The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre) successfully hosted the recent Ottawa Conference on the Assessment of Competence in Medicine and the Healthcare Professions (Ottawa Conference) 2020 in early March, but under very different circumstances!

According to the Ottawa Conference Operations Director, Pat Lilley, “This particular conference was a lot more challenging than usual due to the Covid-19 outbreak. We came for our last site meeting in January 2020 and everything was wonderful and going according to plan, with large numbers of participants registered. However, we ended up facing the challenge of trying to maintain a full programme, while recognizing that many participants from around the world could no longer attend the conference.”

To help deal with these challenges the Ottawa Conference Organiser teamed up with the Centre to find innovative solutions to ensure the event ran smoothly despite the global disruption. This involved last-minute changes in the event format and the ability for participants and speakers to join and engage with the conference programme remotely and vice-versa, which utilised the venue’s state-of-the-art information technology (IT) and audio-visual (AV) infrastructure.

Of key importance at the time was the ability to keep potential attendees engaged and comfortable about participation under growing uncertainty about travel restrictions. Consistent, factual, transparent communication was the crucial factor that kept delegates committed to attending the conference. The other crucial factor was adapting and increasing hygiene and sanitary measures to ease concerns and create visible changes in the Centre around these mechanisms.

The Centre’s General Manager, Alan Pryor, said, “A flexible and engaged partnership approach with the Event Organiser was critical in order for them to feel assured and not alone in a volatile changing landscape. We constantly were looking at ways to make the conference remain viable and to ensure anyone who wanted to be a part of it could attend in person or participate remotely. It really did provide us with a very good opportunity to fully utilize our technologically advanced IT backbone to support flawless remote access and create a safe environment for the Ottawa Conference.”

Speaking on her experience and thanking the Centre for their role in making the Ottawa Conference such a compelling and seamless event, Lilley added, “The Centre was very responsive and senior management has been extremely helpful, recognising that we really didn’t want to cancel and postpone the conference, but were not in a position to accommodate the original number of participants we expected. The Centre was also very attentive and the staff extremely helpful throughout the entire process. We were very pleased with the high level of service we received.”

“In the end, the conference went amazingly well, albeit slightly differently due to the global situation, as it forced us to think very carefully about the format of the conference programme. It was quite an experience, but I have to say it’s been very enjoyable and the participant feedback was extremely positive, with many liking the new format as it felt more cohesive. Whilst initially it felt like all bad news, it certainly has not been that way at all. I am so pleased we put on a good conference with the help of so many people,” Lilley concluded.

Held biennially and jointly organized by the Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) and International Medical University Malaysia (IMU), the Ottawa Conference brought together medical and other healthcare profession educationalists to network and share ideas on all aspects of the assessment of competence in both clinical and non-clinical domains, throughout the continuum of education. Participants include both those new to the area of assessment and those with many years’ experience to share.

For all the latest news and information on the Centre, visit www.klccconventioncentre.com.

The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (the Centre) recently became the first venue in Malaysia to partner with Food Aid Foundation to connect surplus with the world of needs. The foundation is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that rescues surplus food and groceries and distributes it to people in need. Under the partnership, the Centre will be providing its surplus food and raising awareness surrounding the importance of limiting food waste amongst its team members and the general public.

According to the Centre’s Deputy General Manager, John Burke, “As the ‘People’s Centre’ and Malaysia’s premier purpose-built venue, we are a socially responsible organisation that operates our business in a sustainable manner. Giving our surplus food to those in need is something we have wanted to undertake for a while, but it hasn’t been possible until now.”

He continued, “Thanks to the passing of the Food Donors Protection Bill 2019 in Parliament, we are delighted to be able to establish this great partnership with Food Aid Foundation to help them achieve their worthy mission of ending hunger and nourishing hope by connecting the world of surplus to the world of wants. We look forward to growing this partnership and in the process hopefully improving the nourishment and well-being of those supported by Food Aid Foundation.”

The Centre is supportive of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) to transform the world, and its partnership with the Food Aid Foundation help contribute towards goals 1, 2 and 12, no poverty, zero hunger and responsible consumption and production respectively.

Thanking the Centre for their support, Food Aid Foundation Founder, Rick Chee, said, “We commend the efforts of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre and we deeply appreciate the partnership. We also hope this collaboration will inspire other local venues and organisations to follow suit, as from our studies, we know that there is an abundance of surplus food in Kuala Lumpur that can most certainly be put to good use.”

“The greatest gratification coming out of our mission is to see the smiles on the recipients’ face when they receive food and the chance to taste many items which they have never tried before. Even a simple item like a Danish pastry can give them so much joy,” he added.

In addition to this campaign, the Centre also works with qualified contractors to turn its organic waste into useful products. For example, organic waste is processed into fish feed and used cooking oil is recycled into various by-products including soap stock.

Food Aid Foundation is an NGO which rescues ‘Halal’ edible but surplus food and groceries from manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, companies and people. This includes unused or unwanted food, as well as products that are out of specification, close to expiry, incorrect labelling, damaged packaging, discontinued promotional products, excess stock and customer returns. This is all collected and distributed to charitable/welfare homes, voluntary welfare organisations, refugee community, poor families, soup kitchens and more. For more information, visit www.foodaidfoundation.org/. For all the latest news and information on the Centre, visit www.klccconventioncentre.com.