An annual conference that faced numerous challenges culminating in a 2-month postponement.

The representative of the Family Law Bar Association organising committee reached out to OD&V partner MeetCambridge in their search for the perfect Cambridge venue for their annual member-only event. After the initial introduction, the OD&V team came on board to create and deliver a one day conference for 150 people in person at The Auditorium in Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge with a number of attendees choosing to attend virtually vai the Venue-IQ platform.

The programme for the day consisted of guest speakers and presenters along with Q&A's at the end fo each session. The AGM was held during the lunch break whilst delegates enjoyed a beautiful buffet lunch. IN the evening, everyone dressed to impress to enjoy a 3-course gala dinner for 100 guests in the Grand Dining Hall of St John's College.

This conference was put in the diary for November 2022 as a hybrid event, to be live-streamed via a designated platform managed by VenuIQ and supported on the ground by a local audio-visual team, VenueAV. However due to a number of isues with industrial action and transport difficulties, we postponed the event until January 2023 and the numbers of registrations increased.

Having worked with both of the above partner companies on previous events in Cambridge, we felt confident that the perfect solution was being proposed, enabling association members to attend in person or virtually, to suit their schedules.

“The Team at OD&V, headed up by Madalina and Celia, was a great support and invaluable resource for us, full of good ideas and helpful advice. We managed the first hybrid conference, at their suggestion, which felt very inclusive with delegates from around England and Wales, those with caring responsibilities, suspected COVID cases and those with last-minute high workloads. This also reduced cancellations as delegates were able to move seamlessly from in-person to remote attendance. The IT platform worked very well indeed and their preparation for this was calm and skilled.  They were invaluable in taking the decision to adjourn the conference which was a significant step to take and could have gone horribly wrong, but it didn't. They are easy to work with, respectful and always engaged. I would not hesitate to recommend them and we definitely could not have staged the conference that we did without them.”

KATHARINE BUNDELL (4PB CHAMBERS) AND ORGANISER OF THE 2002/2023 FAMILY LAW BAR ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE