Approximately 40 senior planners from more than 20 pharmaceutical companies conducted a closed-door summit during the Pharmaceutical Meeting Planners Forum. The group reached consensus on a number of common challenges.

ON MEETING SPEND CONSOLIDATION: “Business has become totally data-driven,” said one planner. “It's all about ROI — a lot of tracking of data, a huge focus on metrics,” said another.

ON ELEVATING YOUR POSITION: Some admitted that the move to strategic meeting management isn't always easy for those who start out in meeting planning. “It's hard to go from being an order taker to being a strategic business partner,” said one. “It's all about service excellence, managing the relationships.”

ON THE RELATIONSHIP WITH PROCUREMENT: “You need to know who is responsible for what; there's got to be a clear delineation” between planning and procurement, said one attendee. “Procurement works with contracts, preferred hotel company agreements. They can be the heavies on contracts when you need them.”

“The meetings industry is different,” added another planner, echoing a sentiment heard across corporate America, no matter what the market segment. “It's different from buying chemicals, where they think e-auction is a great tool.”

ON CENTRALIZING MEETING SPEND GLOBALLY: None of the pharma companies had successfully consolidated global meeting spend, but all want to head in that direction.