Cervical Spine Research Society Annual Meeting
Dec. 3–5 2015
Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel
San Diego

CHALLENGES The small planning team was faced with troubleshooting on the fly. (Read our Pre Con profile.) “We did have several last-minute changes, including relocated meetings, a social-event venue change which was a bit worrisome, and a few late speakers,” said Peggy Wlezien, CSRS’s executive director. “CSRS faculty and on-site staff fielded these with patience and their good-natured graciousness.”

INITIATIVES CSRS introduced a new Beyond the Booth program, which was designed to facilitate networking between exhibitors and attendees. “As is often the case with all introductory programs, it had marginal success,” Wlezien said, “in that only one company offered an evening event that included a speaker and food-and-beverage.” Another new initiative, eposters, also met with mixed success. While some presenters used the digital format to enhance their visual content, the overall impact wasn’t huge. “The flip side is that attracting the interest of attendees can be difficult,” Wlezien said, “since many may rather interact verbally with other attendees, friends, and colleagues while they are on site.”

2015
San Diego

542 attendees

40 exhibitors

2014
Orlando

450 attendees

38 exhibitors