IBMS triple triumph at membership awards

The IBMS is proud to announce a remarkable achievement at the Memcom Excellence Awards 2024, securing three prestigious wins, including the coveted Best Strategy for Member Engagement award.

This recognition underscores the IBMS's commitment to fostering strong member relationships, driving progress and support, and ensuring that our members remain at the heart of everything we do.

It is also testament to the collaborative work we have undertaken with Liquona who have supported our video and VR productions since 2018.  

Best Strategy for Member Engagement

The IBMS won the Best Strategy for Member Engagement or Recruitment award for tackling a dual challenge: inspiring young students unaware of biomedical science as a career and simplifying their path to becoming HCPC-registered biomedical scientists.

Our innovative "VR to Video" strategy captured imaginations by immersing students in the IBMS Accredited Space Lab VR experience, offering a hands-on introduction to the profession. After engaging with the VR, students were guided to our Become a Biomedical Scientist videos, which clearly outlined entry routes using influencer-style narration, animations, and visuals that broke down complex information.

This approach empowered our members to act as recruiters at careers events, where they used the VR experience and directed students to further resources via QR codes.

The judges comments were:

"Simplifying and demystifying routes to membership in professional bodies is proving to be a wakeup call and IBMS are to be congratulated on tackling this in a well thought out and targeted way.

Their campaign had clearly segmented target audiences and used videos effectively to show relevant routes to membership. The use of a space themed virtual reality lab was both original and creative but more importantly, it successfully engaged a younger audience at events to consider biomedical science as a future career. There was solid evidence of good engagement and an increase in students applying as a result of this iniative. Well done IBMS. 

Best Use of Video

The IBMS’s Best Use of Video award recognised our innovative approach to simplifying the complex path to biomedical scientist registration. Our Become a Biomedical Scientist videos make it engaging and accessible for younger audiences. With a process that can be daunting for prospective students, our TikTok-inspired explainer videos used influencers, easy-to-understand animations, and a retro video game style to break down the steps clearly and concisely.

What Set Us Apart?

• Clarity First: We turned the complex registration journey into a visual flowchart, ensuring each video guided students effortlessly through the process.
• Engaging Format: Instead of relying on traditional educational methods, we used dynamic presenters and social media-friendly content to capture attention.
• Tailored to the Audience: Our retro video game graphics, based on audience feedback, resonated with younger viewers and kept them engaged.
• Strategic Reach: The videos were deployed across multiple platforms and events, driving maximum engagement.

The judges comments were:

A good clear brief. Very positive research methodology. Consistent and clean implementation that was warm, inviting, engaging and a compelling proposition. 

Great impact. What's not to like. Brilliant use of this format to effectively position a profession. 

Best Use of Innovative Technology

The IBMS won the Best Use of Innovative Technology award for changing how we showcase the crucial work of biomedical scientists. Limited by the lab’s restrictions, we developed the IBMS Accredited Space Lab VR experience — an immersive virtual reality (VR) tool that brings biomedical science directly to students.