It has been an eventful and special year for Millbrook Medical Conferences, too, being the 30th anniversary of the business. Bouncing back from the pandemic, Millbrook Medical Conferences (Millbrook) organised 50 meetings in total: an increase of 26 from 2021! Of the 50 conferences, 24 were e-conferences or webinars, whilst 26 were in-person and hybrid conferences. Millbrook returned to some major cities throughout the UK, and visited some new ones, including Derby, Galway, Glasgow, London and Manchester, managing a total of 13,485 attendees worldwide!
By providing medical practitioners in several different disease areas with accessible medical education through a variety of different conferences, Millbrook is facilitating them with the knowledge they need to make informed, and often lifesaving decisions, as well as contributing to vital medical advancements. This education is vital to the NHS as well as private and international healthcare systems to improve patient outcomes and the standard of healthcare for all, forever.
Before Millbrook Medical Conferences begins chapter 2023, the business is reflecting on some of its best bits of 2022 outside of organising conferences.
In 2022, Millbrook and Managing Director Fiona McDonald were delighted to have been shortlisted for the Best Legacy Award within the ABPCO Excellence Awards. The nomination focuses on the legacy and impact Millbrook and Fiona has and continues to have on medical education. To support its application, Millbrook was invited to submit a short video and, as you can tell, the Millbrook team had a lot of fun filming it.
Millbrook turned ‘the big 3-0’ last year and such a milestone could not go unmarked. In the run up to the anniversary, the Millbrook team went on an undercover operation to create a celebratory video for Fiona. The mission involved contacting her former colleagues, family and friends, and asking them to record a short congratulatory message, which were all collated into one long video. On Friday 11 November, the team travelled down to London for a ride on Funicular’s The Murdér Express, where they enjoyed an immersive theatre dining experience to celebrate the business and all its achievements.
Millbrook began the year continuing its work as the secretariat for the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society (BCIS), which is just shy of 2,000 members! In 2022, Millbrook organised a total of 22 conferences for BCIS, equating to approximately 55 hours of education. The meetings included educational forums, dedicated sessions for AHPs, consultants and trainees and its flagship conference Advanced Cardiovascular Intervention (ACI). BCIS ACI 2022 was a rip-roaring success, educating over 900 delegates and giving every single one of them the opportunity to participate through a dedicated app and education dome.
Millbrook also strengthened its relationship with Valve for Life UK as its administrator. Valve for Life UK aims to increase access to transcatheter heart therapies in the UK through various means, including the Valve for Life UK bus tour, which made headlines on Sky News last November. As the administrator for Valve for Life UK, Millbrook maintains the Valve for Life UK website, social media channels and assists in internal and external activities.
Millbrook expanded its team employing Patricia Sloneczny (also known as Trish) as Operations Assistant. Previously a Director of Quality, HR and CSR in the construction industry, Trish joined Millbrook in March to support the management team in the development and maintenance of quality management systems. Since joining Millbrook, Trish has refined Millbrook’s current processes and procedures adding to the already robust health and safety requirements and ensuring they are complied with. Trish is committed to supporting the management team with the day-to-day running of all office functions to ensure the safe and smooth running of the business and development of all employees.
In June, Millbrook also welcomed Sarah Davies (better known as Sarah D to avoid confusion) to the team as a Marketing Executive who supports Business Development and Marketing Manager Sarah Moore on everything digital at Millbrook. Sarah D keeps Millbrook on the map, taking care of several social media channels and communications, as well as writing articles and case studies. Sarah D graduated from the University of Bedfordshire with a first-class degree in Magazine Journalism.
If you are a @MillbrookMed Twitter follower, you will know that Millbrook ran its own version of Channel 4’s the Great British Bake Off in September, aptly named the ‘Great Millbrook Bake Off.’ The team enjoyed sweet and savoury treats from a Kinder Bueno drip cake and Tres leches cake to moreish bread and sausage rolls! Millbrook can officially reveal that Sarah Moore won the Great Millbrook Bake Off with her yummy eclairs!
To support the exponential growth of the company and Executive Conference Managers, Millbrook is recruiting for a Conference Organiser and an Events, Societies and Clubs Administrator.
2022 has been an outstanding year and with many new business enquiries, 2023 shows promise of being another busy and successful year!
Thank you for supporting Millbrook throughout 2022.
