Earlier this year Philips, Czarnowski and a major show organizer collaborated to give attendees a completely new kind of experience. In an environment where education is the primary focus, thinking outside the booth proved successful for everyone involved. The details of this great collaboration were featured in a recent issue of Expo Magazine.
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) knows that to keep attendees coming to its ACC Annual Scientific Session, it has to create new ways to deliver quality content. After careful assessment of what would be most beneficial to attendees, ACC decided to produce a Hybrid Cath Lab/OR (Operating Room) Suite for its ACC.10 meeting in March.
“Cardiologists are hesitant to spend time on the exhibit floor unless it is for a learning opportunity,” says Susan Krys, Senior Director of Expositions at ACC. “When we survey our exhibitors and attendees, we always find that the primary focus is on education — attendees come to our meeting to learn, and exhibitors who are successful at our meeting are emphasizing education about their products’ benefits, rather than selling, to our attendees. So we decided that the most logical evolution was to create an area in the expo where new technology could be assessed in an educational, enriching environment.”
The hybrid OR is a concept embraced in Europe that’s just taking hold in the United States. It’s a space that integrates imaging equipment within a fully functional operating room to increase treatment and procedure efficiency and increase positive outcomes. The hybrid OR is the wave of the future, yet ACC estimated that prior to the show the vast majority of its members and meeting attendees had not yet had the opportunity to visit or work in one.
At the same time, exhibitors had approached ACC asking for new ways to partner that would give them different ways to have more meaningful interactions with attendees. “We needed partners to help us create the Hybrid Suite, so it was perfect. With them, we were able to create a multi-vendor, interactive venue that answered the needs of our exhibitors, our attendees and our meeting,” says Krys.
Krys invited major imaging companies that exhibit at ACC to respond to an RFP to be the Exclusive Imaging Partner for the Hybrid Cath Lab/OR Suite. ACC evaluated the responses it received. Based on the financial, creative and resources proposed, it selected Philips Healthcare as its title sponsor. Jeffrey Masters, Senior Manager of the Global Event Marketing Group at Philips Healthcare, had previously approached ACC asking them to create new ways for exhibitors to partner with ACC — and was thrilled with the opportunity to create something new and different for the ACC show floor.
Philips and ACC worked closely with Philips’ exhibit design and management company, Czarnowski, to design the 7,000-square-foot area. Located along the main aisle of the hall (so attendees wouldn’t have to work to seek it out), the space incorporated a theater area that paired cardiologists with surgeons for presentations, an educational area and a full-scale version of a fully-equipped hybrid OR for physicians to explore.
In addition to Philips’s partnership, ACC created two additional tiers of participation — two supporting companies and three participating companies. Via these companies’ participation, the Suite was outfitted with all the state-of-the-art imaging equipment, surgical equipment, lighting and tools one finds in a hybrid OR, as well as a robotic surgical system which, while not standard in hybrid ORs, is a cutting-edge technology gaining ground in the cardiovascular surgical space.
ACC supported its partners with every promotional means available. As title sponsor, Philips received prominent signage on the hybrid OR structure, bi-weekly e-mails promoting the Hybrid Suite, inclusion in all meeting print collateral, an imprint on
the badge wallets, pages on the ACC meeting and expo Web sites, an insert in the meeting bag, a hotel door drop, directory and program inclusion, promotional slides in education rooms and coverage on CVNews, ACC’s television network. Second and third-tier sponsors received packages appropriate for their level of support.
Bringing the space to life as a collaboration of ACC, Philips, five other sponsors with their own install/technician teams, Philips’ designer, fabricator and installation company Czarnowski, general contractor GES and AV supplier Freeman AV required a great deal of coordination. Czarnowski streamlined this task by creating and managing a complex schedule that orchestrated everyone’s drayage shipments and installation schedules.
“We planned and managed the five-day installation so everyone would have what they needed — and room to work — at an appointed time,” says Ed Douglass, VP/General Manager, Czarnowski. Krys says the program was a clear next step following the successful Learning Destinations program ACC introduced in 2009, which featured an Industry-Expert Theater. Located at the front of the hall, these sold-out educational sessions presented by exhibitors were treated as satellite events held during the show — and drew approximately 200 attendees to each session. In 2010, ACC repeated the Industry-Expert Theater, added the hybrid OR, and also added three Hands-On Learning Labs where attendees experienced short presentations paired with hands-on equipment or device tutorials.
The result was a success for both ACC and its sponsors. More than 4,250 ACC attendees (33 percent of total attendance) visited the Hybrid Suite. And the extra exposure helped Philips move several deals further down the sales pipeline.
“From our perspective, we wish more shows would have the vision that ACC does,” says Masters. “These sorts of partnering opportunities that deliver for the attendee, the show and the exhibitor are going to be the future of our industry.”
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