Scientific Information

Important Notice for Chairpersons and Speakers

All chairpersons and speakers are kindly requested to be in the session room at least 10 minutes before the start of the session.

Abstracts

Abstracts are printed as supplement of Vox Sanguinis. All abstracts are listed in the Programme Book. The abstracts are also published on a CD Rom.

Certificates of Attendance

Certificates of Attendance will be available at Registration Desk as of Tuesday, June 10, at 12.00 hours.

CME

The XXXth International Congress of the ISBT is accredited to provide CME activity for medical specialists by the European Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (EACCME). The EACCME is an institution of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS), www.uems.net.

The The XXXth International Congress of the ISBT is designated for a maximum of up to 21 hours of European external CME credits. Each medical specialist should claim only those hours of credit that he/she actually spent in the educational activity. EACCME credits are recognized by the American Medical Association towards the Physician's Recognition Award (PRA). To convert EACCME credit to AMA PRA category 1 credit, contact the AMA.

Dr. Harold Gunson Fellowships

Thanks to the ISBT, the Organising Committee has awarded several young people from low income countries with a Harold Gunson Fellowship. Dr. Harold Gunson, President of the Society 1990 – 1992 and Secretary-General 1992 – 2000 is recognised as one of the key leaders of the ISBT. In a period that ISBT encountered many very serious problems as a consequence of the discovery that hepatitis B and AIDS are blood borne transmissible infectious diseases, it was the Executive Board and in particular Dr. Gunson who leaded the Society through difficult times. The Office of the Secretary-General had to move to another place, the bad financial situation had to be solved, and at the same time the activities of the Society had to continue. Dr. Gunson, a modest but determined scientist, took this task on his shoulders and at the same time he devoted much of his time to developing countries and in particular to fellowships in order to create the opportunity that doctors and scientists from developing countries would be able to attend the Congresses of ISBT.

For International and Regional ISBT Congresses, the Society gives financial support for a number of Fellowships. These are given to people working in the field of blood transfusion, 40 years or younger, who have had an abstract accepted for inclusion in the scientific programme.

Fellowships by the Macao Governement

The government of the Macao Special Administrative Region offers fellowships to professionals engaged in the field of bloood transfusion from less affluent areas in Mainland China to participate in the XXXth International Congress of the ISBT. The fellowships are awarded to 10 individuals recommended by the Chinese Society of Blood Transfusion.

ISBT Science Series

Most papers of the invited speakers are printed in the ISBT Science Series. The papers are also published on a CD Rom.

Poster walks

Poster-walks are going to be held again this year. This event was introduced in Cape Town in order to gain a maximum benefit from the scientific work presented and to create a lively interaction between poster authors, moderators and interested congress participants. Poster-walks will be organised during the poster sessions on Monday, June 9 and Tuesday June 10, 2008. Poster authors, moderators and interested congress participants are kindly requested to be present at the first poster in their poster session at the beginning of the presentation time. Snacks and drinks will be served.

Poster Area

Posters will be presented in the Poster Area, which is located in the Exhibition Area.

Poster Mounting

• Posters should be mounted as of Sunday June 8 from 19.00 hours.
• Posters should be mounted with double sided tape only.
• The number of your poster can be found in the final programme.
• Assistance and material for mounting the posters will be available from set-up time, at the poster desk in the poster area. Setting-up a poster generally takes at least 15 minutes.

Poster Material Removing

Material should be taken off on Wednesday June 11, 2008 before 18.00 hours. Material that has not been taken down by the author(s) in time will be removed and destroyed.

Poster Viewing and Presentation

• Posters will be on display in the poster area for 3 days and will be open for viewing during exhibition hours.
• Poster authors are requested to be present at their poster during the entire presentation time to attend the Poster-walks. During these walks, an expert in the field will discuss posters in the same poster session, together with interested congress participants.

Responsibility for poster presentations

The ISBT and the Local Organising Committee do not assume any responsibility for material displayed on the poster boards.

Power Point presentations

Only PowerPoint presentations made in Microsoft Office XP or earlier versions will be accepted.

Programme changes

The organisers cannot assume liability for any changes in the programme due to external or unforeseen circumstances. Changes will be mentioned on the message board in the Exhibition Area.

Speaker Ready Room

The Speaker Ready Room is located in Naples 801 and 802 in the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel. Speakers are requested to bring their presentations to the Speaker Ready Room on USB stick or CD-Rom at least 2 hours before your presentation is scheduled. You may also bring your laptop for copying your presentation to the main computer, which will be used for sending the presentations to the different meeting rooms. The use of your own laptop during your presentation is NOT possible.

Opening hours of the speaker ready room are as follows

Saturday, June 7	14.00 - 18.00 hours
Sunday, June 8	07.30 - 18.30 hours
Monday, June 9	07.30 - 18.30 hours
Tuesday, June 10	07.30 - 18.30 hours
Wednesday, June 11	07.30 - 18.00 hours
Thursday, June 12	07.30 - 13.00 hours