Industry Symposia, Spotlight Stage & Meet-the-Expert

Information for All

Support

For any industry session questions, please reach out to Paolo Zavalloni pzavalloni@theisn.org and Romane Blondel at rblondel@theisn.org from ISN.

Another key contact for logistics is Meetings & More, the local logistical partner for the congress. They will manage the booking and invoicing for additional services, including catering, audiovisual equipment, badge scanners, and more. You can contact their team at wcn2025@meetingsandmore.com. To ensure a quicker response, please include your session date/time and company name in all messages.

Checklist and Important Dates

Please find below an overview of the main deadlines and actions. Actions marked with an asterixis * are mandatory for all. The other actions are optional depending on your preference.

November 15, 2024:

Program submission due*

December 1, 2024:

Feedback on programs available

January 6, 2025:

Book rehearsal slot
Add podium branding (valid for symposium and meet-the-expert only)
Add live streaming (valid for symposium only)
Finalize any additional Q&A and/or polling needs

January 20 2025:

Book badge scanners
Book any required catering
Book any temporary staff needs
Artwork for podium branding (valid for symposium and meet-the-expert only)

Whilst on-site:

Organize the upload of any presentation slides*

Forms

Advertising

Temporary staff

Catering

Badges scanning

Rehearsal slot

Livestream

Program

Companies must submit the program of your spotlight stage, industry symposium and/or meet-the-expert session for approval by November 15. You will receive feedback on your program by December 1.

Content is reviewed and approval by the WCN Congress Organizing Committee (COC) who will ascertain the scientific value of the program. Approval or suggestions for changes by the COC will be communicated and these recommendations must be taken into consideration. Changes cannot be made without approval. Please get in touch with ISN team if you need to make changes to your program.

Submission is made via the online form. Please submit one form per session. Ensure to check the availability of your speakers before submitting your program.

In line with the ISN Position Statement on Diversity, we ask that industry symposia programs are diverse from a gender, ethnicity and cultural perspective.

Program Submission Form

To help you prepare and collect the information, please note that the below information is required.

Session information

Session title (max 25 words)
Date
Start time (local time)
End time (local time)
Session duration (in minutes)

Chair(s)

Title
First name
Last name
Institute
Country
Email

Speaker(s)

Presentation title
Title
First name
Last name
Institute
Country
Email
Start time
Duration (in minutes)

Badge scanning

Companies may hire badge scanning equipment to scan participants at the entry of the session hall. Scan results contain full contact details (if consented) of the delegate as made available by the congress organizer and will be provided after the congress. The deadline to book is January 20, 2025. It is not possible to use an external supplier.

Temporary staff

You may wish to hire temporary staff to support with Q&A, handle badge scanners or to promote your session. All staff situated inside the meeting room must wear a valid badge. Please refer to the information on registration in this manual for more details. The deadline to book is January 20, 2025.

Staff can be hired independently or through the congress partner ‘Meetings & More’. Please note that, with the latter, there is only the option to hire temporary staff per day and not per hour.

Additional guidelines for promoting staff: A maximum number of two (2) guiding staff are allowed in the congress center to direct people to your industry session by holding signs, starting from 60-minutes prior to your assigned session. Please inform your temporary staff to only remain in the main congress areas or your own booth. They must not disturb any scientific sessions.

Rehearsal

Companies have the option to reserve rehearsal slots for their sessions. Rehearsals offer valuable benefits, including the opportunity to:

Visit the room ahead of time
Review the technical setup
Ask questions to the technical team
Test any non-standard AV systems
Conduct a brief run-through of presentations and slides with your faculty

During the rehearsal, a technician and an ISN staff member will be present in the room. If companies wish to have faculty attend, they are responsible for extending the invitations. The cost for each rehearsal slot is $1,000. Please note that a limited number of rehearsal slots will be available on Friday, February 7, and Saturday, February 8, allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The booking deadline is January 6, 2025.

