Organisers of medical meetings are finding it increasingly
difficult to deliver education to healthcare providers.
IN a special report byAmerican
Express Meetings & Events into the top meetings trends to watch, 124
healthcare planners, congress organisers, and meeting suppliers were surveyed,
and 12 in-depth interviews conducted. More than 80 per cent of the
professionals surveyed agreed that in the next decade healthcare congresses
will undergo major changes.
Called‘On The Horizon: Healthcare Congress Trends to
Watch’ the report investigates top meetings trends in the increasingly
regulated and compliance-driven healthcare and pharma industries. In particular,
the report looks at trends in terms of attracting healthcare providers (HCPs) to
attend and engage in healthcare congresses.
“Healthcare and pharma congresses face a complicated challenge: to
grow engagement and attendance, they must navigate highly complex regulated
environments and compete for the time of healthcare providers, whose time is
already in demand,” said Lisa McKenzie, Vice President Healthcare and
Pharmaceutical, American Express Meetings & Events. “But it’s not
insurmountable. By remaining keen observers of meeting trends, congress
planners can make their event a valuable experience for healthcare providers
and encourage attendance year after year.”
The top trends
included:
The intense time pressures imposed on HCPs by patients and
practice management. And congresses increasingly shifting funding models so
that HCPs would be required to pay for themselveswhich can deter attendance. Congress
organisers will need to create clear value and measurable return for their
audiences.
Three quarters of meeting professionals agree there is increasing
pressure to find new ways to deliver education to healthcare providers.
Event attendees everywhere are growing accustomed to high-end
experiences, and congress organisers and sponsors that find creative ways to
provide unique food, beverage and accommodation experiences within spending
limits will make HCPs feel like VIPs.
Planners should consider supplementing congresses with digital,
on-demand learning options that extend the congress experience long after the
event. Meeting planners should proactively seek the next generation of HCPs to
act as congress advisors.
Congress organisers should look to augmented and virtual reality, as
a strategy for engagement. Technology can help facilitate new ways for
companies to interact with HCPs when in-person meetings are not an option or
after the meeting ends.
Over threequarters (77 per cent) agree that congress organisers
using data to create engaging attendee experiences will have a significant
advantage over the competition. But of a majority (67per cent) of those using
data, the highest reported use case was for registration, with many other data
use cases further behind in implementation.
Only 44 per cent
of those surveyed indicate they use data to engage attendees with personalised
content. For HCPs, organisers must balance data-driven personalisation with
privacy policies often imposed on them by healthcare organisations and
regulations.
With more than 40 years in the industry and a presence in over 50
countries, American Express Meetings & Events manages meetings and events
locally, regionally, internationally and across the globe.
