customer service team maintained great communication with us along the way and delivered quick responses to any questions we had.”

Nolan says the highlight of her experience was the ease and simplicity of ordering from pc/nametag. She says she appreciated receiving product samples, photos and proofs throughout the ordering process.

According to Nolan, the Symposium’s attendee engagement kits were a great success. Nolan says the kits created a positive impression of the event and helped build excitement for scheduled activities.

“Our main goal was to build rapport, show appreciation to our attendees and convince new people to join the society,” Nolan says. “We didn’t just meet these goals; we surpassed them.”

Nolan says her team was pleased to see the organization’s logo on the outside of the kit, as well as a welcome letter on the inside from the committee. She feels these elements helped build credibility and enticed people to log on to the event platform.

“The printed shirts we included in the boxes were a hit,” Nolan says. “The quality of the material was great, and attendees loved wearing them to their breakout sessions. This was the perfect way to build a sense of community virtually.”

Nolan’s team says they were pleased with their pc/nametag® experience and would consider purchasing more kits for future organizational events. They believe that offering kits would be a great incentive for early bird attendee registrations.

“The kits really spoke for themselves,” Nolan says. “Everyone loved them. They really added that special element to our Symposium. Not only did they feel unique, they also created a great impression of the American Society of Transplantation for medical professionals.”