In order for your convention department to be successful, there needs to be as muc, if not more attention to strategic planning as there is to logistical planning.

1. From Tactical to Strategic:
Transforming the Purpose
of Your Convention
Department by Creating
a Center of Excellence
Cindy A. McCormick, CTSM
Global Convention Marketing Professional

2. • The opinions expressed in this presentation represent only the
presenters' personal views and opinions, and do not represent
HCEA's position.
• HCEA wants to ensure that attendees who participate in HCEA
meetings feel comfortable speaking freely and asking candid
questions during HCEA meeting sessions. Therefore, HCEA
requires that any media representative attending an HCEA event
obtain the permission of any speaker or attendee before quoting that
person in an article.

3. Cindy A. McCormick, CTSM
Biography
• Cindy McCormick is a Global
Convention Marketing
Professional with over
twenty years experience in
the pharmaceutical industry.
She is a strategic leader who
is fluent in helping
pharmaceutical corporations
create value with domestic
conventions and international
congresses.

4. Learning Takeaway’s
1. Establish a strategic leadership role and align with
marketing & sales to promote the convention
department’s expertise within the organization.
2. Balance department staffing resources and skill sets to
adequately support strategic alignment with marketing.
3. Manage resources by decreasing or eliminating housing
responsibility.
4. Provide detailed post-show information to brand
managers and other stakeholders to accurately assess
the strategic impact.

5. State of the Industry
• Consolidation
• Increased Time to Market
• Less New Products Making it to Market
• Blockbusters Coming Off Patent
• Generic/Bio-Similar Threat
• Increased Compliance
• Lay Offs
• Outsourcing
• “AIG” Effect

7. 2010 Layoffs
January April
Pfizer, Merck to cut 900 N.J. jobs Overhauling U.S. pharma biz, Novartis
lays off 250
Merck, Schering reps face 500+ job cuts
May
Pfizer cutting 680 Pennsylvania jobs Lilly slices 200 sales and marketing jobs
in biomedicine
Hospira revamp claims up to 1,500 jobs
Pfizer to sell NY building, cut up to 1,400
jobs
In pharma ripple effect, Lonza cuts jobs
Takeda plots 1,400 job cuts at U.S. ops
AstraZeneca adds 8,000 to job-cut toll
Pfizer manufacturing overhaul claims 8
Glaxo said to cut up to 4,000 more jobs plants, 6,000 jobs
March June
Pharma reports 26,000 layoffs in 2010 GSK Cuts 700 sales and marketing jobs
April Biovail-Valeant combo to claim up to 870
KV Pharma lays off 42% of its workforce jobs
Lilly plots consolidation of Indianapolis
quarters

8. Convention Department
Consolidations
MERGER/Layoffs
Layoffs
Outsourced
Merger/Layoffs?
MERGER/Layoffs
Layoffs
Outsourced

9. Is There Any Good News?

10. Face-to-Face Events are
Here to Stay!
• President Barack
Obama visited more
countries (16) in his
first year in office than
any other US
president before him,
thereby showing that
face to face remains
at least one person’s
preferred medium for
doing business.

11. Characteristics of a
“Center of Excellence”
• Aligns strategically with company, brand &
sales goals, strategies and objectives
• Has acknowledged “experts” that provide
continuity & knowledge management
• Routinely develops, documents and
utilizes Best Practices
• Is dedicated to continuous improvement
• Has visibility throughout the organization

12. Key Learning 1
Establish a strategic
leadership role and align
with marketing and sales
to promote the
convention department’s
expertise within the
organization

13. Establish a Strategic
Leadership Role
• Gain working knowledge
of marketing and sales
• Develop, document,
publish and continually
demonstrate best
practices
• Keep current on all
compliance/regulatory
developments; become
expert
• Formulate a
Mission/Vision Statement
for the Department

14. Example: Become a
Compliance Expert

15. Example:
Mission/Vision Statement
0LVVLRQ
To flawlessly execute Global Congresses and
Conventions to maximize the impact and value for
our customers and stakeholders.
9LVLRQ
Our Vision is to be a strategic partner with Sales and
Marketing, providing a competitive edge in the
development and execution of Global Congresses and
Conventions.

16. Establish a Strategic
Leadership Role
• Enforce frequent
interactions between
conventions
department & brand
teams
• Utilize a department
“scorecard” for sr.
management to track
overall performance

17. Example: Dept Scorecard

18. Establish a Strategic
Leadership Role
• Develop consultative
mindset & eliminate
“order taking” mentality
• Develop consultative
mindset & eliminate
“order giving” mentality

19. Establish a Strategic
Leadership Role
• Maintain a “value”
deck; present to
senior management
• Staff conventions
department with long-
term positions to build
expert competencies

20. Align With Marketing
• Gain access to and read all brand
marketing plans & strategic summaries
• Gain an understanding & align efforts with
marketing timelines
• Attend important marketing meetings (be
part of the team)

21. Align With Marketing
• Align convention tactics
with product lifecycle if
appropriate
• Align each convention’s
objectives with product
objectives
• Get to know everyone on
your brand’s marketing
team and gain
understanding of their
role

22. Example: Aligning Convention
Tactics to Brand Objectives

23. Align With Marketing
• Understand Marketing’s
other strategic partners and
their roles
– Marketing research
– Compliance/Regulatory/Legal
– Customer Insights
– Competitive Intelligence
– Medical Affairs
– Public Relations
– Outside Agencies
(advertising, med. Com., etc.)

