What to Know Today in Life Sciences

Keeping a pulse on what’s happening in the industry and participating in knowledge sharing with other experts is a key part to our success, especially across Life Sciences where there is often changing regulations and laws affecting compliance. Our Life Sciences teams have been busy these last few months attending industry conferences across North America, and here’s what you have to know, today.

Higher room rates at hotels are here to stay.

Rates are primarily driven by increased costs across multiple categories. Labor is the largest driver as wages have gone up 40-60% compared to 2019, and there are more limitations on the number of hours employees work. Hotel’s insurance rates have increased as much as 100% in some markets, and energy costs continue to rise.

Everyone’s desire for genuine connection is reflected in meeting design.

Hotels shared that they are seeing meetings average a half day longer, and there has been an increase in breakout sessions that allow participants to have small group conversation.

Just like everyone else, HCPs are partaking in the “bleisure” trend.

HCP panelists in one session noted that location influences their desire to participate in a meeting and they want the option to extend on their own.

HCPs noted that they prefer attending advisory boards as a standalone meeting as opposed to ancillary to a congress.

They want to be able to fully focus on the content of the advisory board, and congresses are full of possible distractions.

Virtual options for streaming medical congress content not only attract participants

not able travel to the congress, but also provide flexibility for in-person delegates. One major congress noted that half of their live virtual viewership came from IP addresses in the host city. This indicates that delegates are using streaming to supplement their in-person attendance, which provides them the flexibility to balance competing demands without physically running back and forth to the congress center.

AI is already in use around the meetings industry…

…and we should expect to see it’s use continue to grow.  One expert predicted that soon we will see AI being used to design agendas, optimize calendars, create targeted invitations, automate portions of the hotel RFP process, and tracking attendee facial impressions to gauge an audience’s reaction to content.

Patients are increasingly incorporated into life science company’s meetings.

With this comes an increased need to establish best practices to safeguard patients and their caregivers. And meeting planners need to carefully consider the physical and mental needs of patients when coordinating their logistics.

Speaker Programs and Speaker Trainings are equally as important.

Knowing what makes a good speaker is key, especially when considering presentation skills. Coaching on how to present should be offered as a service offering.

Speakers, topics & location

Are the 3 most important factors to attendees when deciding if they’ll attend a program.

In order for compliance to be well done, it must be specific to the customer.

Companies/organizations have their own specific requirements that may differ from each other. Agencies need to be sure to understand that compliance is rooted in an organization’s specific guidelines.