Oncology Service at MD Anderson Cancer Center. “It’s wonderful that legacy has been brought to the forefront as a factor in winning bids.” DON’T BE AFRAID TO START! “Very few associations have a strategic approach to legacy, and this tends to focus associations into short term outcomes,” adds Williams. She suggests that the best way to get started with creating a legacy-impact is for the association to sit down with the destinations, understand the community within that destination, figure out how the meeting can positively contribute and decide how the legacy can be measured. “There’s no one-size-fits-all formula, it’s very particular. But it’s about finding the areas that the association and the destination have in common and working in tandem so the community benefits and the association benefits,” added Williams.
Despite a very limited budget, the association created a local online campaign using geotargeting. The campaign reached 250,000 people and showcased the brilliant work of Serbia’s beekeeping and honey community to the world. The campaign increased the demand of local end-users and the number of local society members. It also decreased market share in fake honey by eight per cent. “For us, it was not just bidding for the event and to make people vote for us, it was more directed at sending our message to a greater audience in order to position Serbia as a honey and beekeeping country in the world,” Federation of Beekeepers president Rodoljub Zivadinovic said. PICKING UP PACE A legacy-building approach has been adopted by The European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) at its upcoming annual meeting on 27-31 August 2021 at IFEMA (Feria de Madrid). However, the society is not waiting until Q3 to get the legacy ball rolling. ESTRO has pledged to alleviate an apprehension among the Spanish population towards radiation therapy. For the upcoming congress, ESTRO launched a public website dedicated to dispelling myths and offering transparency, with the goal of eradicating fears in order to save lives. “This legacy project is a big reason we were able to bring ESTRO to Madrid,” said Dr Natalia Carballo, head of Radiation
INTENTION + ACTION + MEASUREMENT = LEGACY
Measuring the short term outcomes of an event, such as increased membership, is easy but fleeting. Measuring the longer-term social, economic, political or environmental impact of a meeting, associations can put a deeper, more far-reaching value proposition to their members and potential members. Done properly, meetings can enhance the pace and depth of transformation globally. And isn’t that what associations are all about?
AMIMAGAZINE.GLOBAL APRIL 2021 37
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