A partnership for over 20 years, Aiki Informatique is participating in the 41st Congress of the Société Internationale d’Urologie (SIU) from November 10-14, 2021 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
As an expert consultant in IT management, Francesco Capaldo, president of https://staging.aikitech.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pexels-olya-kobruseva-7247408-684×1024-1-1.jpg, has been participating in SIU conferences since 2004. With up to 5,000 participants depending on the year – 2,500 in person and 2,500 virtually – the work involved in planning and managing the IT is considerable.
What role does the IT expert play in the planning and management of a convention?
IT planning of the congress
In the months leading up to the conference, Francesco is busy advising SIU on the planning of each of the 500-600 presentations that will be offered to participants. While some will only be offered in person in Dubai, others will be recorded for viewing on the Society’s continuing education platform, SIU Academy®. It goes without saying that everything must be meticulously prepared so that each presentation can take place without technical problems. Prior to the event, he is responsible for acquiring all of the computer equipment needed for the event. https://staging.aikitech.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pexels-olya-kobruseva-7247408-684×1024-1-1.jpg is in charge of ordering the equipment, from computers to projectors, cables, switches and connectors, among others. Since the Société Internationale d’Urologie congresses are held all over the world, Francesco also helps the organizers to find the right local IT staff that will be essential for the smooth running of each symposium.
IT Management at the Conference
Once on site, Francesco and the local team handle distribution and set up of the equipment in each room where presentations, conferences, seminars, talks and webinars will take place. As an expert, he ensures that the network that supports the presentations, exhibits and participations, both virtual and on-site, is stable and fully functional. The hybrid “face-to-face and virtual” format requires that event partners be equipped to deliver the same quality for both live sessions and recordings for SIU’s continuing education platform. This means assisting them with AV and IT solutions, but also with our proprietary Meeting Management System (MMS) software, designed to manage the speaker program all from one office; PowerPoint presentations, videos and old fashion PDF’s are automatically directed to the correct rooms, and all a speaker needs to do is click on his photo for his presentation to start.
This year presented a particular challenge as some of the live presentations included a question and answer period for both on-site and virtual participants. Merging both in person attendees and those streaming in from their home countries into one seamless audience was difficult, but this challenge was met head on and was a great success. Thanks to the expertise and experience of the president of https://staging.aikitech.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pexels-olya-kobruseva-7247408-684×1024-1-1.jpg, online audiences felt like they were in person in Dubai.
After several months of planning and a few days of preparation, the five days of the 41st Congress of the Société International d’Urologie were a great success in terms of IT management. In the coming months, a review of the successes and challenges encountered and overcome in Dubai will be made, and planning for the 42nd SIU Congress, which will take place from November 9 to 13, 2022 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, the host city, can then begin.
“This year presented a particular challenge as some of the live presentations included a question and answer period for both on-site and virtual participants.”
Francesco Capaldo
For more information on the Société Internationale d’Urologie and its mission: siu-urology.org