	Amaltas A Hall	Amaltas B Hal	Neelkamal Hall	Gulmohar Hall	Champa Hall	Kumudini Hall
February 7, 2025 7:30 – 8:30	Available	Available	Available	Available	Available	Available
February 7, 2025 11:45 – 12:45	Booked	Available	Available	Available	Available	Booked
February 8, 2025 7:30 – 8:30	Booked	Available	Available	Available	Available	Available
February 8, 2025 11:45 – 12:45	Available	Available	Available	Booked	Available	Available

Advertising

We suggest booking additional advertising to effectively promote your industry session for maximum delegate attendance. Below are some selected options for your consideration:

Congress website Fee: $6,000 Ref code: #CW
Daily Congress Email Fee: $6,000 Ref code: #DCE
Push Notification Fee: $7,000 Ref code: #PN
Roll-up Banner/Standee Fee: $2,500 Ref code: #RB

For more information on each, and to view the full selection of advertising options, please consult the industry prospectus or speak with your ISN contact.

Industry Symposia

What is included in the package?

Please see below a list of the aspects included in each symposium booking:

Rental of the room and standard set up
Standard AV equipment and technician support
Advertisement of program displayed on congress website in symposia e-book
Opportunity to use digital signage in exhibition hall
Use of the speaker preparation room
Use of congress logo on invitations and promotional documents
Ability to stream in virtual speakers to live session for presentation and Q&A
Session recorded and made available with open-access on-demand for 12 months
Eight (8) symposium-only passes to access your symposium
Catering is included for lunch symposia
Live translation available in 30 languages

How is the room set-up?

All rooms are set in theatre style. Each symposium room is equipped with the following AV items:

2 x standing microphones
Sound system
1 x comfort monitor on stage (2 for bigger capacity rooms) with timer + presentation for presenter view
1 x speaker lectern
1 x clicker
2 x tables
4 x chairs
1 x camera

The technicians will be in the room but please note there are no temporary staff available in the rooms. This must be booked separately, if required. Due to the strict schedule, it is not possible to adapt the equipment and AV and/or hire alternative equipment for the session. Please also note that it is not permitted to add your own branding to the session room chairs.

Schedule

The breakfast symposia are from 8:30 to 9:30a.m. The lunch symposia run from 1 – 2p.m. You may find the most up-to-date schedule here

The slots are 60 minutes long. We recommend a structure of 45 minutes of presentations followed by 10-15 minutes of Q&A.

Catering

For all symposia during the lunch slot (1-2p.m.), catering is included in the package and arranged by ISN. Boxed lunches will be distributed to delegates entering your symposium room. This service starts 15-minutes prior to the assigned session time. Breakfast slots do not have catering in the package, but this can be booked on.

Recording

All symposia are recorded and made available with open-access on-demand on the ISN Academy within 48 hours after taking place. Recordings are available on the ISN Academy for 12 months. If you need to check the recording of your symposium for compliance before the upload please let us know in advance. Companies may request a copy of the recording for internal use only. Companies are not allowed to post or share recordings outside of their organization. Please place your request after the congress via email to rblondel@theisn.org.

Access to the room

Companies will have access to the symposium room 30 minutes before the assigned starting time for set up and/or rehearsal. Technical staff will be available for support at that time only. Companies must strictly adhere to the indicated start and ending times of the reserved time slot. Extensions beyond the assigned timings are not allowed under any circumstances. The symposium venue should be completely vacated immediately after the end of the symposium.

Faculty

To guarantee that every faculty member has adequate space on stage and that the recording equipment can effectively capture all participants, a maximum of five faculty members is permitted per symposium.

Companies are responsible for ensuring that their moderators/speakers have the necessary congress registration in place to access the congress and deliver their presentations. You will have received eight (8) symposium only passes which are intended for use only by company employees or for speakers who may not wish to register to the full congress to give their presentation.

