Behind the scenes at ASH 2025: An on-site event diary

Hi, my name is Dacey Horohoe, and I joined Emota in April of 2025. My background includes nonprofit event management and community relations, as well as social media management.

2025 has been quite the year, filled with travel across many incredible clients, with the American Society of Haematology (ASH) Annual Meeting being the largest congress I have worked on to date. ASH is one of the world’s largest medical congresses, bringing together thousands of clinicians, researchers, and industry partners from across the globe. This year’s meeting was held in Orlando, Florida. Although the congress schedule was packed with meetings, our team had a busy and rewarding week on site.

Day 1: Florida, here I come

Flying into the Orlando airport (MCO) is always an adventure. With my late arrival, I initially headed to the overflow hotel where I was booked. Shortly after, I received exciting news that my room was ready at Loews Portofino Bay, where our team had the convention office. A quick change of plans and I was settled in and ready for the week ahead.

Day 2: Materials, materials, materials

The next morning, I packed up and headed to Loews for a 9:30 a.m. check-in with the team. The hotel is stunning, designed to emulate Portofino, Italy. My room was ready earlier than expected, so I dropped my bags and headed straight to the convention office.

Since we work remotely, this was my first time meeting some of my teammates in person, and we jumped right into work. With badge pickup taking place across multiple hotels, our team of eight each had different assignments to ensure everything stayed organized and on track. After a long day, two team members and I enjoyed dinner at an on-site restaurant, complete with live Italian opera singers, which made for a memorable end to the evening.

Day 3: Special events, round one

As one of several on-site team members, I was assigned to Special Events, where I was responsible for advancing off-site meetings (confirming logistics on site, coordinating with hotel teams, and ensuring everything was set up for success before attendees arrived). Although I was stationed at one hotel that day, the meeting required plenty of on-the-fly decision-making. The five-hour session had a great turnout and ran smoothly.

That evening, I advanced a dinner at Earl’s Kitchen at The Mall at Millenia, where 18 attendees enjoyed great food and even better conversation.

Day 4: An amazing CSM

On Day 4, I advanced two meetings at the same hotel. Hollie, the Events Manager on the hotel side, was my main contact and ensured every detail was executed flawlessly. Our client was thrilled with the luncheon for the first meeting, which was set up beautifully.

The second meeting was divided into two smaller breakout groups, both of which ran seamlessly. I requested to work with this hotel team again the following evening to continue building a strong and productive working relationship.

Day 5: Rain, rain, go away

On Day 5, another team member and I both had morning meetings at the same hotel, so we traveled together, which offered a small but satisfying cost saving. Later that afternoon, we returned to the same hotel for a large evening event. In between, I stopped by the convention office to help with organization and collaboration across the team.

As with many large cities, rideshares were plentiful, but this hotel stood out with a dedicated pickup location, which made logistics much smoother. The afternoon and evening brought heavy rain, but many hotels were connected to the convention center via skywalks, so attendance was not impacted.

The evening event was a success, and I gained valuable insight into how important it is for attendees to have the specific studies they worked on clearly visible to the client. While working the registration table, I also had the opportunity to help the client brainstorm ideas for future events.

Day 6: The early bird gets delayed

My scheduled rideshare picked me up at 3:40 a.m. I love catching the first flight home, but experiencing delays on both my initial and connecting flights was not ideal. Still, I made it home safely, got to snuggle my cat, and even managed to send a few emails for my upcoming program, which I considered a win.

Having joined Emota earlier this year, supporting ASH was a meaningful milestone and reinforced the importance of adaptability, strong on-site partnerships, and clear communication when delivering large-scale congresses. I am truly looking forward to more travel in 2026 and continuing to help our clients deliver world-class meetings, events, and congresses.