How the British Association of Dermatologists Scaled Its Annual Meeting

The British Association of Dermatologists is the professional body for dermatologists in the UK and Ireland. Its Annual Meeting, the association’s flagship event has grown from tabletop stands in a hotel function room to around 70 exhibiting companies. With its growth, so has the event operational load with it. 

For Christopher Garrett, Director of Conference & Event Services, who has been involved with the association for more than 20 years, the process felt like it “worked”, but it was spread across too many places to be comfortable and devoid of error. What the team needed was an exhibitor management platform that could give the exhibitors (and the number of stakeholders delivering the event) the best possible pre-event experience.

"Bringing everything together for the exhibition was the challenge. We had our own team, we had the agency team managing the technology, the contractors looking after stand plans and risk assessments, and the suppliers handling furniture and catering orders. 

We were the first point of contact for our exhibitors, but the information needed to be distributed to other stakeholders. That meant going through multiple spreadsheets or contacting people directly to find out what had been done, what still needed doing and what was outstanding. It sort of “worked” for a while, and it was how we had delivered the event for years, but as we brought in more third parties, more of the information sat outside our own systems. 

We came across FFAIR through a peer from the association industry who knew the platform and thought it would suit us. It was clear straight away that it would work for what we needed. Our team doesn’t have technical expertise, and there are always concerns when you try a new platform, but we decided to give it a go.

What FFAIR has done is exactly what we hoped it would. It has collected all the information into one place, so we can track what exhibitors have done, what they still need to do and where everything stands, without chasing 4+ different spreadsheets.

It has also added a level of professionalism to what we deliver. Our Annual Meeting has changed enormously over 20 years, and the exhibition has grown with it. We are not at the stage of writing things on the back of an envelope any more. Exhibitors click one link and they are in a portal with a dashboard that looks and feels the part.

From the exhibitor and sponsor side, the biggest improvement is that exhibitors can share the platform with their own teams. Their contractors, their marketing team, whoever needs access. That has helped them get more out of what we offer, particularly around company profiles, which feed through to the app.”

Exhibitor Feedback

“We hold an exhibitor meeting on the last morning of the event, which is an open floor for feedback, so you find out fairly quickly what has and has not landed. We raised the new initiatives, including the FFAIR portal and everyone was very positive. 

That came through in the post event survey too. When we asked exhibitors to rate the platform, 80% said good or excellent. When we asked whether they would be happy for us to continue with FFAIR next year, 78% agreed or strongly agreed. That is a strong result for a first year with any new event technology initiative. 

The excellent support as well, because it is one of the biggest benefits of working with FFAIR. There are three of us who have been hands-on with the platform and when we are not quite sure about something we message the Support team. The response is so quick, and they are always happy to jump on a call. It is genuinely fantastic.

We work with TFI Loadstar for the app, lead retrieval and on-site badging, with ShakeIt behind the app itself, and Slidecrew for our speaker portal. Getting all of that event technology working together is where the value is, and having FFAIR as the central portal for exhibitors has made the whole thing far easier to manage."