The ISN does not handle or arrange registration, accommodation, or travel for speakers at industry symposia. Faculty members participating in any industry symposia are not eligible for the WCN faculty travel policy.

Livestream

Though ISN will make it possible to livestream, is strongly recommended to have in-person chairs/speakers. This information will be requested during the program submission form.

It is possible to add on the option of livestreaming industry symposia to an online audience. As with symposia recordings, the live streaming will be open-access targeted at healthcare professionals. An individual is not required to be registered to WCN in order to watch the live stream of the symposium. For companies that book this paid option, the symposium will be streamed from the venue to a webpage under the www.theisn.org/wcn host site facilitated by Vimeo. There is no separate dedicated streaming platform that requires registration. Companies will be provided with the URL link to include in your communications, and the link will also be available on the congress website where industry symposia programs are displayed. To access the link, viewers are required to provide some basic information in a pop-up including: name, country and confirmation of HCP status. This is for ISN to be able to provide some viewer reports to companies. The reports will be provided in the days following your symposium including total views, unique views and country breakdown. Companies may request additional additional custom fields in the pop-up that must be GDPR compliant (Deadline: December 16). However, in order to keep the form short and therefore the access to live symposium convenient, we strongly recommend limiting the number of fields required. It is not possible to track length of time spent on the livestream. The deadline to book is January 6, 2025. The fee is $6,000.

Slides

Companies are responsible for ensuring presentation slides are uploaded in the Speaker Preview Room at least two hours prior to start of session – either by instructing speakers to do so, or by collecting all slides and uploading them on behalf of speakers. If the latter, please ensure that each presentation is saved as a separate file on your USB stick, rather than merging them into one file. Presentation slides should be stored on a USB memory stick. Technicians will be available in the room to provide assistance.

It is important to note that managing presentations from personal laptops directly in the session rooms is prohibited. When slides are uploaded in the Speaker Preview Room, owner grants ISN the necessary consent to display the slides during the congress and upload them to the ISN Academy.

The Speaker Preview Room is accessible between 2 – 7 p.m. on February 5, between 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. on February 6 and between 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. on February 7 and 8. It is located on level B-1.

Due to a very strict schedule the intermission slides will be ISN/WCN looping only.

Share these presentation guidelines with your speakers

Format

All presentations are held in Microsoft PowerPoint on a PC running with Windows. Please note that the congress computers in the session rooms are being supplied with Microsoft Office 2019 or higher. If you are using other software than Microsoft PowerPoint on a PC running Windows (example: OpenOffice, PowerPoint for Mac, Keynote) please make sure your presentation is converted to Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows PCs. Please give your file name an extension ‘.PPT’ .PPTX’.Technical instructions

16:9 (wide screen) ratio
Preferred page setup is landscape orientation
Use high-contrast colors: light text on dark background or vice versa
It is not recommended to use time-controlled transitions
Recommended to use a font size of minimum 28
If including videos in your presentation, please make sure to check that they work in the speaker preview room at least 2 hours prior to your session.
The lighter (in size) your PowerPoint presentation is the easier to handle

Important information for Mac users

In order to use a Mac presentation on a PC-compatible computer, please note that you need to prepare it according to the instructions below, before bringing it to the speaker preview room.

Use a common font, such as Arial, Times New Roman, Verdana, etc. (special fonts might be changed to a default font on a PowerPoint-based PC).
Insert pictures as JPG and PNG files (and not TIF, or PICT – these images will not be visible on a PowerPoint-based PC).
Use a common movie format, such as AVI, MPG, and WMV. MOV files from QuickTime will not be visible on a PowerPoint-based PC

Language and Translations

The official language for the congress is English. However, the ISN is permitting presentations in other languages, provided that the slides are created in English and the non-English presentation is clearly outlined in your symposium promotion/brochure. This initiative is part of a new service offered by ISN: live AI translation for all delegates, allowing them to translate congress sessions from English into over 30 languages.

