The European Society of Regional Anaesthesia and Pain Therapy (ESRA) held its largest annual congress with nearly 2,000 participants that gathered in Bilbao, Spain on 11-14 September.
This was also the most sustainable meeting of the organisation, and the first congress to sign the IAPCO Plastic Pledge, and to additionally participate in the Eventex ‘We are green’ initiative.
The quality programme at the annual meeting was packed with hands-on workshops, luncheon sessions with speakers, second opinion sessions, all of which are unique in this field to ESRA. Delegates could navigate around the four days of the event with the help of an interactive app. It allowed them to submit questions to the speakers during sessions, vote on controversial topics, see all presentations as well as ePosters, and the nearly 700 abstracts submitted.
Being the very first congress to support the International Association of Professional Congress Organisers (IAPCO) Plastic Pledge, reducing the overall environmental footprint of the event became the main angle at which each logistic detail was viewed. There were no non-recyclable plastics used throughout the congress – they were omitted altogether or replaced with biodegradable options. The team went beyond to ensure maximum sustainability when it came to the overall catering, transportation, the venue, and finding recycling for all produced event banners.
Florian Locatelli, CEO at ESRA commented: “It was delightful to reach so many new milestones together with the Kenes Group team. By now we do work like one and we always strive to improve the overall delegate experience and do it in a way that is safer for the environment. This year’s congress is a testament to that.”
The 39th Annual ESRA Congress will take place in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 16-19 September 2020 under the theme State of the Art Safety Standards in Regional Anaesthesia.
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