Pharmaceutical companies tend to plan and host meetings and events through internal employees. This can lead to a strenuous and stressful employee overcommitting to a more complex task than planning an ordinary meeting.

Pharmaceutical meeting planners can bring a small idea to life. These professional planners take pride in their skills, providing the platform to assist in organizing and hosting a meeting for any company with every meeting type.

Companies can increase their meeting success rate by simply using professionals. The professional will add insight and ideas and can use the network they have built over their career to create the best event for the pharma business.

Pharma Meeting Professionals

Meeting professionals come in all shapes and sizes. These individuals take pride in their ability to organize and arrange different formats of events in multiple industries. Only some event planners have the knowledge and skills to host a pharma meeting.

The company must find an organization or event planner specializing in the pharma industry, which will assist them in creating a meeting that will meet both the business and the attendee’s expectations.

A pharmaceutical company must identify a team or individual that aligns with the company’s standards and values. This will improve the communication, direction, and ideas that both parties will have for the conference. The professional planner will have a set goal for the meeting, and this must align with the company management and leaders to ensure that the planned event fulfills both parties’ purposes.

Pharmaceutical meeting planners will have the knowledge and network to obtain a sponsor for the event. The professional can call and organize a sponsor to provide the team with the necessities for the event. From finances to products, anything is possible through the sponsor.

Fundamentals for Pharma Meeting Planners

A professional meeting planner must have a set of fundamental skills. The skills will set the stage for the event planner to create, build and design the perfect event for a pharma company. The professional must have excellent communication skills and will use their creative and innovative problem-solving skills throughout the entire planning of the event.

Determine a Set Goal

A meeting without a goal will lead to a disastrous planning structure and aimless planning that will leave both the attendees and the company wasting their time and money. Identifying a plan only partially falls on the company’s shoulders.

An experienced event planner should be able to align the business values, ideals of meeting, and the ideal outcome together to create a clear set of goals. There are many ways a planner can assist the company with identifying the goals and objectives of the meeting.

The professional pharma meeting planner can ask the W questions to create an outline of the reasons behind the meeting. Another method is to use open questions to allow the company to open its thought process to find the reason behind hosting the event.

Set a Budget

A plan with a budget is a plan. A budget is a document that states all the potential expenses and income that the pharma business will receive from the event. This is a crucial part of the event because of the layout and guidance it provides to the finances.

Professional planners will provide the pharma company with a template that will allow them to create a set budget for the event. This will prevent the company from overspending or running out of finances throughout the event. The budget will assist the company by identifying all the expenses. The pharmaceutical company can save time and money by following a set budget.

Determine the Location

A set location is an essential factor that will impact the event’s success. The venue must have the capacity to host all the attendees and keynote speakers. The venue must have the necessary equipment to ensure that every aspect of the meeting can be presented on the day.

The benefit of a professional planner is that they have the network and connections to identify and arrange a venue that will suit the type of meeting and the capacity of attendees at the event.

Check Out How To Find A Venue For An Event:

Informative and Engaging Segments

A successful meeting must be engaging and informative. Adding value through education or information is essential. The customers will attend the meeting to obtain new information. The pharma meeting must meet this desire.

A professional meeting planner will have the tools and knowledge to create an engaging and informative meeting. Adding industry leaders and company managers to the forum as keynote speakers will potentially fulfill the additional value the attendees desire.

Find a Partner, Not a Vendor

Experienced event planners should not solely be based on their abilities and skills. The company should seek an event planning company to build a long-lasting relationship. The two parties will both benefit from a strong relationship. There are some questions companies can ask to identify whether to planner is suitable for the event and the company.

The association will allow the planning teams to have open communication and value-adding meetings to ensure the perfect event can be created. The relationship will outlast the event, and both parties will have recurring business and meeting planning for the rest of their business career.

Hybrid vs. Virtual and In-person Events

With the technological era’s development, planners can determine a different format for exceptional events the company desires. Technology opens the option for virtual and hybrid events. The company must, however, choose which format will display its desired information in the best way.

Online virtual meetings will give the company a broader audience and save the company finances on venue hiring and other critical spending areas. The target market can attend these virtual events in the comfort of their living room without traveling or paying extra for accommodation for the event day.

In-person events will be more expensive, but these meetings can have better engagement, and the team can provide a great networking platform for the attendees. Physical events are easier to market for the marketing team, and the planner will have more options in themes, venues, agenda, and creating a physical event.

Hybrid events are the best of both worlds. This will allow attendees to be present either virtually or in person. Opening the field for potential attendees halfway around the globe. Another benefit is that keynote speakers can be physically present or produce their speeches through an online platform. The hybrid event provides the gift of both virtual and in-person events to be capitalized on.

Post-meeting Support

A post-meeting evaluation is a task only a few meeting planners add to their reservoir. This is what separates a professional planner for a regular meeting planner. A post-meeting assessment is a feedback form that the attendees will provide the company and the planner with the insider’s experience of the meeting.

The information will be used to improve the meeting. All the negative comments will provide the planner with clear issues they can resolve in the next event. Improving every problem will allow the planner to build a strong foundation for creating unforgettable events.

The planner can ask for more feedback from the pharmaceutical company, providing them with weaknesses in the event’s planning. The planner can ask for advice allowing them to learn and grow through every occasion.

What Conference Source Do For You? 

Conference Source is a company that aims to fulfill event development and planning for various meetings. A team is a group of event planning specialists that know to build the ideal event. The company can provide the client with attendee feedback, create advancements in event software, and plan to host the best event. Conference Source can bring any idea to life and will assist any pharmaceutical company in hosting and achieving every goal.

pharma meeting planners
During a National Sales Meeting Conference Source has planned

FAQs

How Do You Provide Cost Savings for an Event & Stay Within Budget?

A simple method to save money is by creating a budget. The team can use clear guidelines to ensure that every expense is counted for and that the company knows what they signed up for. Staying within the budget requires a regular visit to the budget. The team must work through the budget as regularly as possible to identify the set target for each area of the meeting.

Why Pharma Meetings Are Different

Pharma meetings take more time and energy to plan. A few added processes, such as FDA approval and package creation, will increase the difficulty. The marketing team will need more information to advertise due to the approval and declaration of the drug. Clinical trials and investigator meetings are crucial parts of the planning process of a pharmaceutical event. 

What Event Planners Need to Understand About the Pharmaceutical Industry

The pharmaceutical industry requires rigorous planning and skills to organize. Due to the regular change in the FDA approval process and drug testing, the planning will change regularly. The meeting planner must be able to be patient and wait for all the detail to be approved, which is one of the factors that shift pharma meeting planning from a regular corporate event.

Final Consideration

The pharmaceutical industry is an exciting sector within the world. Many planners need help to adapt and change their perspectives and approaches to fit the industry. Once the planner makes the adaption, they can add value to the company by arranging and planning an event that will meet every company’s expectations.

Companies turn to internal planners to save time and money. This, however, can come back to haunt them. External pharmaceutical event planners have the knowledge, skills, and network to create an event that meets every goal and saves the company money and time. This will allow the company to focus on other tasks while hosting and running a successful event.

Sabine Ghali

Kelly Murphy

PRESIDENT & FOUNDER

Certified Meeting planner with 20+ years of event management experience, founder of ConferenceSource, expert in meeting facility sourcing & contracting in North America, Europe, South America and Asia. Kelly will manage your budget as if they were her own, negotiating the best possible rate and hotel contract to benefit and protect every client and exceed all expectations for all planning aspects for sales meetings, educational meetings, product launches, incentive trips down to a small board of directors meeting. We make meetings easy understanding your meeting objectives and delivering meeting matched components.