It is clear we are entering a time of uncertainty for healthcare conferences. Are we heading back to a world of in-person events with keynotes, breakout sessions and exhibit halls? A hybrid world of online and in-person events? Or is the world of conferences set to morph into something new?
Join us at the next #HITMC Tweetchat on Tuesday October 12th at noon ET for a fun and lively discussion on “Rethinking Conferences: What are we looking for as attendees and sponsors”
Terrible Sponsor Experience at Virtual Conferences
Let’s be honest. The experience for sponsors/exhibitors at virtual conferences is terrible. I have yet to see an online platform replicate what happens in an actual exhibit hall.
At the last few virtual conferences I attended, I had problems getting hold of company representative in the sponsor area. I would click on the “meet now” or “schedule a meeting” button and I would either end up in a video call by myself or I would never get a confirmation of the meeting time.
At one conference, I logged on to the virtual booth system and for several minutes I listened to a private conversation between the sales rep and his partner. After a few attempts to get their attention (he must have had the conference site running on a browser tab that he had minimized), I left the meeting.
On several occasions I reached out to the companies directly and they would apologize for missing our meeting and explain that they had never received a notice of my meeting request. It was kind of funny to hear/see their reactions when I showed them the confirmation email that I had received when I booked a time with them at their virtual group. An expletive was usually involved.
Is it time to accept that the only worthwhile virtual sponsor is a speaking session? Is there anything that can be done to improve virtual events for sponsors?
Side note: I have heard that a reverse-expo style event – an online version of speed dating for companies and prospects – works well in a virtual format. I’d be curious to know if anyone in the HITMC Community has experienced this type of event. Health Connect Partners runs an event like this.
Do People Want to Return to In-Person Conferences?
With most conferences moving online over the past 18 months, attendees had the opportunity to experience virtual keynotes and breakout sessions for the first time. My guess is that many found the experience to be on par and in some cases, superior to in-person learning.
Why fly across the country, pay for an expensive hotel just to hear a “big name” keynote and 5-10 sessions when you can do that from the comfort of your own computer. Personally, if I was just attending an event for educational reasons, I would be perfectly happy with attending virtually.
Of course, there is nothing that can replace in-person networking. That has proven very difficult to replicate in a virtual environment. Do conference organizers need to “amp up” this aspect of their in-person conferences? Do they have to organize shared experiences, like attending a baseball game together or a private night at a theme park to get people to come in-person? Or do they have to engineer meetings between attendees that are interested in talking with each other (ie: in-person speed dating meetings).
Change is Coming
I think change is coming to healthcare conferences. I’m seeing signs that lead me to believe that the level of in-person attendance will not recover as quickly as people hope. For the large healthcare conferences I think they will eventually return to a high level of attendees + sponsors, but for mid-sized and smaller conferences, I think change will be needed to attract people.
For attendees who go to conferences primarily to learn, the past 18 months has shown them that the virtual experience is good enough. I think a majority of these people will not return to in-person conferences so organizers are going to have to get creative to bring these people back.
Join us at the next #HITMC Tweetchat on Tuesday October 12th at noon ET (for your local time click here) when we will be discussing:
- T1 What does the future of conferences look like? Back to in-person? Hybrid? Separate online + in-person events? Specialized or more targeted events?
- T2 What are the most memorable conferences you have attended? What made it memorable or special?
- T3 Are there unique types of sessions/learning formats that you have experienced at a conference or that could apply to a conference (ie: unconference style, team-building)?
- T4 What can be done to make the sponsor/exhibitor experience at virtual or in-person conferences better?
- T5 What do conference organizers need to do to bring you/attendees back in-person? Or is it a case of simply waiting it out?
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