The European League Against Rheumatism, EULAR for short, is a European NGO in which various national specialist societies and patient organizations in the field of rheumatology are organized. EULAR aims to advance scientific research into rheumatic or musculoskeletal diseases and improve prevention, diagnosis, therapy, and rehabilitation.
To keep doctors, healthcare professionals and patients continuously updated on the latest drug trends and research findings, EULAR founded the EULAR School of Rheumatology in 2017.
Even then, EULAR's vision was to establish the School of Rheumatology as the world's leading educational institution in rheumatology. To achieve this goal, the non-profit organization turned to long-time Totara partner LearnChamp.
With success. Already in 2018, the platform received the Totara Award for Best Healthcare Project. In 2020, the Silver Award in the category "Best Learning Team" and the Bronze Award in the category "Best Corporate Learning University" followed at the coveted Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards.
Today, "the School" is a fully integrated operational unit within EULAR, bringing all educational offerings – live and online courses, books, webinars or other materials – under one roof.
Read more about the EULAR School of Rheumatology here: https://blog.learnchamp.com/en/eular-school-of-rheumatology-goes-digital
The EULAR Congress
Among the multitude of outstanding EULAR activities, the annual EULAR European Congress of Rheumatology is the organizations flagship event, providing a platform for innovative minds to illustrate the latest scientific breakthroughs and essentially chart the future of rheumatology. Each year the Congress attracts thousands of delegates from more than 140 countries.
The aim of the EULAR Congress is to provide a forum of the highest standard for scientific, educational, and social exchange between professionals working in rheumatology, in conjunction with patient organizations, to achieve advances in the clinical care of people with rheumatic diseases.
Due to pandemic restrictions, the Congress has been held virtually for the past two years. This year was therefore the long-awaited comeback, and the EULAR Congress 2022 was held both virtually and on-site.
From the 1st to the 4th of June 2022, the EULAR European Congress of Rheumatology took place in Copenhagen. The return to Copenhagen was not chosen by chance. EULAR was born in the Danish capital in 1947 and last held its Congress here in 2009. 2022 was thus an exceptional year for EULAR, as it marked not only its very first hybrid Congress, but also its 75th anniversary!
As in previous years, LearnChamp supported the EULAR team before, during and after the Congress and demonstrated that gamification & entertainment can mean much more than simple leaderboards. Let’s take a closer look at the services and products – from a user-friendly virtual platform, an online helpdesk and on-site support, recordings of the lectures, and a selfie wall. 😉
The Virtual Platform
The pandemic has made us all rethink how we work, travel, and communicate with each other. EULAR has recognized the trend and decided to organize this year's Congress as a hybrid event.
Hybrid events are events that can take place both in person and virtually, allowing participants to decide how they want to participate in the event. Both face-to-face and virtual participants have the same advantages: they can interact with the speakers as well as sponsors and network with each other.
LearnChamp, together with other EULAR partners, has created an extensive virtual platform for this purpose, which should give users the feeling that they are actually moving through the large halls of the Bella Center in the south of Copenhagen.
Visually based on the real site plan, the participating organizations could create their own "Congress stands" and fill them with content. The partners were trained by LearnChamp in advance and supported in regular meetings. The result is impressive!
Experts from LearnChamp and EULAR also integrated a helpdesk for questions and suggestions during the Congress, which the users could contact.
Immediately after the Congress, the most important statistics and analyses on visitor numbers and participation were evaluated directly within Totara and could thus be seamlessly passed on to EULAR.
Networking
Congresses are places to meet people and make new contacts. In addition to the discussions at the Science Café and the gala dinners in the evening, this year the participants also had the opportunity to network via the virtual platform.
Among other things, they could create their own profiles and fill them with information. Based on their interests and search criteria, the users then had the opportunity to discover other participants.
The Lectures
Of course, the most important thing at a Congress should not be forgotten: The seminars, the varied debates, and the creative workshops.
This year, the participants were again able to follow the lectures via live stream on the platform as well as in the EULAR Congress App, and they could actively participate via the chat.
In order to ensure a smooth running of the Congress and to avoid technical problems, the 300+ speakers were requested to provide recordings of their presentations as a backup. As in previous years, LearnChamp handled the coordination of the recordings, supported the speakers in recording their presentations, edited the videos and transformed them with visual effects.
The Selfie Wall
The Mosaic Selfie Wall was established at this year's Congress to provide participants with a creative souvenir.
With the help of the app, it was possible to take a selfie, which, if desired, could then be seen by everyone on a huge 150-inch screen at the Congress. This resulted in funny and memorable souvenir photos. To top off the experience the snapshots were combined into a "mosaic" on the final day.
What’s next?
The entire LearnChamp team is already looking forward to the next Congress together with EULAR, which will take place in Milan in 2023. The preparations for this have already begun, but for now we’ll be keeping the exact details to ourselves. 😉
