arinex

A partnership between a European professional conference management company and Australia’s arinex 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 arinex looked after the local arrangements such as accommodation, tours, logistics and registration at the event itself.

K.I.T. operates as a “core PCO” for the International Aids society and worked with arinex to win the right to host the conference in Australia. A core PCO is a conference and event management company that has overall running of all the meetings for a particular client, usually an association.

Joycelyne Mülli, the conference manager for the 4th IAS Conference said the running of such a large conference had proved quite painless, thanks to the efficiency of arinex, the venue operators and all the suppliers contracted to the event.

The delegates were certainly hard workers, with satellite meetings occurring in the mornings and evenings, with the conscientious delegate able to find a session in progress at any time between 7am and 8.30pm.

In addition, 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 arinex. “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.”

Chief Executive Officer for ASHM, Levinia 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 arinex through to the freight forwarders Schenker.