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the greenest choice in every aspect

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could become greener with more than 1,200 trees planted in Rotterdam,” says Klerkx. “The trees were not placed randomly, but put in places that had a link with the conference. For exam ple, two school playgrounds were transformed into ‘blue-green’ play areas with lots of plants and natural play attributes. Research shows that green playgrounds are better for deaf and hearing-impaired children than concrete play grounds. A green playground not only offers a better experience, but the acoustics are also much better.” In addition, the initiators wanted to create more awareness of the challenges that deaf people face and, therefore, of the importance of coch lear implants. In this context, a free pop-up exhi bition with photos of children with a cochlear implant (CI) was realised during the conference in the centre of Rotterdam under the name Super HEARoes. The photos were taken by a photograp her who is also a (CI) user. Vegetarian catering According to Klerkx, catering can also result in substantial ecological gains. That is why the organisers consciously opted for sustainably and locally produced dishes. Close attention was also paid to food waste; no single-use plastic was used, and participants were given refillable bottles of tap water. “In many cultures, meat is an important part of the meal,” Klerkx adds. “Yet the ESPCI organisers dared to put together a completely vegetarian

bureau Rotterdam Partners to pitch to the scien tists of Radboud UMC and Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital,” says Pepijn Klerkx, director of Congress Care. “It was their express wish to realise the greenest possible conference. I told them that the greenest congress is a virtual one. We can also do this, but that was not their intention in this case. The next best idea was to make the greenest possible choice in every aspect. And that’s what we did. We examined every part of the conference: Is this green? Could it be even greener? The result is a conference where we have kept the footprint as small as possible.” Legacy “We notice that it’s becoming increasingly popu lar for both organisers and destinations of scien tific conferences to leave a positive and lasting impression or legacy in the city or region where the conference takes place,” says Klerkx. “And that’s exactly what we have done here. In colla boration with Rotterdam Partners and other sta keholders, we created a beautiful ‘round’ whole, where all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and where everything was connected.” Of all parts of a conference, air travel has the greatest negative impact on the environment. That is why this conference actively focused on encouraging train travel. To compensate for air travel, 10 euros from each participant’s registra tion fee went to a tree project. “Thanks to the ESPCI conference, Rotterdam

According to Pepijn Klerkx, director of the medi cal conference bureau Congress Care, a green conference is a contradiction in terms. How ever, organising a conference that is as green as possible can be done. The organisers of the biennial international medi cal conference, ESPCI (European Symposium on Pediatric Cochlear Implantation), wanted a conference that was as sustainable as possible. From start to finish, Congress Care was involved in making this a reality. Around 1,500 ENT specialists and surgeons regularly attend this biennial conference on cochlear implants. A cochlear implant is a hearing prosthesis that enables hearing-impaired and sometimes even deaf children to hear again. Last year, the organisation of the conference was in the hands of medical scientists from the Radboud UMC in Nijmegen and the Erasmus MC Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam, assis ted by IAPCO-certified Professional Congress Organiser Congress Care. The conference took place from May 31 to June 3, 2023, in the De Doelen ICC conference centre in Rotterdam. Can it be greener? Founded in 1997, Congress Care specialises in organising international medical-scientific meet ings anywhere in the world. Every year, the Den Bosch conference bureau organises 70 to 80 meetings with 100 to 2,000 participants. “Four years ago, we were invited by convention By Judith Munster

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