Canadian Paediatric Society

Situation

The Canadian Paediatric Society holds its annual conference in a different city each year. In 2008, the CPS was in Victoria. The five-day event features speakers, seminars and delegates from across Canada and around the world. With several hundred delegates attending dozens of various events each day, the organizers wanted an easy, efficient way to highlight daily events and offer a synopsis of what had happened the day before. And they wanted this information to be available to delegates when they woke up each morning.

Objectives

• Get current information about conference events of the day into delegate hands before breakfast each day.
• The information should be easy-to-read in a format that is available to everyone without relying on any particular technology assistance.
• It needs to be available in both English and French versions Work Plan
• Interview conference organizers to determine types of content that need to be available every day.
• Design a one-page, printed document, with pictures, stories, daily highlights and help desk information, in English on one side and French on the other.
• Pre-write some stories for items to be highlighted on certain days.
• Put a writer and a photographer on-site during the conference, to gather day-of pictures and stories.
• Final copy finished each evening, translated, laid out and sent to printer.
• Final distribution to delegates’ hotel rooms by 6 am each morning.

Outcome

The final document, called CPS Today, arrived in delegates’ hotel rooms without any glitches, thanks to a well-designed workplan. Extra copies were available during the day at the registration desk and the CPS’s on-site office. Delegate response was enthusiastic and the organizers rated the final product a complete success.