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The AANS Changes the Landscape of Medical Meetings: 78th Annual Meeting Conducted via the Apple iPod touch a Huge Success
Newswise — What does it take to forever change the landscape of medical meetings successfully and in grand fashion? The American Association of Neurological Surgeons can now answer that after seeing a yearlong dream come to fruition at its 78th Annual Meeting at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, May 1-5. “All the hard work and planning culminated in the most exciting and momentous meeting in the association’s 78-year history – the first medical meeting to be conducted via the iPod touch® in North America. From all perspectives, this meeting exceeded our expectations – the delivery of content via the iPod touch was a huge hit for the 3,383 medical attendees, from the highly techno savvy medical students – to veteran neurosurgeons unaccustomed to using such devices,” stated AANS Executive Director Thomas A. Marshall.
“Part of the success of this meeting is attributed to the exhaustive technical preparation. Being the first time out, there was naturally a learning curve. Among the challenges were figuring out with the developer how all the technical elements of a complex, customized app would work, advanced coordination and on-site visits with the convention center to ensure that the facility could accommodate bandwidth, and the creation and download of the impressive amount of content onto 3,500 devices,” remarked AANS Deputy Executive Director Ronald W. Engelbreit, the iPod touch project leader.
Changing members’ perception of an annual meeting reliant on thousands of reams of paper – to a meeting conducted via a convenient, small device – was achieved through six months of carefully orchestrated marketing initiatives and tutorials. But even so, there were bound to be a few non-believers on site. Aware of this challenge, on site there were continuously streaming tutorials and the AANS enlisted the help of its Marshals – medical students and residents who have always volunteered at its meetings. This time out, however, they donned chartreuse armbands identifying themselves as iPod helpers, at the ready to help attendees navigate the device when they picked it up at the Overlook café, as well as throughout the convention center.
The real achievement of utilizing this device was that the technology enabled a greatly enhanced experience for attendees. With static paper, printed addendums to the final program book need to be created on site to communicate changes; with the iPod touch, any updates that occurred on site were instantly updated on the device. So if a session presentation time changed, this was reflected in the program as well as in the personal schedule of each attendee, if they chose to use this feature. An interactive search tool facilitated finding a breakfast seminar, practical clinic, oral presentation, or electronic poster within the program with a few touches.
A significant benefit to both medical attendees and exhibitors was the ability to send messages. While individuals could send messages to each other via the device, many exhibitors/companies purchased electronic messages. This customized platform opened the door to a new world of interactive marketing possibilities. Replacing the majority of the countless paper door drops cluttering the hotel rooms of 3,383 medical attendees, 40 messages with company banners were sent out over the course of four days. While most messages were sent to all medical attendees, there was potential to target nearly 50 different groups based on registration and subspecialty categories. In addition, companies purchased full-screen ads or banner ads that rotated on the device.
Inside the app, members could access AANS products including an AANS clinical guidelines summary, maps of the convention center, including the exhibit hall and individual rooms, and bios/photos of all the award winners. Outside of the app, features included a welcome video from AANS President Troy M. Tippett, MD, FACS, audio podcasts with seven masters in neurosurgery, seven educational video presentations, and Open Table, an app to search for and make reservations at Philadelphia restaurants.
Now that the AANS has successfully changed the medical meeting landscape, what does the future hold for its members? For starters, the AANS 2010 Annual Meeting app is available in the iTunes store in case an attendee needs to re-download it to the device. “The AANS 79th Annual Meeting in Denver is beckoning on the horizon, April 9-13, 2011, with untold opportunities for the association to expand on this successful meeting. Philadelphia proved that well-orchestrated technology can deliver stellar member education and benefits in new and meaningful ways. While we are proud of this considerable accomplishment, we will be pushing the technology envelope moving forward towards Denver,” concluded Mr. Marshall.
Founded in 1931 as the Harvey Cushing Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is a scientific and educational association with over 8,000 members worldwide. The AANS is dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to provide the highest quality of neurosurgical care to the public. All active members of the AANS are Board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, or the Mexican Council of Neurological Surgery, A.C.
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