Live AI translation will be available for all sessions in these 30+ languages. To ensure accuracy, we kindly ask you to send a preliminary list of key terms that will be referenced in your session, such as trial names, drug names, speaker names, and study names, to help log into the system.

We will reach out to you via email before January 6, 2025 to request a complete session glossary. Please make sure to send this to pzavalloni@theisn.org.

If you have any questions regarding this, please feel free to contact the ISN team.

Q&A and Polling

As standard, microphones on stands will be available in each room for Q&A. Depending on your preferences, we are sharing below some additional Q&A options. All adaptions must be booked and organized no later than January 6, 2025.

Handheld mics: It is possible to order handheld mics, if preferred. You may wish to also organize temporary staff to manage the mics as there are no staff in the room by default.
Online Q&A: Companies may provide ISN with all details of their chosen Q&A system (QR code, link…) to be embedded in their sessions’ screen.
Polling devices: Companies may rent polling devices with Meetings & More.

For any non-standard options, we strongly recommend companies organize a rehearsal slot for practice to ensure smooth running during the day.

Waste

Companies are responsible for removing all materials, waste, etc. from the room. Any costs for removal will be charged to the symposia organizer. It is compulsory that the organizers communicate to their attendees to use the bins located in the room.

Can we brand the podium on stage?

All lecterns will have WCN branding by default. It is possible to customize the lectern with your own company branding. Each symposium room will be provided with one (1) speaker lectern. Please place your order via email with pzavalloni@theisn.org before January 6, 2025. The fee is $250 USD.The artwork is due by January 20, 2025.

The specifications are: 1080×1920 pxl. The file should be submitted in PDF format. Please leave 1/3 empty space at the top of your artwork; this is where the speaker’s name will be projected by the congress AV team.

Promoting your Symposium

Industry symposia are commercially-supported educational activities held during WCN. Therefore, the sponsoring company needs to ensure that all publications referring to their symposium mention: ‘Official WCN’25 sponsored session‘ to avoid any confusion with the official WCN’25 program.

The following items are promotional activities included in each industry symposia package. Please take note of the information and deadlines. There are no additional costs for these items. To book additional promotion, please view the WCN’25 industry prospectus and reach out to the ISN team.

Brochure

Before December 16, 2024, please provide a brochure flyer for your symposium which will be placed in the symposia program e-book and looped on the digital screen promoting all symposia in the venue. This is all organized by ISN and included in your package. The dimensions for the artwork are 16:9 horizontal artwork in PDF. The symposia e-book should be available online by January 6, 2025. Please note that all brochures received after the December 16 deadline will be not be part of the first upload and will be uploaded on the website at a later stage.

Congress App

Before December 16, please provide a JPEG banner of 1200x600px to be uploaded on your session detail page in the WCN’25 congress app.

Communications sent by ISN

All symposia organized at WCN will be promoted on the meeting website and on various pre-congress communications. All symposia bookings include one collective social media post to promote the sessions. The post will include symposia topics, companies logos and symposia dates/times.

Promotion at the congress venue

Companies are authorized to bring one (1) self-standing roll up banner to be placed outside the symposium room. Companies are requested to place the roll up banner themselves 30 minutes before the symposium and dismantle immediately after the symposium ends. The specifications of the banner should be no larger than standard 85cm W x 2m H or 3ft x 6ft roll-up banner.

Companies are permitted to promote their symposium at their own booth, in public areas of the venue 90 minutes prior to the session until the end of the session (max. two staff promoting per symposium).

Symposium organizers are asked to refrain from leaving unused invitations, posters or symposium material at the congress venue. In the instance of non-adherence to this rule an additional cost will be charged for removal.

Promotion at congress hotels

Promotional leaflets, poster boards or branding hotel key cards / door drops to advertise your symposium is not allowed outside of the official WCN’25 sponsorship option. Violation of the regulation may result in expulsion without any indemnity.

