Germany is synonymous with technical excellence and it’s where the beloved, slightly overused phrase Vorsprung durch Technik originates, which depending on its context means “advancement through technology" or, as Audi’s highly recognised slogan since the 80s would have you believe, "competitive edge".

No surprise then that Berlin, the cool, cultural capital of Germany, should be up there as an epicentre for digital media activity, especially for the 8 days when their “Berlin / Web / Week” sees thousands of digital professionals descend on the city. This event alone propels Berlin to the top of the European festival landscape for the digital scene.

Last month, AVT Connect carried out no less than 3 webcasts in Berlin. All for the pharmaceutical industry and all were handling really sensitive information that needed to be shared as far as possible between their members, doctors and other medical professionals.

Firstly, there was ISHAM (International Society for Human & Animal Mycology) a worldwide organisation that represents all clinical scientists and fundamental researchers with an interest in fungal diseases. The aims of the organisation are to facilitate on an international basis the exchange of ideas and information including the publishing of journals and research.

The actual event was held at the Berlin Congress Centre, a state-of-the-art environment with ultra-modern equipment right down to the robotic video recording facilities. Eager to get their hands on this equipment AVT’s technicians liaised with the Centre’s technical team whose thorough knowledge and attention to detail made them a pleasure to work with. The content was captured seamlessly and successfully and will be delivered to a select audience via an on-demand webcast.

The next webcast was from EULAR, the European League Against Rheumatism. This is a massive congress attended by over 10,000 people and is sponsored by Abbott and GE Healthcare. Held in the ICC Berlin, this congress tackles all the issues and latest developments regarding rheumatism. AVT Connect were on hand to film various talks and webcast them to a wider audience. The webcasts were then put on GE Healthcare’s website for on-demand viewing.

Finally, there was TREG, The Rheumatology Education Group which is a think tank of key opinion leaders in the world of rheumatology who get together once a year to discuss the latest developments. This happens after the EULAR congress so the attendees can disseminate what they learnt there. Here AVT filmed the various discussions which took place in large groups and in smaller one-to-one sessions as well. Some of the discussions were live webcast to encourage participation from interested parties that were unable to attend.

For each webcast AVT Connect built a VMP (Virtual Meeting Platform) within which video and slide content as well as functions such as interactive Q&A, audience polling and multiple choice testing are combined in a single client branded console. This enabled virtual participants to benefit from many of the advantages that a physical attendee would enjoy from the comfort of their own PC or mobile device and often at a time to suit them.

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