15 Apr 2021
With BCVA and BEVA confirming their plans for face-to-face congresses, a more-like-normal schedule of events for late 2021 is starting to take shape.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
Live vet congresses are set for an autumn comeback, with more face-to-face events now announced.
The BCVA and BEVA are the latest associations to confirm they are planning face-to-face congresses later in 2021, joining the BVNA and London Vet Show/BVA, which had already announced their own plans for October and November respectively.
The BSAVA, which cancelled its annual congress at the start of the pandemic, held a virtual congress last month for the first time.
In figures revealed to Vet Times, the BSAVA said it received more than 3,300 registrations for the live event, with 20% of them international – double the norm for a congress programme.
Although the total registrants were below delegate numbers for the usual face-to-face congress, Sarah Fitzpatrick, head of events and partnerships at the BSAVA, hailed “a phenomenal turnout given the challenges the profession is currently facing as a result of the pandemic”.
Social media engagement surpassed expectations, with #BSAVA21 garnering 2,198,059 impressions and reaching 385,133 people. She said: “Feedback has been glowing. No one really knew what to expect from a virtual congress, but the verdict appears to be that it worked extremely well and exceeded expectations.
“The fact the event was virtual made it more globally accessible and we’ve got a healthy take-up of registrations still coming from international delegates, as well as those from the UK.”
She added: “Our plans for BSAVA Congress 2022 are already significantly under way and we remain committed to returning to a face-to-face event in Manchester in March.
“But we will also be looking to build on the success of this year’s virtual platform with a cleverly blended format. By bringing elements of virtual congress into our more traditional format, we aim to retain the high degree of accessibility and flexibility that delegates have so enjoyed this year.”
BEVA, which is celebrating its diamond anniversary this year, yesterday announced Europe’s largest equine veterinary event was returning to the ICC Birmingham from 4 to 7 September. But a virtual option is also planned.
BEVA Congress was cancelled last year because of COVID-19, and a special programme for the 60th birthday is planned, including the 13th International Equine Colic Symposium taking place during the event.
Although planning for BCVA Congress 2021 coincided with the new year return to lockdown, the BCVA board took a cautiously optimistic approach.
President Nikki Hopkins said: “Starting the year planning for a live autumn congress felt like the healthiest approach. So, we have begun the early stages of preparation for BCVA Congress, which I’m delighted is set to take place 14 to 16 October at Celtic Manor in Newport, South Wales.
“I feel we need something to look forward to and to focus on, and the potential opportunity to meet colleagues and to network later in the year provides just that.
“As we begin planning for 2021 BCVA Congress by inviting submissions to the programme, the safety of our colleagues is always going to be central to every decision we make along the way. Of course, we have contingencies in place for all eventualities, including an online option – but it is our hope that by the autumn we will be in a position to host a live congress, even if it means adapting the way we would normally run the event.”
Vets Now, however, said its annual ECC Congress would run virtually, as last year, from 3 to 6 November.
Dan Lewis – ECC specialist at Vets Now, who planned the veterinary programme – said: “We felt it was the right decision for everyone to continue our ECC Congress as a virtual event. However, all being well, we will be back in Leeds for the ECC Congress in November 2022.”
VMG-SPVS Congress 2020 was the final mass vet get-together event before the pandemic, but 2021’s – on 13 and 14 May – is virtual.
BVNA Congress is being planned for 2 to 4 October at Telford International Centre, with tickets due to go on sale in May.
The BVA, in conjunction with London Vet Show organiser CloserStill, postponed June’s BVA Live event at the NEC in Birmingham until June 2022, and the 2020 vet show was postponed to November this year.
