June 2005
10 Best Practices from Leading Medical Shows

Medical shows face many challenges — from increasing time pressures for physicians and travel restrictions for international participants to close scrutiny from regulatory organizations and consolidation among exhibiting companies. Here are best practices that contribute to continued success for this industry sector.

By Martha Collins

1. Focusing on Education
Medical conventions are a primary source of continuing medical education (CME) for physicians and continuing education units (CEUs) for nurses, a trend that seems unchecked by the proliferation of online courses. In fact, medical associations are facilitating access to online courses — even at their shows.

At its National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition (NTI), the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN, www.aacn.org) has an NTI Self-Study Pavilion. “We started in 1997 with 12 computers. Now we have more than 120 computers in four sections — an Internet and Computer Unit, a PDA Learning Lab, an ECG Computer Lab, and an Independent Study Center,” says Randy Bauler, CEM, Corporate Relations and Exhibits Director.

“The online learning capability is an essential component of today’s education marketplace. We help nurses find the best e-learning opportunities. Some is through AACN, some is through other sources,” he says.

While the Self-Study Pavilion is almost always full, it hasn’t diminished interest in live sessions, says Bauler. “Over the last three years, our NTI education program has grown from 250 to 300 sessions.”

2. Promoting Attendance
While a medical association is a major source of continuing education for its members, it does face competition from other organizations. “That’s why it’s more important than ever to market the value of your meeting to your members,” says Sondra Biggs, Convention Manager for the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP, www.aafp.org) Scientific Assembly.

AAFP used to send one brochure to its members in May covering all aspects of the September meeting. In 2004 and again this year, they sent two brochures — a registration brochure in February and a CME brochure in May. “The February brochure markets the value of the meeting, describing the quality of the CME. It also sells them on the destination and what’s offered for families,” says Biggs. The May brochure deals specifically with CME courses.

“In 2004, about 1,000 doctors registered after the February mailing and that’s unusual,” says Biggs. In previous years, most attendees registered after the single May mailing.    

3. Streamlining the Schedule
As managed care emphasizes seeing more patients, time away from the office is at a premium for physicians, which often means the last day of a meeting isn’t well attended.

“Our four-day Annual Meeting and exhibition used to run Sunday to Wednesday, and we had fewer attendees on the last day. Yet our daylong subspecialty programs on Friday and Saturday, prior to the annual meeting, were growing in attendance,” says Anna Zammataro, Exposition Manager, American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO, www.aao.org).

In 2003, AAO streamlined the schedule. Friday and Saturday are still subspecialty days, but now the AAO exhibition opens on Saturday, attracting subspecialty day attendees, and the Annual Meeting program doesn’t begin until Sunday — both run through Tuesday, when the show closes early. To accomplish this, AAO decreased the number of Annual Meeting courses. “Attendees can earn the same number of CME credits, there are just fewer courses to choose from,” says Zammataro, noting that there are still more than 700 course hours. Surveys indicate that attendees like the streamlined schedule, and exhibitors are pleased with the increased booth traffic. 

4. Saving Attendees Time
Decreasing travel distance to meetings is another way to save physicians time. Pri-Med, a for-profit show organizer, has succeeded by providing regional events that offer primary care physicians CME courses in six cities around the country.

“Holding the meeting in six regional locations allows for less travel time for the primary care practitioner and therefore less time away from the office,” says Marlene Shea, Vice President, Conferences and Exhibitions for Pri-Med’s parent company M|C Communications (www.mc-comm.com).

Each Pri-Med Conference & Exhibition is a three-day event with 16 hours of CME, as well as a pre-conference day featuring programs on therapeutic issues. As an additional time saver, more than 40 industry-sponsored symposia are held during mealtimes. “And over the past two years, we’ve added a practice solutions technology track to the curriculum to give physicians insight as to how technology can help make a practice more efficient,” says Shea.

5. Facilitating International Attendance
Digestive Disease Week (DDW, www.ddw.org), an annual meeting hosted by four medical societies, draws about 45 percent of its attendees from outside North America. “We attract gastroenterologists from all over the world, that’s been one key element to the success of the meeting,” says Christopher Adams, Exhibit Sales Manager for DDW Administration, the show organizer.

To help its international attendees navigate security-related travel restrictions and new visa rules, DDW contracts with ITS Meetings, the show’s registration and housing contractor, to facilitate registration, housing and airline travel for international attendees.

“DDW Administration provides the initial invitation letters for visa applications, and from that point on the registration process is handled by ITS Meetings,” says Adams. “There’s a longer time line involved in getting an international attendee registered. ITS gets information to international attendees quickly via e-mail and their Web site, and answers their questions.”

6. Listening to Exhibitors
Medical show exhibitors are under more intense regulatory scrutiny than companies in other industries. Yet, despite the restrictions on exhibitors when it comes to influencing program content, their input is still critical to a show’s success. “In addition to understanding the needs of our members, we also need to understand what’s going on in the urologic industry,” says Kevin Wohlfort, Director, Industry Relations & Exhibits, American Urological Association (AUA, http://auanet.org).

The AUA Industry Committee meets twice a year for a roundtable discussion that includes product managers from 15 to 18 major companies, AUA’s executive committee and key AUA staff. The discussions can cover everything from policies regarding abstracts and educational programs to exhibit hours and regulatory updates. “We don’t discuss specific products, we share information about what’s happening in the urologic industry and what’s happening at AUA,” says Wohlfort.

“Member surveys indicate that the exhibit floor is an extension of their educational experience at the annual meeting. This committee helps ensure that continues to be the case,” he says.

7. Dealing with Consolidation
The trend toward consolidation is a challenge for medical shows. “Whereas in 1998 our largest exhibit was about 12,000 net square feet, now our largest is about 28,000 net square feet. Most of that has been from acquisitions, and I don’t see it slowing down,” says Tom Shimala, Director, Technical Exhibits, Radiological Society of North America (RSNA, www.rsna.org). “It’s a concern because most of the time that larger space taken by the newly consolidated company doesn’t equal the amount taken by both companies separately the previous year.”

Shows must find several smaller companies to fill the space once occupied by a larger exhibitor. Fortunately, new scientific discoveries and the growing number of medical subspecialties continue to spawn startup companies.

“RSNA has been fortunate to average around 125 new companies every year, and so we seem to be able to make up that difference,” says Shimala.

8. Accommodating Large Exhibits
Medical companies in some specialties offer numerous products that can be demonstrated on the show floor, often requiring especially large booths. For example, the aging baby boomer population and the number of sports injuries make orthopaedic products a growing industry.

“This year, we had four booths larger than 11,000 square feet. The largest was 18,700 square feet — it was a two-story booth that was like a city. We have more than a dozen two-story booths,” says Patricia Whitaker, Exhibits Manager, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (www.aaos.org). “More than 75 percent of our exhibitors had island booths, which are bigger and enable them to demonstrate more product. Some have theater areas built into their booths.”

Successfully accommodating such large booths, including setup and dismantle, and dealing with hundreds of exhibitor-appointed contractors, requires working closely with the exhibit advisory council and looking to them for recommendations, says Whitaker.

9. Linking Exhibitors and Attendees
Since the primary focus is on the educational sessions, medical show managers must make it as convenient and efficient as possible for attendees to also spend time on the exhibit floor. One way the American Heart Association (www.heart.org) accomplishes this is by providing an itinerary planner at its Web site. 

“It’s a tool that enables attendees to use online exhibitor information to help plan their meeting experience. So, in addition to planning their itineraries in terms of the sessions they want to attend, doctors can also plan which booths they want to visit,” says Barbara Charbonneau, Senior Manager, Exhibits.

“With the click of a mouse, an attendee can load exhibitor information and booth locations into an itinerary planner, print it before the meeting or on site, and use it to plan which booths to visit,” she says. “Our hall is huge, so the itinerary planner enables an attendee to focus on particular booths and tells how to get to them.”

10. Managing EACs
Exhibitor-appointed contractors (EACs) can be a boon for exhibitors, but they can also mean extra work for show managers. “In 2004, we had more than 690 exhibitors and nearly 150 of them used exhibitor appointed contractors — some used more than one,” says Tom Shimala, Director, Technical Exhibits, RSNA.

“Last year, for the first time, we contracted with the Exhibitor Appointed Contractor Association (EACA) to handle EAC registration,” he says. When an exhibitor registers at the RSNA Web site, there’s a link to the EACA site to register its contractors. EACA then sends the exhibitor an e-mail confirmation and follows up with the contractors.

 “Each week, EACA provides us with a list of the EACs registered by our exhibitors. They follow up with the EACs, collect their insurance certificates and send those to us,” says Shimala. “It streamlines the process for our exhibitors, and relieves us of an extra workload at our busiest time.”