Stop the data dumps! Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest maybe I can deal with the issue of medical meeting design in a more genial fashion. Maybe if we stopped and added a few extra questions to our planning mix we could pump up the ROI in our meetings. Maybe if we considered not just what we want to communicate but how we’re going to communicate it, we’ll end up with a meeting that people actually look forward to and, dare I say it, seek to attend. How do we do this? Let’s start by adding a new dimension to the planning process—communications design—that focuses on the how not just the what. Because meetings are communications events, right?
Communications design asks the questions that can insure our desired outcome. For example: What is the overarching message that needs to be communicated through this meeting? I often find it helpful to ask my clients not only what their desired outcome is, but also what the key message is that they want to communicate through this meeting. Everything else builds on this.
Once that question is answered then we can ask a more specific design question like: What types of sessions will support us in getting this message across? Here we begin to break free from the standard data-dump scenario. Will a facilitated discussion of the issues surrounding the message give the participants more ownership of it? How about an interactive exercise, like ranking features and benefits? Of course we will need to present some data in the traditional PowerPoint format. But can we break up the tendency to lecture, and get interactive with the participants by organizing the presentation into modules–making it easier to segment the story into its chapters? This allows us to take questions throughout the presentation, giving it the feel of a conversation, thus engaging the audience on a deeper level.
At this point the look and feel of the meeting begin to come together in the planner’s mind. We can then look at the agenda and order these sessions in a fashion that will allow our key message an uninhibited pathway into the audience’s mind. Heavy data (with Q&A integrated) is best dealt with early in the morning, with interactive exercises to follow lunch, and discussions concluding the day. But these decisions need to be made in the context of the myriad other issues surrounding the meeting, like its length, time of day, room availability, flight schedules, and budget, to name a few.
Whether planning an advisory board, speaker training, investigator meeting, roundtable discussion, or dinner meeting, looking at it from a communications design point of view, before you take any action, will greatly facilitate getting your message across, and will help you achieve greater ROI.
It has been estimated that the average person is subjected to over 3000 different messages per day. If yours is going to stand out and be remembered, communications design has got to be a part of your strategy.