24. Align With Sales
• Understand how sales is effected by
staffing on a “macro” level
• Communicate with highest level of sales
possible to set-expectations
• Gather information on sales force
structures and available resources
• Work with sales to optimize all staffing
efforts

25. Example: Yearly Breakdown for
Sales Management

26. Promote Department’s Expertise
Within the Organization
• Newsletter
• Department Branding
• Website
• Plasma Screens
• “Open House”
• PM “On-Boarding”
• Convention Calendar

27. Example:
Convention Calendar

28. Key Learning 2
Balance department
staffing resources
and skill sets to
adequately support
strategic alignment
with marketing

29. Staffing Resources
• Make sure workload is properly distributed
– Perform a “workload analysis”
– Analyze Stress Points
• Days out of office traveling
• Number of concurrent “major” conventions
• Overall number of conventions
• Specific “other” stress-points
– i.e. : symposia, launch, product theaters, EACs, etc.
– Readjust as Necessary

30. Example: WL Analysis
Considerations
– Total Number of Conventions/Congresses
– Total Number of Manager On-Sites
– Major Meetings with sq. ft. of >1,500
– Season When Major Meetings Occur
– Related Therapy Areas
Stress Points (pink highlights)
– Total Number of Meetings < 22
– Total Number of On-Sites <14
– 2 "Major Meetings" in Same Season
How to Interpret Scenarios
– Green: No Stress Points
– Yellow: Manageable Stress Points (up for consideration)
– Red: 3+ Stress Points

31. Example: WL Analysis

32. “RED” Scenario (stop!)
>22 2 “major” fall conventions
>14

33. “Yellow Scenario”
(proceed with caution)

34. “Green Scenario” (go!)

35. Align Skill Sets to Tasks
• Manager Skill Set • Administrative Skill Set
– Strategic – Logistics
– Presentation Skills – Detail Oriented
– Project Management – Organizational
– Negotiation – Administrative
– Relationship Management – Coordination
– Marketing/Sales – Basic Accounting/
Knowledge Budgeting
– Comfort level with sr.
leadership
– “Big-picture” oriented
– Analytical

36. Key Learning 3
Manage resources by
decreasing or
eliminating housing
responsibility

37. The Housing Management
Dilemma
• More time spent on
housing = less time
spent on strategic
management

38. The Housing Management
Dilemma
• Managing internal
attendee housing
and/or registration is
extremely time-
consuming
– Changes
– Budgeting
– Sourcing
– Communication
– Last Minute Issues
– On-Site Management

39. Solutions to Consider
• 100% Outsourced
• Using Internal Meeting Planning
• Adding a Head Count(s)
• Hybrid Model (some outsourcing)
• Formalized/Automated Process

40. Key Learning 4
Provide detailed post
show information to
brand managers and
other stakeholders to
accurately assess
strategic impact &
Accomplishment of
goals/objectives

41. Post-Show Debriefs
• Measuring each convention’s success & communication
“UP” is key to your department’s longevity & credibility
• Work with strategic partners to develop a program to
track and report standard metrics at every convention
• Develop a formal, debrief process that includes analysis
of metrics from all activities & gives recommendations for
the next year
• Distribute executive summaries for key conventions
• Use surveys to collect feedback

42. Example:
Executive Summary
• One page, high level
summary
• Include Overview,
Objectives, Solutions
& Results
• Distribute within 1
week of show end

43. Post Show Debrief
Should Include
• Metrics From All Activities & Success
Analysis
– Include pre-show activities
– Include at-booth activities
– Include post-show activities (if available)
• Tie back all results to objectives
• Give your recommendations for the next
year

44. Goal Center Section Visitor Center
Total Booth Visitors
Goal Type Goal Actual 585
Completion 80% 78%*
Time 4:00 4:22* International Domestic
1 584
Opt-In 70% 76%
Valuable Section
Other
Visitors
24
560/437
Class Class
Non-Personal Selling Field Targets
Influencers Prescribers
187/146 131/102
44/34 198/155
All/Complete
Section History Daily Section Visits
Year Event Booth Sections / PSS† % Average
Attendee Visitor Complet time
s s e
2006 3,746 559 Brand 1/ 8 92% 5:03
2007 3,950 585 Brand 1 & Brand 2 / 78%‡ 4:22‡
8

45. Final Thought ………….
• If you stand up and be counted, from time
to time you may get yourself knocked
down. But remember this: A man flattened
by an opponent can get up again. A man
flattened by conformity stays down for
good.
Thomas J. Watson

46. Contact Me Anytime!
• E-Mail: cindyamccormick@gmail.com
• http://www.linkedin.com/in/cindymccormick
• Call Me: (973)886-8602

47. See you next year in
Las Vegas, NV
June 25-28, 2011