WEEKEND SEMINAR IN CARDIOLOGY for GPs 2011

So we held our annual " Weekend Seminar in Cardiology for GPs 2011" from 9-10th April 2011, at the Sime Darby Convention Center. It was a great success. We had preregistered 960 attendees by Friday 8th April and we had 100+ on-site registration. In the room on 9th afternoon were 700+ attendees. I had 700 seats place in Ballroom 2, and I had to add more seats. The breakout sessions at the end of the day was also packed, with standing room at the ECG tutorial on Saturday and the Hypertension workshop on Sunday. There were 18 exhibitors and the tea-foyer was crowded. In fact, I had a feedback that it was too crowded.
The scientific program was well received. There was special mentioned in the feedback on the symposium on diabetes. Dr Hew, who organised it, had a very basic approach, like talking about empowering the patient, and practical diabetic diet practical tips from a Malaysian dietician, currently residing in Hong Kong, whom we brought back for the event. I was happy that all the speakers kept their time well, and time overrun ( which we faced before ) was minimal at the meeting. We kept our program time well.
A few things I noticed that was different from my nine other seminars ( this is the 10th in the series ). The crowd was bigger and obviously younger. I could hardly recognise more then 10% of the attendees. I remember that at the earlier years, I use to know about 30-40% of the attendees. There were also more females. Of course, I wonder whether they were paramedics. I was told ( and I am awaiting the statistics breakdown ), that there were probably 70-80% doctors. Looks like the younger doctors are also keen on refreshing themselves. They came with their cameras and were also willing to ask questions. I was observing the ECG tutorial in in the Dillenia room, and there was active participation. These are good signs.
The dinner symposium ( Pfizer ) and the lunch symposium ( Boeringher-I ) were both well attended, and the sponsors were happy. BI brought in an overseas caucasian speaker to speak on dabigatran at the sunday lunch symposium and he was suitably impressed.
All in all, I think that the organising committee and the secretariat put in a stellar effort and credit goes to them. For RM8K sponsorship, I believe all the sponsors got their money-worth. In fact, I saw that one sponsors was selling their devices, and business was brisk.
The venue was quite ideal for our purpose. It was easy to access, just off the Mont Kiara road, and parking was ample. There was no shopping center distraction. There was ample space for the exhibit tables and tea-foyer. The ballroom was big enough for 700 people. The staff there was quite helpful, and co-operative. The AV was reasonable, although we had some small issue with the microphones.
I believe that all had a good time, and I certainly enjoyed it. Another weekend seminar is over. Now I have to start preparing for the national weekend seminar in Cardiology for GPs 2011, which will be held in Kuantan, on the 11th September.

Life goes on.