International Congresses and the Role of Institutions

Conversation with Professor Roberto Verna

Professor Roberto Verna

Professor Roberto Verna is President of WASPaLM and of the Academy for Health and Clinical Research. He previously served as President of SIPMeL.

Throughout his career he has organised numerous international congresses, often serving as Scientific Secretary. His professional activity has been recognised through several awards, including the Leone d’Oro – Congress Ambassador Award promoted by Eureka MICE International.

Combining a strong attachment to his home city of Rome with a distinctly international outlook, Professor Verna approaches the organisation of scientific congresses with a strategic perspective shaped by decades of experience.

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In this conversation, Professor Roberto Verna reflects on the factors that influence the choice of a destination for international scientific congresses and on the structural challenges that still limit Italy’s ability to compete with other European destinations.

According to your experience, what motivates a delegate to propose a destination such as Italy to host an international congress?

No one undertakes the effort required to organise an international congress — which often involves two years of preparation — without some form of return, whether in terms of professional satisfaction, visibility or economic sustainability.

Today I have the privilege of choosing to engage only in projects that truly interest me. However, when I act on behalf of a scientific society, my responsibility is to ensure that the event does not put the organisation’s financial stability at risk.

For example, I am currently considering the possibility of organising the World Congress of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in Italy in 2025. The decision now concerns the choice of the most appropriate location, which is precisely why I participate in initiatives such as Association Days.

Despite its many resources, Italy still struggles to establish itself as a leading international congress destination. What are the main obstacles?

One of the main issues is the limited availability of congress facilities located close to major international airports.

In order to attract sponsors and ensure financial sustainability, an international congress generally needs to reach at least one thousand participants. If we take Rome as an example, the city offers many attractive venues, but reaching the historic centre can take hours due to traffic congestion.

By contrast, Vienna offers a congress centre capable of hosting 8,000 participants, perfectly connected to the city centre through an efficient underground system.

Even in Rome’s modern congress centre, the “Nuvola” designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, certain functional aspects reveal limitations. The main auditorium, which seats around 1,800 people, is connected to the ground floor by only two escalators, while other routes require ramps equivalent to several floors.

Do you think Italian cities are not fully prepared to host international congresses?

I recently heard Alessandro Onorato, Councillor for Major Events, Sport and Tourism for the City of Rome, say something very interesting: “We must make Rome attractive. When a congress takes place, the whole world should know about it.”

In reality, communication is often insufficient. In cities such as Rome, Milan or Bologna, congresses are sometimes perceived as a disturbance — something that interrupts daily traffic or complicates urban life.

Instead, they should be recognised as valuable opportunities. Congress participants generate economic activity: they move around the city, eat in restaurants, visit museums, shop and experience the destination. This perspective still needs to become more widely understood.

How does Italy position itself internationally in terms of accessibility?

Connectivity plays a fundamental role. In the past, Italy benefited from direct international connections through Alitalia, which offered flights from cities such as Seoul, Taipei, Shanghai, Hong Kong and San Francisco.

Today many of those connections no longer exist, and this inevitably affects the country’s competitiveness in the congress market, where travel time and logistical efficiency are critical factors.

What advice would you give to someone planning to organise an international congress in Italy?

First of all, it is essential to have a clear objective and to entrust the operational management to a single professional organisation.

Ideally this organisation should not have conflicting relationships with companies linked to the same sponsors and should possess strong institutional connections at the local level.

In the past much depended on the personal networks of the organiser. There were few structured local organisations capable of providing logistical, financial or communication support to congresses.

Today such structures do exist — for example in cities like Venice — but scientific delegates are often unaware of them, simply because this is not their professional field. Experienced professional organisers, however, are able to identify and coordinate these resources.

Which channels can help identify the right partners?

Association Days is certainly a valuable tool. Anyone involved in organising congresses should consider participating.

The quality of the work carried out there is extremely high, both in terms of the selection of participants and in the way meetings are organised. It brings together scientific associations, professional organisers and destinations in a carefully curated environment.

Even if the ideal match is not always immediately found, the opportunities for meaningful connections are considerable.

Anna Mocchi

Journalist and Communications Consultant

This interview is part of the Scientific Congress Insights editorial stream of the Congress Intelligence Journal