A pragmatic Roadmap for the pharmaceutical and medtech industries to digitize their conference and events channels. Presentation is a follow-up to an earler deck: 'The Medical Conference is Dead. Long Live the Medical Conference'.

1. Virtual Conferencing
A Roadmap for Pharma
Len Starnes
Digital healthcare consultant
Berlin
lenstarnes

2. 1
The
business case
Virtual
educational
events
2
Virtual-physical
medical society
conferences
3
4
Reinventing
the conference
function

3. THE BUSINESS CASE

4. Market forces
Regulatory
changes impacting
medical meetings
HCPs' digital
behaviours &
expectations
Increasing
sophistication of
virtual conferencing
technology
Budget restrictions,
exorbitant med soc
conference fees
The race for
multichannel
dominance

5. Marketing reality
Brand teams spend millions of $
every year on medical society
conferences…
few set KPIs, most have no idea
of true ROI

6. Outrageous
medical society fees forcing
pharmas to review sponsorship
options & size of exhibition stands

7. Is it worth it?
€216,000
inc VAT
http://www.escexhibition.org/ESCCongress2016/Documents/ESCIP2016_LR.pdf

8. Industry stand space
at ESC Congress 2015:
8,380 m2
http://escardio.formstack.com/forms/esc_2016__exhibition_space_application_form
Cost of 8,380 m2 at
ESC Congress 2016:
€ 4,235,520
Stand construction costs and service charges not included
http://www.escexhibition.org/ESCCongress2016/default.aspx

9. Opt for physical
conference attendance
selectively, increasingly
disinclined to travel
Increasingly turn to live
& recorded online video
for medical education
Perceive conferences
as 365 interactive
conversations
Digital
doctors

10. Videos viewed by
HCPs last 12 months
Among those watching professional videos online
Manhattan Research, Taking the Pulse USA 2015
56%CME
Medical news
Mode of action
Patient information
Other
Medical procedure
demos
Disease/condition
info
Lectures/seminars
Drug efficacy
56%
46%
36%
34%
31%
17%
16%
16%
3%
HCPs view online video as a
crucial educational tool

11. http://transparency.efpia.eu/the-efpia-code-2
http://www.phrma.org/sites/default/files/pdf/Letter-
to-CMS-from-PhRMA-AdvaMed-BIO.pdf
Fewer HCPs
will attend
conferences
Fewer HCPs
will speak at
sponsored
symposia
EFPIA
& PhRMA
Disclosure
Codes

12. Column1
Impact of codes
already significant
53% report codes
restricting physical
attendance
Among 237 specialists in
USA, UK, France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Russia, Turkey,
China, Brazil, and Argentina
who had attended a medical
conference in 2015
https://www.ashfieldhealthcare.com/gb/the-formula-to-successful-meetings/

13. Eliminated payments
to HCPs speaking at
company-sponsored
symposia
Eliminated payments of
travel expenses to HCPs
attending conferences
Hans Gilhuys
GlaxoSmithKlineUK
Exl Digital Pharma Europe 2016

14. Technology drives
adoption of new
engagement
models
Traditional channels
often fail to meet
HCPs preferred types
of engagement
‘

15. Column1
Significant dissatisfaction
with physical meetings
39% report
negative experience
Among 237 specialists in
USA, UK, France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Russia, Turkey,
China, Brazil, and Argentina
who had attended a medical
conference in 2015
https://www.ashfieldhealthcare.com/gb/the-formula-to-successful-meetings/

16. Sophisticated platforms meet
demands of doctors & pharmas
Live +
on demand
video
Real-time
Q&A & polling
Global
access
Connect
from any
device
Actionable
engagement metrics

17. Multichannel excellence crucially
depends on using insights on customer
channel preferences in…
medical education

18. HCPs
brand
website
Virtual
events
Banner
ads
Web
eD
Direct
mail
eMail
SF
+ iPad
Call
centre
Future core
channel options

19. Amgen: webinars/congresses
now core channels
Jonathan Doognan
Amgen Europe
Eyeforpharma
Barcelona 2016

20. Business case
understood
What next?

21. FIRST
Gain experience and confidence
with virtual educational events
PROGRESS
To hybrid virtual-physical medical
society conference participation