Millbrook Medical Conferences has reached an exciting milestone as it celebrates three decades of organising first-class medical education.
Millbrook Medical Conferences (Millbrook) was established in 1992 by Managing Director Fiona McDonald during her maternity leave after realising a need for the service whilst working within the NHS as a secretary.
Fast forward 30 years and Millbrook is a multi-award-winning business that serves healthcare professionals worldwide by ensuring the delivery of high-quality education through its range of in-person, virtual and hybrid conferences.
Millbrook has received many accolades since its inception, most recently in October 2022 when it was named as a finalist within the ABPCO Excellence Awards for the Best Legacy Award. The nomination focuses on the legacy and impact Millbrook and Fiona has and continues to have on medical education. Wish Millbrook luck when the winners are announced on Friday, 9 December at Birmingham ICC!
In the lead up the anniversary, the Millbrook team were working behind the scenes (and did very well to keep schtum!) to create a special 30th birthday video for Fiona. The Millbrook team reached out to Fiona’s previous colleagues, family, and friends old and new, and were overwhelmed with the response. The aim was to get 30 people to record a short congratulatory message, which were all collated into one long lovely video. Before setting off to the capital for a fun-filled evening, the team shared the video with Fiona over a glass of fizz, who was bowled over by the messages of thanks and well wishes.
The 20-minute video featuring the Millbrook team, Adrian Banning, Dan Blackman, David Gershlick and Nick Curzen to name just a few, is available to view in the video below.
Afterwards, the team headed down to London for a ride on Funicular’s The Murdér Express, where they enjoyed an immersive theatre dining experience to celebrate the business and all its achievements in style.
For Fiona, the surprises didn’t stop there as the Millbrook team had a wall mural specially created to mark the 30th birthday. The wall art contains a collection of words and locations of significant importance to the business and its growth, depicted in different sizes.
Here’s to another 30 years of organising high-quality education!
2022 is a special year for Millbrook as it sees the company celebrate 30 years’ in organising first-class medical education. Millbrook Medical Conferences prides itself on actively contributing to medical education by providing an accessible and compliant conference and event management platform for healthcare professionals.
Fiona was virtually interviewed by Heather. Amongst a range of other topics, the two discussed the changes to the industry and conferences over the last three decades, whilst also reflecting on how Millbrook has grown from an initial concept that included just a handful of events a year to its current status as a leading UK-based PCO (Professional Conference Organiser) for Medical Education.
Fiona McDonald, winner of the prestigious BCIS Lifetime Achievement Award, set up Millbrook Medical Conferences in 1992 whilst working in the NHS with demand from colleagues looking to run medical education events, but not knowing how to organise such meetings.
Fast-forward 30 years and Millbrook is an award-winning company that has grown to a team of 11, managing up to 40 face-to-face, hybrid and fully virtual meetings a year from 50-5,000 delegates, attracting global participation. Millbrook’s continued success is borne through understanding the requirements of the organisers, delegates and sponsors.
What’s more, in 2018, Millbrook launched sister company Millbrook Medical Logistics, which offers an effective solution to the preparation of educational grants, booking compliant travel, hotel accommodation and processing conference registration.
Millbrook isn’t stopping there though; the company has exciting plans for the next year, which will all be revealed soon!
Millbrook is going from strength-to-strength, having recently been named as ‘Lockdown Hero’ in the 2020 ABPCO Excellence Awards, which reward excellence and professionalism in the world of association events, recognising professional conference organisers and event industry partners for their contributions to the industry. In 2021, Millbrook was extremely proud to have been shortlisted within the ‘Best Conference by an Agency Conference Organiser’ category for BCIS’s ACI Virtual Experience.
Over the 30 years, Millbrook has built up its workforce, continually investing and supporting every team member. In the interview with Heather, Fiona credited her colleagues for getting the business to where it is today and the positive workplace culture. Of the Millbrook team, Dominic Legate, Matt Daly and Lizzie Head are recognised as Associate Members.
ABPCO is a leading UK membership organisation for professional conference and event organisers working in-house and for agencies across the corporate, public, association and other not-for-profit sectors. Selected following the demonstration of experience and on peer assessment, membership gives individual organisers unique credibility amongst clients, suppliers and competitors alike.
Fiona McDonald’s exclusive interview with Heather Lishman is now available to watch on YouTube:
