KEY TAKEAWAYS

• MedTech compliance now centres on education, not promotion—early vetting is key.
• Future meetings must shift from information delivery to emotional, transformative experiences.
• Pre- and post-meeting engagement using AI, storytelling, and gamification boosts long-term impact.

A recent report from the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) on The Future of Healthcare Meetings 2024, held in Zurich, offers critical insights for pharma and medical technology professionals navigating the future of scientific events. Discussions centred on designing meetings for lasting impact, aligning with evolving compliance frameworks, and extending educational engagement across the full event lifecycle.

Designing for new generations: meeting formats must evolve

In a panel hosted by the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, experts from life sciences, congress planning, and preventive medicine emphasised that medical meetings must shift from lecture-heavy formats to experiences built around interaction and flexibility. To meet the needs of younger healthcare professionals—who seek work-life balance and digest content differently—sessions should be shorter, wellness oriented, and digitally enabled.

Medical meetings must shift from lecture-heavy formats to experiences built around interaction and flexibility.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms are seen as essential to delivering these “experience meetings”, supporting personalised learning and inclusive participation. The design of meeting spaces and formats should follow suit, prioritising delegate experience and sustainability.

Compliance as strategic currency: pharma’s role is evolving

A dedicated compliance session brought together voices from International Pharmaceutical Congress Advisory Association, European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy, Congrex, and others to explore how changing regulations are reshaping pharma’s involvement in medical meetings. A key trend is the move from traditional sponsorship to educational grants, with industry support often contingent on final Conference Vetting System approval.

Speakers stressed that early collaboration and a shared understanding of compliance codes (European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, local legislation) are vital. Medical technology firms are taking a firmer stance on excluding promotional elements, focusing strictly on educational value. Workshops showed that building internal compliance expertise—particularly within medical societies—is crucial for fostering trust and enabling agile, regulation-compliant event planning.

Extending impact: engagement beyond the conference hall

A session led by the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation showcased how events can maintain momentum post-meeting. Case studies featured AI-driven storytelling, gamified escape rooms, and hybrid learning environments that personalise and extend the learning journey. These strategies support long-term behavioural change and reflect a growing shift toward continuous engagement rather than isolated events.

Brief context: wider healthcare and communication trends

Opening remarks from Felix Strobl (European Society of Preventive Medicine) framed healthcare’s shift to a “4Ps” model:

• Preventive
• Personalised
• Predictive
• Participatory.

Other speakers addressed inefficiencies in science communication (Dr Mike Morrison), the psychology of emotional design (Pigalle Tavakkoli), and the evolving role of medical societies as cross-sector conveners (Daniel Palomo and panel).

Together, these themes reinforce a shared direction: medical meetings must become more meaningful, measurable, and compliant—designed not just to inform, but to transform.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Conferences moved to an online-only or hybrid format due to the COVID-19 pandemic, presenting both new benefits and new challenges.
• Academic societies and organisations now have an important opportunity to evolve the format of their conferences to better meet the needs of their members.

Conferences have long been the mainstay of community and an important means of data dissemination for academic societies and organisations. However, until recently, conferences have largely followed the traditional format of annual in-person meetings. This all changed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced organisers to adopt virtual event formats. In a recent article for The Scholarly Kitchen, Paul Killoran discussed what the future might hold for academic conferences.

While it is undeniable that face-to-face events remain ideal for networking, they also come with significant challenges. Participants may face financial, political, and logistical barriers to attendance; therefore, the impact of conferences has generally been limited to the relatively small number of attendees who are able to meet in person. In addition, there is increasing awareness of the impact of international travel on climate change. A hybrid format of smaller, regional face-to-face events combined with online tools to provide a global reach offers a more sustainable alternative to one large annual meeting.

A hybrid format of smaller, regional face-to-face events combined with online tools to provide a global reach offers a more sustainable alternative to one large annual meeting.

A range of hybrid formats are beginning to emerge, using different combinations of in-person and virtual presentation, discussion, and networking sessions. This presents a challenge in itself, as no one hybrid model will work effectively for all events. Societies and organisations will need to figure out how to leverage online tools to maximise their reach whilst balancing costs and maintaining value for participants.

It is clear that there is no ‘one size fits all’ for conferences and that both in-person and virtual formats will play a role moving forwards. We hope to see organisations identifying and addressing their individual needs and adopting targeted methods to communicate effectively with their members.
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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Non-native English speakers face additional barriers to scientific publishing, from journal guidelines accessible only in English to higher rates of language-related manuscript rejection.
• Journals, congresses, and others are beginning to offer support ranging from English language mentoring programmes, training, and buddy systems to free AI proofreading tools.

With English the prominent language of scientific dialogue, non-native speakers can face challenges both day-to-day and longer term, including through the publication development process. Recently, Dr Gabriel Nakamura and Professor Bruno Soares shared their experiences in a climate where non-native English speakers are ~2.5 times more likely to face language-related manuscript rejection than native English speakers. However, efforts by journals and others in the scientific communication ecosystem mean the situation is beginning to change.

Non-native English speakers are ~2.5 times more likely to face language-related manuscript rejection than native English speakers.

A recent EcoEvoRxiv preprint, discussed in a Nature news article by Mariana Lenharo, delved into barriers and potential solutions in the biological sciences. Dr Henry Arenas-Castro and colleagues looked at 736 biological sciences journals, finding that:

• only 8% provided full author guidelines in a non-English language
• less than 7% published articles in non-English languages
• just 10% explicitly allowed authors to cite non-English language references
• only 2 journals (0.3%) stated manuscripts would not be rejected based on perceived English language quality.

