ASCA 2020 Virtual Conference & Expo—A Discussion with ASCA Staff Making It Happen

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, Shawn Bryant, director of meetings, Chris Schriever, director of affiliate relations and opportunities, and Katy Hurtz, associate director of marketing, discuss the ASCA 2020 Virtual Conference & Expo, happening live July 9–10 and available on demand until October 31.

Transcript

Charlie Leonard:   0:06
Hello and welcome to this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, brought to you by the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, or ASCA. My name is Charlie Leonard. I am a member of the ASCA public affairs team and the host of this recording. This recording is taking place on Monday, May 11. As with all of ASCA's COVID-19 communications, please check to make sure you are reading or listening to our most up-to-date postings. The purpose of this podcast is to discuss ASCA's upcoming annual meeting. As I'm sure everyone listening knows, we were all expecting to gather in Orlando this month for a big annual event. But as the health and safety concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic intensified in recent weeks, ASCA's  leadership made the difficult but necessary decision to replace our in-person meeting with a new virtual gathering. Obviously, the switch from in-person to virtual presented some challenges, and it required a little more time to figure out how to move this meeting online. Despite those challenges, my guests and I are here to report that the entire annual meeting team of members, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors have really stepped up with a virtual meeting that promises to be a truly exceptional online event. The virtual meeting will now begin on July 9-10, but remain open through the fall for registrants and exhibitors alike. And in a moment, we'll hear more about this open period from my guests. Joining me to discuss these plans and the progress that is being made to create a virtual annual meeting are three members of the ASCA staff who are helping to make this new virtual event possible. With me today are Shawn Bryant, director of meetings, Chris Schriever, director of affiliate relations and opportunities, and Katy Hurtz, associate director of marketing. Shawn, let me start with you. Can you take our listeners a little behind the scenes and share how this decision came about and give us a sense also of how the virtual meeting is coming together?

Shawn Bryant:   2:02
Thanks, Charlie. I appreciate the opportunity to talk with the ASCA community about this. Obviously, one of the first things that we looked at, and it's of the utmost importance, obviously, is the health and welfare of our attendees and our staff. And obviously we couldn't make that happen in Orlando; it was preferred, but we couldn't make it happen safely for everybody. So we wanted to pivot over to a virtual conference because we know that the education we provide is top notch and we didn't want people to lose out on all the information that we have available. So what we did is we started looking at various platforms that different vendors had out there for us because we want to maximize the attendee experience from this. And so we finally settled on one, and we've begun recording sessions to have those available for people. One of the great things with that is now, safely, everybody can get all the education that we originally had planned. It is the same sessions, the same speakers. All the top-notch stuff that you would expect from an ASCA educational event is gonna be provided for you.

Charlie Leonard:   3:04
Hey, Shawn, a follow-up question for you. I know a lot of people listening are wondering: How do you do this? How do you make the meeting interactive online with so many participants?

Shawn Bryant:   3:14
Yeah, Charlie, that's a great question and, of course, that's the one we get the most of. This is a new venture for most people, it's a new venture for ASCA as well, and that was one of the things that we really paid attention to with the vendors and asked a lot of questions. We wanted to make sure that there was an interactive element, and it was a major part of the platform that we have, and so a number of ways they're gonna be able to be interactive, and I know some people will talk about those coming up. But, you know, one of the main things that we needed to focus on was making sure that we had the ability for attendees to ask speakers the questions as they're watching the sessions live on July 9 and 10. And we have that ability: the speakers will be addressing your questions as you ask them in real time. And that was our major thing that we wanted to make sure we had addressed.

Charlie Leonard:   3:56
Thanks, Shawn. I may come back to you again. Katy, I want to bring you in to the discussion here. Can you tell our listeners what has changed in the program and what people can expect from this first-ever virtual meeting?

Katy Hurtz:   4:08
Sure, Charlie. Honestly, the only thing that's changed really is the format of the conference. It's the same great event. You just don't have to travel anywhere to get there. It's just from your own desk, your computer. We still have 50 educational sessions, we still have the keynote presentations, more than 100 exhibitors. And one of the things that's really great about doing a virtual conference is the versatility it provides. You can still have the same experience by participating live; the speakers will be right there to answer your questions. You can still explore the Expo hall, browse through all the exhibitors. You're just doing it from the comfort and the safety of your desk. And also with the virtual conference, you're not limited by time in the same way. At a live event, if you miss a session or you don't have an opportunity to talk to a particular exhibitor, you're out of luck. Whereas at the virtual conference you have more than three months to access all of this.

Charlie Leonard:   5:01
Katy, that's great. So you mentioned our exhibitors, you mentioned all of the continuing education sessions. In the past, ASCA has had some really fascinating keynote speakers. Can we look forward to speakers this year as well?

