In 2016, Ashfield Meetings & Events, a firm that handles more than 2,500 medical-related events a year across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, conducted a study of 240 healthcare professionals in different countries to understand how they want meetings and events to better fit their educational needs and preferences. In early 2018, the questions were asked again to those same HCPs to see how their sentiments changed regarding events and education. The results were published in a white paper titled "The Science of Healthcare Professional Meetings" several months ago. Now, Ashfield has gone a step further to create a best-practices guidebook for medical and pharmaceutical event planners based on those study results.
Titled The Science of Healthcare Professional Meetings Guidebook, the 12-page electronic booklet incorporates various results from the HCP study into each section to demonstrate the value of the advice and recommendations provided by Ashfield's veteran medical-event planners. For instance, 75 percent of HCPs cited cost as the most challenging aspect of attending events in 2018, versus just 55 percent in 2016. This speaks to the need for due diligence in site selection plus more creative negotiation by planners; more sponsor opportunities to offset costs; and delivery of livestreamed sessions to capture HCPs who do not attend the in-person event—but who might be persuaded to attend in the future by the quality of the livestreamed content.
The study also looked into what motivates HCPs to attend events; 81 percent said they wanted to learn the latest scientific content, while 76 percent said they wanted to meet with global or local subject experts and key opinion leaders. What's more, 72 percent of HCPs expect post-meeting materials to be available via a meeting portal or website. The booklet provides tips to best satisfy these HCP preferences, and others.
To download The Science of Healthcare Professional Meetings Guidebook, click here.
