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Over 500 national and international medical professional delegates from as far as Australia and Taiwan travelled to NewcastleGateshead for the ASME ASM, which took place at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music on the city’s Quayside from 11-13 July 2018.
The theme of the event was medical education with a global perspective, with esteemed keynote speakers flying in from around the globe to speak on the subject. Delegates attended keynote plenary speeches from influential speakers including Professors Phil Cotton, David Sklar, Deborah Helitzer and Susan van Schalkwyk, as well as attending networking events, workshops and social events – including an annual dinner at independent art gallery, The Biscuit Factory.
NewcastleGateshead has a track-record of hosting high-profile medical conferences as well as having one of the country’s leading medical universities at Newcastle University, which is an ASME institutional member.
Questions answered by event oragnisers: Leigh Morrish, Events and Conference Co-ordinator at ASME
Why did you choose to bring your conference to NewcastleGateshead?
Dr Jane Stewart, ASME Director of Special Projects and Associate Dean within the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University at the time of the bid, was instrumental in bringing our ASM to the NewcastleGateshead area. It is an area with an excellent reputation in medical education and this showed with the high quality of workshops and sessions delivered by local delegates as part of the overall programme.
Jane was heavily involved with the ASME team and NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau in each step of the organising process from venue selection to the programme. She pioneered a new set of events which we trialled in our 2018 programme – pop-up events which allowed ASME members and associates to deliver an interesting series of topical sessions which we’ve never had at our ASM.
We were also very lucky to receive support from both Newcastle University and Health Education England for the conference.
What do you feel you (the organiser) benefited from bringing the event to NewcastleGateshead?
It’s a vibrant city with great transport links and an excellent selection of venues, accommodation and things to do.
We could also access a strong local cohort involved in medical education which were a great support for the conference and provided excellent content to the programme.
How do you feel your delegates benefited from the event being hosted in NewcastleGateshead?
The city is extremely welcoming with an excellent selection of accommodation and things to do. It’s compact which makes it easy to get around with the excellent transport links. A number of delegates commented on how much they enjoyed their stay in the city and how they quite often chose to walk to get around so they could see the city first-hand (the lovely weather did help with this though!).
How did NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau support in the organisation of your event?
We can’t stress enough how helpful the Convention Bureau were in supporting the organisation of our conference – a special mention must go to Caroline Reed who was there with us every step of the way. The Convention Bureau helped us with: conference and conference dinner venue selection, including site visits to venues and help with contracting etc; liaison with the venue; arranging delegate accommodation; providing information on transport and things to do; promotional materials; providing a welcome desk on two days of the conference to provide delegates with local information, and finally they also aided with sourcing delegate bag gifts.
Testimonial
NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau provides a valuable service to conference organisers. They supported ASME throughout the whole organisation process from sourcing the venue to providing advice on hotels, social programmes, right down to small details like delegate gifts. I would thoroughly recommend their service – they are the local experts, with encyclopedic knowledge of all things NewcastleGateshead. They deliver their service with the upmost professionalism and are extremely thoughtful.
