Successful Meetings - July 2008 - (Page 42)

Medical Meetings > Strong Medicine NEW YEAR, NEW CHALLENGES With 2007’s inaugural success behind them, the Sommers decided to expand this year’s activities to include both a Second International Chordoma Research Workshop and the First Chordoma Community Conference, held back-to-back in April. What became clear early on, however, was the expanded program needed another seasoned planner, one who lay just around the corner. “I came onboard about a month before the actual events,” says event coordinator Amber Johnson, president of AD Edwards Consulting, who came to the Chordoma Foundation by chance— her husband Keith took care of all the group’s printed material. “Simone mentioned to him that while they had done a lot of the planning the year before, this year was much bigger and they were getting stressed out,” she says. “I jumped in head first.” To wit, Johnson worked with the Marriott, arranging meeting space, food and beverage setup, and time scheduling. “I did a lot of interaction with the speakers and the topics they wanted discussed,” she says. Johnson also kept tabs on the little things that could become major headaches, like name badges and break snacks. The dual-purpose program also proved a hit, with 80 workshop attendees comprised of M.D.s, Ph.D.s, and four chordoma survivors—two of whom are M.D.s and have chordoma themselves—plus some 120 patients, parents, caregivers, and volunteers for the interactive Community Conference. The April event also included the First Chordoma Youth Network, an all-day program designed specifically as a workshop for 12 to 18 year-old chordoma patients. The entire experience has given both Josh and his mother a new respect for professional planning. “It’s exhausting,” says Dr. Sommer, adding that “there’s clearly a need for event planners to help non-profit organizations do meetings. If there are event planners who want to make a difference not only to chordoma but any other non-profits, that would be a wonderful outcome of all this.” And given the Chordoma Foundation’s planner/patient aspect, Terry also encouraged the Sommers to incorporate a decidedly human element into their medical meeting. “We sort of empowered Josh to open the event,” she says. “A compelling patient who lives with chordoma every day puts a face on the disease and lowers everyone’s resistance to sharing their knowledge.” In the end, 2007’s results proved revealing and rewarding, with 53 attendees and an explosion of interest in chordoma research. “We were actually surprised at the ground swell of enthusiasm,” says Josh, adding that they had to turn some folks away. “These were top doctors and researchers and they closed up their labs and operating rooms to do this.” The conference planning also came with a built-in attendee incentive, though, which explains why those labs and O.R.s were closed. “This was a chance to make a difference,” says Josh, “an opportunity not necessarily to make a name for themselves but perhaps publish a paper in a field that so far has not been very well known.” Time Out Cancer can be difficult enough for adults. For young adults, the cumulative effects of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy can be absolutely devastating. With that in mind, Josh Sommer and his mother, Dr. Sommer, set aside special time at this year’s International Chordoma Research Workshop for patients ages 12 to 18 via their First Annual Chordoma Youth Network, where teens could gather and vent about their personal, often isolating experiences with the disease. “They wanted to bring these kids together for the first time and give them a sense of community and belonging,” says Carolyn Rubenstein, president of Carolyn’s Compassionate Children and the creative and financial source behind the project. “These kids came in from all over the country, and they’d felt very isolated from each other,” she says. “I thought the idea would be empowering and incredible.” Indeed, Rubenstein initially planned an entire day of activities especially for the group, which included two young adult survivors to help her moderate the program. But when she saw how powerful the effect was on her attendees of simply sitting and talking, Rubenstein chose to run with that. “The most important part for them was to let their guard down,” she says. “Once they did that I just sort of let things take their course. They started to open up, talk about their emotions, and realized that others were going through the same thing as well.” mimegasite.com JULY 2008 SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS 42 http://mimegasite.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Successful Meetings - July 2008

Successful Meetings - July 2008 Contents Editor's Note Industry Trends Suppliers Newsmakers On the Record Technology Newsmakers Calendar Planner Spotlight Management Matters Meetings Law Websites of the Month Mouth for Sale Pre-Event On Site Tools of the Trade Pre-Event Initial Success Strong Medicine Risky Business Places & Spaces Birmingham Kentucky Georgia & the Carolinas Hong Kong Melbourne Gurus

Successful Meetings - July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.