Press releases
A Global Partnership For Aids Meeting
A partnership between a European professional conference management company and Australia's Tour Hosts assured the smoothest possible running of this year's largest medical meeting in Australia.
The IAS Conference is the second largest conference in the world for the fight against HIV and AIDS and brought some 6,700 delegates, partners and exhibitors from over 150 countries to the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre in late July this year.
The planning and management of the event saw the Berlin-based K.I.T. association management and conference organising company handle delegate registration, abstract management and speakers, while Tour Hosts looked after the local arrangements such as accommodation, tours, logistics and registration at the event itself.
"We've managed a number of meetings for the IAS in recent times, including the 32,000 delegate World AIDS Conference in Toronto last year,” says Joycelyne Mülli, the conference manager for the 4th IAS Conference. “We know the society and its workings very well because of this history and it simply makes sense that the areas of delegate registration and abstract management be handled by ourselves, while the partner PCO in the destination looks after accommodation and local logistics. The IAS itself looks after the marketing of its events."
Ms Mülli said the running of such a large conference had proved quite painless, thanks to the efficiency of Tour Hosts, the venue operators and all the suppliers contracted to the event.
There was intense media interest in the conference, with some 450-plus journalists from all around the world registered to attend. A 24 hour media centre operated within the convention centre throughout the conference.
"We had some 45 staff on hand to welcome and register the delegates, make last minute accommodation and tour bookings, hand out satchels; liaise with the production team at the convention centre; ensure the poster sessions ran smoothly and the exhibitors were happy,” says Roslyn McLeod, Managing Director of Tour Hosts. "I know the K.I.T. team through my membership of IAPCO (International Association of Professional Conference Organisers) and we were delighted to assist them to bid for and manage this meeting. They are consummate professionals and hold the same values as ourselves when it comes to service standards at all phases of the planning and management of meetings."
The IAS meeting incorporated the Australian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM) annual conference, which in itself attracts some 1,000 delegates annually from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
Chief Executive Officer for ASHM, Levinia Crooks, said Sydney had certainly played a part in the appeal to delegates and that the Sydney Convention Bureau has paid a significant part in the effort to win the event for Sydney, with Bureau CEO Jon Hutchison taking a personal interest in the bid process.
"We mounted a vigorous campaign with associated research units around the world with mail outs and downloadable information for medical press and attracted a good number of delegates dealing with education, social issues and behaviour in addition to the ranks of the clinicians who make up the bulk of delegates to this meeting."
Ms Crooks said she had every expectation there would be a favourable financial outcome for the conference as delegate numbers had exceeded expectations. She was also delighted with the show that Sydney put on for the international delegates and the expertise of all suppliers from the local PCO Tour Hosts through to the freight forwarders Schenker.
The next World AIDS conference happens in Mexico City next year and the 5th IAS takes place in Cape Town in 2009.
Media Enquiries
For further information on Tour Hosts, or to request an interview with our Directors or event management experts, please contact
Rachel Walker, Tour Hosts Business Development and Marketing Manager
Ph: + 612 9265 0762 or rwalker@tourhosts.com.au
Friday, 3 August 2007