Spotlight Stage

What is included in the package?

20-30 minute presentation slot
Stage, AV and screen available to use
Full spotlight stage schedule promoted via email and social media before, during and post-congress
Your program details displayed on the congress app, congress website and signage in the venue
Two (2) exhibitor badges for your staff and faculty to access

What is the set-up?

The Spotlight Stage is located in exhibition hall on level 6. The area is equipped with the following items:

Mini stage
3 stools on stage for presenters
Laptop
2-3 microphones
Large screen
Casual sitting 30 – 40 capacity

Regular Wi-Fi is available which will be sufficient for normal usage, but not for downloading heavy files or streaming. Technical support staff includes an audio operator, IT operator and English-speaking area support. ISN staff will also be available onsite to support. Please see below photos of this area in previous congresses (as reference; actual set-up may differ).

Schedule

The full schedule will be published on the congress website in January. Alongside industry-hosted sessions, the ISN will deliver engaging presentations on the Spotlight Stage on a variety of topics throughout the day. The hours of the Spotlight Stage follow the exhibition opening hours. Companies must strictly adhere to the indicated start and ending times of the reserved time slot. Extensions beyond the assigned timings are not allowed under any circumstances.

Promotion

The sessions on the Spotlight Stage are published and promoted on the congress app, congress website and signage in the venue. Please reach out for information on booking additional promotion.

Spotlight Stage sessions are commercially-supported educational activities held during WCN. Therefore, the sponsoring company needs to ensure that all publications referring to their session mention: ‘Official WCN’25 sponsored session‘ to avoid any confusion with the official WCN’25 program.

Recording

Sessions on the Spotlight Stage are not automatically recorded and made available on-demand for 12-months with open-access, as the industry symposia are. If you would like to arrange this option, the fee is $6,000 on top of the published fees.

Access

Two (2) complimentary exhibitor badges are provided for any staff and faculty without a registration to be able to access the exhibition hall. Companies and your speakers must arrive at the Spotlight Stage at least 20 minutes prior to the start of your session. Technical staff will be available for support.

The symposium venue should be completely vacated immediately after the end of the symposium.

Faculty

To guarantee that every faculty member has adequate space on stage, a maximum of four faculty members is permitted per Spotlight.

Companies are responsible for ensuring that their speakers have the necessary congress registration in place to access the congress (specifically, the exhibition hall) and deliver their presentations on the Spotlight Stage. You will have received two (2) exhibitor badges which are intended for use only by company employees or for speakers who may not wish to register to the full congress to give their presentation.

The ISN does not handle or arrange registration, accommodation, or travel for speakers of Spotlight Stage.

All presentations must be delivered in person. It is not possible to live stream or play a recorded presentation.

Slides

Presentations for Spotlight Stage are not uploaded in the Speaker Preview Room; they are uploaded directly in the Spotlight Stage with the technician. Companies are responsible for ensuring that their speakers arrive at the stage prior to the session to upload their slides – either by instructing speakers to do so, or by collecting all slides and uploading them on behalf of speakers. If the latter, please ensure that each presentation is saved as a separate file on your USB stick, rather than merging them into one file. Presentation slides should be stored on a USB memory stick.

It is important to note that managing presentations from personal laptops directly is prohibited.

Meet-the-Expert

What is included in the package?

The rates charged to organize a meet-the-expert session includes:

60 minute session
Open to all delegates
Stage, AV and screen available to use
Full meet-the-expert schedule promoted via email and social media before, during and post-congress
Your program details displayed on the pocket program, congress website and signage in the venue
Roundtable set-up with handheld microphones available to facilitate discussions

What is the set up?

The room will be set-up as follows:

Stage
2 chairs
Lectern
Screen
Crescent rounds for 60 capacity
Microphones on room tables
Sound system

Schedule

Meet-the-Expert sessions run from 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. in the mornings and from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. in the afternoons. Sessions are limited to 60-minutes long.

