WPT2011, the 16th WCPT congress, was held in Amsterdam from 20-23 June at the Amsterdam RAI convention centre. The World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) was delighted to work with the Royal Dutch Society for Physical Therapy (KNGF) who extended a warm welcome to everyone at the opening ceremony with Princess Margrit of the Netherlands in attendance.
- Nearly 5,000 physical therapists from 113 countries attended WPT2011. That represented an increase of 44% on delegate numbers from WPT07 in Vancouver.
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20% of delegates came from the Netherlands, 43% came from the rest of Europe and 37% came from the rest of the World.
- Netherlands = 1,006
- UK = 377
- USA = 352
- Japan = 282
- Brazil = 244
- Australia = 208
- South Africa = 59
- 32% of delegates had been to a WCPT congress before.
- 147 companies from 28 countries exhibited.
- 8,000 square metres of exhibition space was occupied by the exhibition and posters.
- A daily exercise programme was run in the exhibition hall to keep delegates moving.
- There were 7 exhibitor seminars.
- The winning entries in the Art & Health competition were on show in the exhibition.
- 185 volunteers helped across all areas of the congress.
- The 3 day scientific programme featured 147 sessions, including 18 focused symposia, 12 discussion panels and 11 WCPT seminars, with 2,303 presenters in total (including poster presenters).
- 30 networking sessions provided plenty of opportunity for delegates to network with colleagues with similar interests.
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All areas of practice were represented by the interests of delegates.
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Of the five programme tracks professional practice was most popular with interest spread evenly across the other four.
- There were 1,668 posters in total across the three days.
- There were 22 education sessions and 34 clinical visits in the satellite programme.
- The closing ceremony saw the announcement that Singapore will host WPT2015.
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The congress evaluation feedback highlighted that the main benefits to delegates of attending WPT2011 were:
- the opportunity to make new contacts and to collaborate
- gaining new knowledge
- heightened awareness of issues affecting the profession
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Delegates planned to use this benefit to:
- share information with colleagues and peers
- develop or enhance an activity/practice/ research
- follow up new contacts and develop new collaborations
- initiate a new project/activity or research
- build capacity within their organisation
- contribute to greater professional accountability
- change day to day practice with patients or students
- undertake advocacy or promote an issue
- Updated: Tue 26 Jan 2016
