Pharma congress events challenges: Key issues identified

Between December 2023 and February 2024, we conducted a comprehensive, two-phase multi-methodology research study with a sample of professionals who are directly involved in the planning and execution of congresses.

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Findings revealed that despite significant financial investment, most of our participants feel there is room to improve congress delivery. Teams feel like they are “up against it” at congress, constantly ‘fire-fighting’ issues. 88% of our participants attributed these issues to lack of alignment within the organization.

Key congress issues

Most said alignment is the problem — we also found out where the issues they were talking about come from. According to our sources, problems on the ground at congress are exacerbated by a flawed planning process that features:

• A lack of forward-thinking, planning, and stakeholder buy-in
• Limited alignment in objectives and unrealistic delivery expectations given the time and budget available
• Too many stakeholders involved and no centralized decision-making
• Lack of clarity on strategy, roles, and responsibilities

56% of our research participants described the planning process as “decentralized”, “complicated”, “chaotic”, and “disorganized”. Unfortunately, this can lead to stressful and inefficient working experiences for the on-site team at congress events. Turning to our quantitative research, team members highlighted two key areas that prove challenging when managing and delivering congress: leveraging technology and communication channels…

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