Our story begins in the late nineties, with a conference of 50 doctors – users of a groundbreaking software program for tracking medical records electronically.

The event was meant to let them get together and talk about how they were using the program. They hired Beatty Group for the conference planning. For the location, we picked the Chicago Marriott O’Hare Airport Hotel, so attendees would be able to fly in, have their meeting and leave two days later without a hassle.

Now the story gets bigger. Some of the original members of the user group were associated with a small local company, which was later bought by a much larger company, which wasn’t particularly interested in continuing to support the user group’s annual meetings.

So we at Beatty Group said we would support them.

Today, the group continues to meet twice a year, at different locations throughout the country. But now, instead of 50 members, there are 850.

And bigger. Meanwhile, the larger company had some conference planning to do of its own. Today we’re the main coordinators for them as well, organizing health care events with as many as 2,500 participants.

To us, the bigger story here is how these interconnected organizations and events have transformed so remarkably over the years – evolving from just a handful of people to thousands – and how we’ve been able to grow along with them, flexing ourselves to meet their needs along the way.

At that first 50-person conference, for example, the registration desk was just a six foot table outside the meeting room, where each guest paused to grab their name badge before going inside.

Today, registration for the same group is now five counters, with custom graphics, divided into segments of the alphabet, where staff usher guests into a ballroom decorated with floral arrangements and equipped with three screens, where guests listen to a keynote speaker before breaking out into six or eight smaller sessions. There’s a trade show, support labs, entertainment, evening receptions. It’s a whole different ball game.

But it’s the same team. And we’re thrilled to say we’re still pitching for them.

We’d love to do the same for you. Contact us.