These figures support calls from Dr Nakamura and Prof. Soares for stakeholders to recognise language barriers and address them to improve inclusivity for non-native English speakers.

Journals, congresses, and institutions are starting to offer schemes and tools, including:

• English language mentoring programmes, where authors can work with an editor or volunteer to refine their manuscript wording, or prepare congress abstracts and presentations
• allowing congress presentations in multiple languages, with live translations and captioning
• buddy systems and English language training and practice activities
• journals offering authors free use of artificial intelligence proofreading tools, rather than directing to (paid) professional editing services.

While interventions are having a positive impact, we look forward to seeing any further action from the medical publishing community to help drive change.

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Recorded 27 April 2022 as a MedComms Networking webinar. Produced by NetworkPharma.tv

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Mark Carden believes hybrid events are important to continue the inclusivity of online events while ensuring conversations from physical events are not lost.
• He estimates that a good hybrid conference costs nearly twice as much as a purely physical or online event.

Conferences had to adapt rapidly to COVID-19 travel restrictions, with hybrid meetings now mainstream as we return to post-pandemic life. This has resulted in increased attendance and diversity at medical congresses, however, it may come with a substantial cost.

Mark Carden, director of the Researcher to Reader (R2R) conference, summarised his learnings from running and designing pandemic-era meetings in a recent guest post on The Scholarly Kitchen. He found that, although online webinars are easy and cheap to organise and attend, many delegates miss the engagement, interactivity, and conversation provided by physical events. Some hybrid events do attempt to stimulate conversation, but good interactivity is typically difficult and expensive to implement. Recouping the costs can also be challenging, with some people reluctant to pay high prices after attending unsatisfactory virtual events in the past, and sponsors unable to distinguish between webinars and online conferences that offer true opportunities for branding and networking.

Hybrid meetings may be nearly twice the cost of a purely physical or online event, owing to the cumulative costs of audio-visual teams, venues, and software platforms.

The 2021 R2R online conference was fully interactive and focussed on providing attendees with the opportunity for conversation. Although it attracted fewer registrations and sponsorships than the previous in-person events, 98% of surveyed participants agreed that the online version of the conference was both valuable and relevant, and 80% thought that it was good value for money.

For 2022, the organisers of R2R plan to pursue the hybrid format to continue the inclusivity offered by online events. However, they estimate that hybrid meetings are nearly twice the cost of a purely physical or online event, owing to the cumulative costs of audio-visual teams, venues, and software platforms. They note that it remains to be seen whether this approach will be sustainable, or whether participants’ attitudes and expectations of quality versus price have changed. Indeed, in a 2021 article, Carden discussed the value proposition of conferences to organisers and attendees in depth, with the balance shifting as online events become more common and physical events less so.

According to Carden, the key to successful hybrid congresses will be:

• good technology: use of online tools that allow free interaction with other participants
• careful design: creating an attractive and intuitive environment
• commitment to hybrid: making it genuinely hybrid for all participants, with access to real conversations.

We look forward to seeing how conferences evolve in the coming months and years.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• The COVID-19 pandemic forced medical congresses to move online, which increased attendance, diversity, and patient inclusion whilst posing new logistical and engagement challenges.
• Len Starnes outlines key approaches medical societies may have to adopt to thrive in the ‘new normal’.

Medical congresses were forced to rapidly evolve during the COVID-19 pandemic to continue providing education in a virtual world. In a recent two-part PharmaPhorum article, Len Starnes outlines the impact of this shift, and how medical congresses can use the momentum it generated to improve in the future.

Moving to virtual formats dramatically boosted attendance at medical congresses, particularly if registration fees were reduced or waived, and increased participation of doctors from middle- and low-income countries. A recent study quantified the improvement in diversity, equity, and inclusion in conferences, and attributed it to convenience and reduced financial burden associated with virtual events. Virtual congresses have also allowed more opportunities for active patient participation, which is now widely recognised as positively affecting treatment outcomes.

The shift in attendee preference from on-site to online congresses over the pandemic was maintained into late 2021, with just over a third of 1,206 doctors stating they preferred virtual-only formats – a statistic that seems unimaginable pre-COVID. In-person congresses were still favoured by most doctors, with the youngest age group (20–40 years old) showing the most interest in the traditional format. Hybrid events, which comprise both face-to-face and virtual components, were preferred by approximately a quarter of the respondents.

“COVID-19 has produced fundamental changes in healthcare professionals’ expectations of medical conferences.”

Congress organisers have had a steep learning curve to offer more specialised content and support, particularly with the increased complexity and cost of hybrid events. Pharmaceutical companies faced changing attendee preferences, with good attendance at virtual symposia but not at virtual exhibition stands, meaning new, compelling reasons are needed for doctors to engage with these events. Furthermore, traditional congress formats (eg lectures with little audience participation) have been found not to impact doctors’ behaviours, and may need to be supplemented with interactive sessions to boost educational benefits for physicians. Starnes suggests the following key measures are needed by medical societies to thrive in the new congress landscape:

• balance virtual and in-person activities to improve the standards of medical education
• continuously monitor attendee needs, preferences, and expectations
• select professional congress organisers with strategic and tactical expertise
• boost internal digital capabilities and expertise
• re-evaluate existing business models to ensure sustainability
• create a more patient-inclusive culture
• employ innovative tactics.

As we return to attending on-site conferences, their environmental impact must also be considered. We look forward to seeing how evolving practices will improve the inclusivity and sustainability of congresses.

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