22. VIRTUAL
EDUCATIONAL EVENTS

23. Basics
Create an analogous interactive
environment to a traditional conference
Use CME & EACCME accreditation
to incentivize participation
Leverage an existing therapeutically-
focused platform to increase reach

24. Learn best practices
Partner with specialist healthcare
platform vendors and leading
medical education institutions

25. Virtual Afib Congress
Sponsored by
Pfizer

26. Partnership with American
Heart Rhythm Society
Firewalled Tikosyn
speaker session & booth
CME credits from
Johns Hopkins
Hosted on
CardioCareLive 6 months

27. Virtual exhibition hall for
Pfizer and HRS stands

28. Key results
Tikosyn area
Courtesy: PlatformQ, USA
456 unique attendees
18:27 average session time
US$ 128 average cost per attendee

29. Key results
Pfizer + HRS
1,115 total attendees
68% US based
53% target specialists
US$ 66 average cost per attendee
Courtesy: PlatformQ, USA

30. VIRTUAL-PHYSICAL
MEDICAL SOCIETY
CONFERENCES

31. As conservative as pharma
Often content with conference
formats unchanged for over
100 years
Deeply sceptical of new
conference formats that
disrupt revenue streams
Yet to understand the
opportunities virtual-physical
conference collaboration with
pharma afford
Medical
societies

32. Multiple options…
expect more soon
Sponsored sessions
& events hosted on
medical society platform
Independent virtual
conference highlights
package
Independent virtual
conference extending
the physical experience

33. 50th ASCO Annual Meeting
Highlights
Sponsored by a
pharma, medtech
& cancer charity
Hosted on MD Linx
medical portal &
Doctors.net.uk
HCPs social network‘

34. Educate 5 specialities on latest
treatments presented at ASCO
Annual Meeting 2014
The brief
Target specialities in 16
European countries using
4 languages
Reach target specialities using
effective alternative channel to
attending in person

35. Key results
Engagement before, during, post ASCO
72,393 newsletter alert emails opened
6,673 visits to Highlights microsite
€ 13 average cost per microsite visit
Courtesy: M3 Europe, UK

36. Virtual symposium extending
2014 American College of
Cardiology Annual Meeting
Sponsored by
Medtronic

37. 3 x 60 min CME sessions
broadcast live from
Frankfurt, April 2014
Speakers from
Australia, Spain, USA
CME/EACCME credits from
Einstein College of Med
Hosted on
CardioCareLive 6 months

38. Key results
751 live participants
1249 on-demand participants
Participants from 32 countries
Almost 49 min engagement/session
83% of participants reported
positive learnings
Courtesy: PlatformQ, USA

39. Medical society platforms
offer trust, deliver reach
http://www.escexhibition.org/ESCCongress2016/Documents/ESCIP2016_LR.pdf
ESC Congress
2016

40. Use of medical society
platforms just beginning
Many restrict hosting to
sponsored accredited CME
Opportunities to co-
develop fully-compliant
win-win collaboration
strategies
Collaborating
with medical
societies

41. REINVENTING
THE CONFERENCE FUNCTION

42. In future traditional pharma
conference and events
functions will include VCELs
Virtual Conferencing
Engagement Leads

43. Skills
Skills and
expertise
Analytics
Numeracy, data,
engagement
metrics
Insights
Customer journeys
& preferences
in online meded
Virtual platforms
Vendor landscape,
best functionality
practices
Multichannel
MCM processes &
cross-functional
integration

44. Skills
Cross-functional
collaboration
Medical
BUs &
brand teams
Multichannel
Leads
Legal &
Compliance

45. Skills
Digitization of the
conference and events
channel will be standard
practice in pharma –
sooner than you think

46. A sincere thanks to the following for
their help and support in developing
this presentation
• Hans Gilhuys, Multichannel Director Europe,
GlaxoSmithKlein UK
• David Murphy, Executive Vice President,
PlatformQ
• Tim Ringrose, CEO, M3 Europe
• Robert Rosenbloom, President & CEO,
PlatformQ

47. lenstarnes@gmail.com
T: + 49 30 781 5513
M: + 49 172 1788253
Skype: lenstarnes
linkedin.com/in/lenstarnes
twitter.com/lenstarnes
slideshare.net/lenstarnes
Len Starnes
Digital Healthcare
Research & Consulting