During the months in which congresses were not held, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Emiliano García, held weekly meetings with the venue’s management. Today, tieing in with the Centre’s re-opening last week, García held a meeting with the Conference Centre’s staff to discuss the outlook and new challenges facing the Centre in the near future.
In addition, during this time innovative projects have been developed, such as the SDG working group that promotes sustainability when holding events and new solutions based on powerful technology for virtual or hybrid events that enable meetings to be held despite any capacity or travel restrictions. For example, in light of the epidemiological situation caused by COVID-19, the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SEMFYC) decided to reinvent its national congress and take advantage of this streaming platform to hold the 40th SEMFYC Congress this September, in which 25 speakers will be taking part.
Despite the general uncertainty in the industry, the sales team has worked hard to attract new business to the city of Valencia. During the summer, six new congresses and conventions have been confirmed, 33 new dossiers have been opened, and seven new event bids have been presented. Furthermore, circumstances permitting, the Conference Centre’s agenda has 15 events confirmed in the remaining months of 2020.
Sylvia Andrés, the Centre’s Managing Director
“The work carried out by the team and our strategic allies,” says Sylvia Andrés, the Centre’s Managing Director, “has ensured that the experience factor of those attending goes hand in hand with the feeling of being in a safe environment. This is the cornerstone for continuing to build a future based on a new approach to holding events, grounded not only in experience, innovation and technology, but also in safety”.
Emiliano García pointed out that “after adapting the building to the current circumstances, the Valencia Conference Centre successfully held important meetings this summer, in which all the safety procedures implemented were put into practice: cleaning and hygiene protocols, the use of signage to guide traffic flows, social distancing at key points and information on the measures introduced, the provision of hand sanitiser dispensers and hygiene points, individualised catering service, etc. Likewise, he emphasised that “the capacity of its auditoriums and the commitment of the team to creating a safe environment have played a key role for the organisers so that the capacity requirements and social distancing indicated by the health authorities are complied with at this venue”.
In the words of Manuel García, Chairman of the Iberian Live-Med Institute Foundation in conjunction with Live-Med Iberia and the organiser of the “Refresher Training in Primary Care for Family and Community Medicine” programme held recently at the Centre, “the Conference Centre’s facilities are ideal for the current situation. Delegates were able to attend in safe conditions in the rooms and during the breaks, and we comfortably met our expectations for the event”.
Garcia also took the opportunity to highlight the “excellent work carried out by the Conference Centre’s team, which worked with strategic allies during lockdown to ensure that the Conference Centre was ready to host new events, establishing procedures to enable clients to hold meetings in a safe environment, and complying with the recommendations and criteria established by the authorities and the industry”.
