AIM Group realised the FIMP House: an unprecedented virtual congress with a human touch

An immersive 3D platform reproduced a real life house which welcomed the paediatricians for their annual congress. The original format and setting provided great personalisation and interaction.

“With open arms… at FIMP House”: a unique and unprecedented experience for medical-scientific congresses offered the possibility of transforming the need to convert the annual congress in digital mode into the opportunity to meet in a new way, keeping both participation and involvement high. After many years of fruitful collaboration, AIM Group International designed and organized the project together with the FIMP (Italian Federation of Paediatricians).

“We needed to re-design the XIV National Scientific Congress of the Italian Federation of Family Paediatricians (FIMP), which should have been held live on Lake Maggiore (Italy). When re-planning the event online, we put the maximum effort to make the most of the opportunities offered by the virtual environment in terms of imagination, participant interaction and multimedia” explains Francesca Manzani, business manager of AIM Group International. “The client didn’t want to lose the human touch and spontaneity typical of their annual live conferences. Our solution was a creative project conceived from scratch, forgetting the format and methods typical of the traditional in person event, which gave life to an original event, tailor made for the community of family paediatricians”.

Some of the main features of the virtual congress, celebrated over 3 days from 15^th to 17^th October, were:

• A 3D immersive setting. The house, reproduced with a sophisticated and appealing visual, allowed participants to experience a pleasant visit, with clear flows and content that was easy to find and consult.
• As simple as a visit to a friend’s house. The living room was the heart of the house, where participants could move and find parallel sessions in different rooms. The visit was simple: by clicking on the TV monitor the broadcasting of the sessions started and there was an active chat box for questions.
• Personalized use of content. Each participant could freely move among the rooms and the garden. Each visit was personal and unique. Every area proposed different topics: in the Kitchen: nutrition, vegetarian cuisine or diabetes; in the Bedroom: neuroscience and sleep disorders; in the Study: infantile neurodevelopment, hypotonic children, gastroenterology and the appropriateness of antibiotics; in the Garden: child neuropsychiatry and dermatology.
• Meeting the Sponsors in the garden. In the living room, paintings on the walls showed the names of the Sponsors who participants could meet in the garden. From the panoramic view of the exhibition area, participants could choose which booths to visit. They could also consult brochures, watch promotional videos, click on external links and start a direct contact form or a video chat with sponsor staff.

“We are really satisfied with the results achieved through this original digital event which is an outstanding example of how event professionals can contribute to design and realise effective and memorable events, even in virtual format” outlines Patrizia Semprebene Buongiorno, Vice President, AIM Group International. “During the last few months, our role has partially changed since we cannot realise in-person events, we must shift to the digital world. But it is clear that our long experience in knowledge sharing, our deep understanding of medical and scientific  associations’ needs, our relationships with sponsors and our expertise on delegate engagement, means that we are strategic at finding creative and effective solutions that guarantee the event success”.

Satisfaction from the Scientific Association was undoubtedly high, as President of FIMP dr. Paolo Biasci states: “We welcomed many participants into our virtual home and there was active participation and great interaction, with many questions and discussions among the speakers. It was a good congress and we received great appreciation. This year, thanks and congratulations are particularly warranted, because everything was new and everything went well. A big thank you to the wonderful team at AIM Group, a great team that has been assisting us for some time and will continue to support us in events to come”.

The full Impact Story is online and a dedicated brief video shows the FIMP House and congress results.