Access to the room

Companies will have access to the symposium room 15 minutes before the assigned starting time. Technical staff will be available for support at that time only. Companies must strictly adhere to the indicated start and ending times of the reserved time slot. Extensions beyond the assigned timings are not allowed under any circumstances. The room should be completely vacated immediately after the end of the session.

Faculty

To guarantee that every faculty member has adequate space on stage and that the recording equipment can effectively capture all participants, a maximum of four faculty members is permitted per session.

The ISN does not handle or arrange registration, accommodation, or travel for faculty of meet-the-expert sessions. Faculty members participating in any meet-the-expert are not eligible for the WCN faculty travel policy.

Livestream

Though ISN will make it possible to livestream, is strongly recommended to have in-person chairs/speakers. This information will be requested during the program submission form.

It is not recommended for this format to add live streaming to your session.

Q&A and Polling

As standard, microphones are available on the tables to aid discussions. Depending on your preferences, we are sharing below some additional Q&A options. Please finalize your options by January 6, 2025.

Handheld mics: It is possible to order handheld mics, if preferred. You may wish to also organize temporary staff to manage the mics as there are no staff in the room by default.
Online Q&A: Companies may provide ISN with all details of their chosen Q&A system (QR code, link…) to be embedded in their sessions’ screen.
Polling devices: Companies may rent polling devices with Meetings & More.

For any non-standard options, we strongly recommend companies organize a rehearsal slot for practice to ensure smooth running during the day.

Can we brand the podium on stage?

All lecterns will have WCN branding by default. It is possible to customize the lectern with your own company branding. Each symposium room will be provided with one (1) speaker lectern. Please place your order via email with pzavalloni@theisn.org before December 6, 2024. The fee is $250 USD. The artwork is due by January 20, 2025.

Waste

Translation and Language

The official language for the congress is English. The translation service is not possible in meet-the-expert rooms.

Slides

Companies are responsible for ensuring any presentation slides are uploaded in the Speaker Preview Room at least two hours prior to start of session – either by instructing speakers to do so, or by collecting all slides and uploading them on behalf of speakers. If the latter, please ensure that each presentation is saved as a separate file on your USB stick, rather than merging them into one file. Presentation slides should be stored on a USB memory stick. Technicians will be available in the room to provide assistance.

It is important to note that managing presentations from personal laptops directly in the session rooms is prohibited.

The Speaker Preview Room is accessible between 2 – 7 p.m. on February 5, between 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. on February 6 and between 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. on February 7 and 8. It is located on level B-1.

Due to a very strict schedule the intermission slides will be ISN/WCN looping only.

Promotion

Meet-the-expert sessions are commercially-supported educational activities held during WCN. Therefore, the sponsoring company needs to ensure that all publications referring to their session mention: ‘Official WCN’25 sponsored session‘ to avoid any confusion with the official WCN’25 program.

Share these presentation guidelines with your speakers

Format

16:9 (wide screen) ratio
Preferred page setup is landscape orientation
Use high-contrast colors: light text on dark background or vice versa
It is not recommended to use time-controlled transitions
Recommended to use a font size of minimum 28
If including videos in your presentation, please make sure to check that they work in the speaker preview room at least 2 hours prior to your session.
The lighter (in size) your PowerPoint presentation is the easier to handle

Important information for Mac users

In order to use a Mac presentation on a PC-compatible computer, please note that you need to prepare it according to the instructions below, before bringing it to the speaker preview room.

Use a common font, such as Arial, Times New Roman, Verdana, etc. (special fonts might be changed to a default font on a PowerPoint-based PC).
Insert pictures as JPG and PNG files (and not TIF, or PICT – these images will not be visible on a PowerPoint-based PC).
Use a common movie format, such as AVI, MPG, MP4 and WMV. MOV files from QuickTime will not be visible on a PowerPoint-based PC