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25 February 2022Trademarks

INTA CEO: ‘Annual Meeting blends best of live and virtual’

It’s been nearly three years since the last in-person  INTA Annual Meeting. The two years of virtual meetings (and last year’s smaller, in-person affairs) since have left their mark, and this year’s event is an ambitious attempt to have the best of all worlds, with a  physical meeting for those who can attend and a rich  virtual component for those who can’t.

According to Etienne Sanz de Acedo, INTA’s CEO, the association is “very confident” about the mix this year and, he says, it will be “combining the best of in-person meetings and the best of virtual meetings.”

On the virtual side, registrants will have access to educational programming, which as in recent years is organised into thematic tracks, as well as the virtual business development and networking elements that will be familiar from the last couple of years.

For those who attend in person, the meeting will be much as it was in previous iterations, with a Grand Finale, exhibit hall and various receptions, including, Sanz de Acedo expects, several organised by law firms and corporations, albeit perhaps not in the numbers of pre-pandemic years.

Of course, the pandemic will affect how the meeting operates as well as final attendance. On the latter, Sanz de Acedo is confident, expecting 5,000-6,000 registrants at the physical meeting.

“I think there I think there are big enthusiasts, and there is still some kind of wait and see from many members, which is totally understandable,” he says.

But to those in the wait-and-see camp, he underlines that INTA has de-risked the registration process as much as possible. “We have a very flexible refund policy that really allows our members to register and if finally, they don’t feel comfortable about attending, they have a deadline of April 1 to get fully refunded.”

With early-bird pricing finishing on March 4, he is encouraging people to register now, safe in the knowledge that should things change, they’ll be able to recoup their investment.

Sanz de Acedo also thinks that, with 250 corporates already registered for the meeting including big names such as Intel, Netflix, Amazon and Salesforce, there is an opportunity for external counsel.

“During the time of the pandemic, corporations have been more in a state of ‘we're not going to change things’,” he says. “But now it comes to a point where probably, like every organisation, companies are thinking: ‘how do we need to reorganise ourselves and how do we need to project ourselves into the future?’”

For Sanz de Acedo, that means partnerships with external counsel become more and more relevant, “and that means that going back to in-person interactions—the possibility for external counsel to meet with corporate clients is extremely important, and even more so this year,” he adds.

Covid safety

Sanz de Acedo is keen to stress the importance that both INTA and the  Walter E Washington Convention Center have health and safety protocols for the in-person meeting.

“I think that’s really the thing that’s stopping some people from registering,” he says. “The Rules are very clear: you need to be fully vaccinated to be able to enter the Convention Center; you need to have a negative test within 48 hours prior to getting your badge; and if you don't meet those requirements, you will not be able to get into the Annual Meeting.”

He adds: “On top of that we're setting all kinds of rules and measures to keep the environment as safe as possible. It's a safe environment and it's definitely worth attending.”

The full interview with Etienne Sanz de Acedo will be available on WIPR on Monday, February 28.

Register for the in-person Annual Meeting  here and the virtual programme  here.

WIPR will be publishing the official INTA Daily News throughout the annual meeting. For info on advertising opportunities contact Paul Clifton at  pclifton@newtonmedia.co.uk

Watch out for more details on registrations, updates on the exhibition, keeping the meeting as green as possible, and more!

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