Tracking comms trends: beyond the event

There’s no substitute for face-to-face meetings.

But meetings require a significant investment, with often substantial venue and travel costs, as well as the opportunity costs  of the audience and organiser’s time. Therefore, it’s vital for meeting owners to maximise the value of their investment, and  for attendees to feel like it was  a worthwhile use of their time.

Creating a sense of anticipation before the event is central to a successful meeting. The very first engagement with the audience serves to set the tone for the meeting, and this should be maintained through subsequent meeting correspondence, which should have a consistent look and feel. Digital elements, such as an e-blast video from the faculty, can serve to elevate communications above the ordinary, and help to create a sense of event.

At the meeting itself, give some thought to creating an enhanced audience experience to make your event stand out from the rest.

Audience engagement is the key to success; but interactivity needs to be integrated into the agenda, rather than an afterthought. Educational models such as case-based learning provide the opportunity to translate theory into practice, while inviting diagnostics manufacturers to exhibit can provide a valuable hands-on learning experience for attendees.

Finally, appropriate post-meeting follow-up is necessary to ‘close the loop’ and ensure that the initiative endures past the event itself. Audiences expect follow-up, so offer on-demand content from the meeting, or  a webinar summary of meeting outcomes to create future engagement opportunities. Such activities can help the audience to feel a sense of ownership, and make them more likely to engage with future meetings.

This all sounds expensive, but rather than bringing additional costs, many of these activities can be addressed within a typical meeting budget, if appropriately planned out from concept stage.

When it comes to defining  the success of live meetings, there is a need to expand our focus outside the meeting itself, to before and beyond the event to ensure that we maximise that most precious modern commodity of all - attention.

Rob Pilbrow is group director, Scientific Services at Porterhouse Medical Ltd