Katy Hurtz:   5:13
Oh, absolutely. The keynotes haven't changed. We still have the same two great speakers. First, we have Elizabeth Smart, who's done incredible work as a child safety activist and advocating for change to help prevent child abductions. Then we have Amelia Rose Earhart, a young pilot who followed in the footsteps of the namesake and recreated the original Amelia Earhart's flight around the world. Both of these are gonna be really inspiring, really fascinating presentations that you won't want to miss.

Charlie Leonard:   5:40
Thanks, Katy. Chris, turning over to you. Chris, a big part of annual meetings in the past has been the exhibit hall, where you've had staged some of the leading providers of medical equipment, materials, pharmaceuticals and more, and they've had a great opportunity to meet one-on-one with hundreds of ASC administrators, medical directors and other staff. That's a very tall order to replicate online. Can you tell us how that's all coming together?

Chris Schriever:   6:04
Yeah. Thank you, Charlie. It is a tall order, but I'm very excited that we have the platform in place to deliver. Attendees will be able to interact with more than 100 companies, they'll be able to meet with them one-on-one, they will be able to schedule meetings, they'll be able to have video conferences with them, they'll be able to pose questions just like they could if they were in the exhibit hall. Likewise, they'll be able to participate in giveaways and exhibit hall drawings, as if they were onsite at an event in Orlando or wherever it might be. So the virtual event is offering a lot of the same capabilities and opportunities that our in-person events are known for. And on the exhibitor side, I'm really excited because we have very robust interactive profiles that allow you to build on information about your company, about your products and about your services for attendees to peruse and learn more about what it is that makes you the great provider that you are.

Charlie Leonard:   6:59
So, Chris, like everything we're discussing here today, this is brand new for ASCA and you're in direct contact with these exhibitors. What kind of response are you getting?

Chris Schriever:   7:07
That's where I've been blown away. The exhibiting companies, this is new for everyone, and we're all thrown into this pandemic and needing to pivot and turn in to a direction where we can still get business done. And that's what our exhibitors have rose to the challenge to do. They're excited to participate and they're very excited to get to interact with attendees one-on-one through ASCA's virtual conference.

Charlie Leonard:   7:31
Thanks very much, Chris. What we wanted to do today was to give everyone listening a brief snapshot of where we are in the planning process and what the annual meeting will look like now that it's moved to a virtual meeting online. Before we wrap up, I'm just gonna come back to each of our speakers, if there's anything else you'd like to add. Shawn?

Shawn Bryant:   7:48
Yeah, Charlie, I'd just like to mention as we've talked about over and over again, obviously, this is new for everybody, and what I want to stress to people that this isn't going to be the Zoom meeting that we're all used to. We're all working from home, and everybody's hopping on Zoom meetings left and right. We have a more robust program than you're used to seeing on Zoom or any of the other platforms that you're using. As we mentioned before with some of the other things, all the stuff that you can interact with each other—the different appointments, the different ways to interact with speakers, exhibitors, attendees—is way more than what we're used to, and I encourage everybody to give it a shot so you can see the great product that we're putting out this year.

Charlie Leonard:   8:26
Shawn, thanks very much. Katy, a final word for our listeners?

Katy Hurtz:   8:30
Yes. So normally at our live conferences you can earn a maximum of about 18 CEs, these are nursing contact hours, AEUs or IPCHs, and that's assuming you attend one session from every single time slot. But, you know, with a live event, we generally have six breakout sessions running simultaneously in each time slot. So, of course, you could only be in one place at one time. But with the virtual event, because you can also watch recordings of sessions, you can earn even more CEs. You can earn a maximum of 26 CEs from the conference, so it's really a great deal.

Charlie Leonard:   9:04
That's great, that's great. Chris?

Chris Schriever:   9:07
There are two elements of this conference that I forgot to mention earlier, Charlie, so thanks for coming back to me. We will have the opportunity for attendees to participate in focus groups again this year like we did last year in Nashville, and that's a really great opportunity for attendees and exhibitors to come together and to shape what products and services might look like in the future. Really glad that we have that available to us as well as some presentations, 15-minute presentations from the exhibitors, where they can talk about products and services that help them stand out different from others in the industry.

Charlie Leonard:   9:43
Chris, thanks very much. That's gonna conclude our podcast today. I want to thank Chris Schriever, Shawn Bryant and Katy Hurtz for joining me. If anyone listening has thoughts or suggestions for future topics, or how we might improve these presentations, please do not hesitate to send us your thoughts or recommendations. We want to hear from you. Thanks for listening and please stay safe and stay healthy.