CASSS is a not-for-profit professional, scientific society with a membership of over 5,000 industry, academic, and regulatory professionals. The organization aims to bring people together to network and share science solutions.
By providing educational and networking opportunities to their members, CASSS facilitates sharing resources, information, and best practices that advance scientific knowledge.
“The purpose of our organization is to bring people together to network, share science solutions, and to pair the industry with the regulators, the FDA, and the regulators from around the world, who are making all of the regulations on the drugs and how you manufacture them.”
–Randi Jacobs, Program and Event Technology Manager at CASSS
They do this through a series of meetings hosted throughout the year. These meetings range from half-day to multi-day symposiums with roundtable discussions, poster sessions, exhibit halls, interactive panels, small discussion groups, workshops, regional forums, and more.
Keeping the biopharmaceuticals industry connected
CASSS hosts around 13-18 meetings a year for their members to get together, and they are all based on different topics.
When tasked with bringing these varied and intricate events online, Carolyn Slade, Program Manager, and Randi Jacobs, Program and Event Technology Manager at CASSS, started their search for a virtual event platform.
They needed a solution that could seamlessly translate their events' intricacies into a virtual medium.
With the highly interactive nature of poster sessions and roundtable discussions, they needed a platform that would allow their presenters, speakers, and attendees to interact with each other and their research easily.
The essential tools for a successful virtual event experience
After testing Remo, Carolyn and Randi knew that it would be the right platform for CASSS’ events. Mainly because it gave guests the freedom to move around between tables and buildings and choose who and what they interacted with.
“Carolyn is the one that can take the credit for introducing us to Remo. She’d heard about it and heard good things about it. So we dove in, and we haven't looked back.”
By using the vast range of features and resources offered by Remo, CASSS were able to customize and mold the platform to fit their events’ needs:
Custom Floor Plans
They were able to design floor plans to fit each of their event types, which played a massive part in the success of their events. They created designs specifically for poster sessions, roundtable discussions, exhibitor halls, and networking reception halls. They even recreated the foyer of the hotel they usually hosted their physical events at.
Sponsor Banners
Poster sessions require setting up individual booths for each presenter, and CASSS were able to recreate this virtually by using sponsor banners successfully. They made custom floor plans and used each sponsor banner to set up a “booth” for each poster. All attendees could then simply “walk up” to these booths and interact with the presenter and their research.
“[For the poster hall], we have squares with little standing circles around a sponsor banner, and we created images of the poster numbers like P101, P102. Then I use the table name as the actual title of the poster. So there are two ways for the attendees to be able to determine where they would like to go.”
Event Linking Through Event Directories
This feature was beneficial for their multi-day symposia and larger events where they had poster sessions, roundtables, and other speaker sessions running simultaneously. The ability to link event buildings ensured that their guests could jump between sessions quickly and easily.
Announcements and Chat Features
With multiple sessions running at the same time, the team at CASSS used announcements and chat to keep attendees informed. They used them to welcome attendees and give them reminders and directions like – when an event in another building was about to begin and how they could join that.
Browser-based Platform
Most of CASSS’ event attendees and exhibitors represent government organizations, and hence they needed a solution that did not require any additional set-up or downloads. Joining events on Remo was simplified for their guests as they just needed access to a browser tab.
Remo Customer Success and Chat Support Teams
The prompt support offered by Remo was an essential part of CASSS’ successful event planning and execution.
“I know your team is small, but mighty, too. So kudos to them. I want them to get the recognition they deserve. They are fast and responsive. And that's another thing that helps us through our meetings as attendees can just click on the Need Help button at any time.”
The virtual future of biopharmaceuticals symposiums and meetings
By using Remo to host their meetings and events, CASSS has been able to keep their over 5,000 members connected and engaged.
“We had really successful poster sessions, and one of the biggest kudos that we heard from the attendees and the program committee was that they love the fact that the poster presenters could interact live with the attendees."
Since their first event on Remo, CASSS has hosted many significant events like their WCBP symposia, which included both roundtable discussions and exhibit halls, on the platform. They also host their regular smaller meetings that significantly emphasize Networking on Remo. On average, their events see around 150 to 250 attendees.
In 2022, CASSS will be taking their events into a hybrid format while continuing to use Remo for their virtual attendees and events.
Since their virtual roundtable discussions were the most successful, they hope to continue hosting those on Remo for their virtual attendees. CASSS will also continue to plan and host their smaller and more intimate networking events, discussion groups, and regional forums virtually in the near future.
Are you ready to host your organization’s interactive poster sessions and roundtable discussions on Remo?
How CASSS Used Remo to Bring their Multi-day Symposiums, Poster Sessions, and Meetings Online.
