Pharma companies are talking about going back to in-person HCP events in 2023. But is that what HCPs really want? To go back to traditional event formats?
Not exactly.
According to Veeva and Ashfield Health, almost 70% of HCPs are digital natives. That means their experiences with tech is changing their expectations for medical education events too.
In fact, 96% of them say they would benefit from more virtual HCP events and conferences. (MedData Group).
So, how can you give your HCPs the same personalized, relevant, and effortless experiences they get from other digital touchpoints?
By going virtual or hybrid.
But how can you choose the best event platform to help you run successful virtual and hybrid medical events?
In this article, we outline the features you should look for in a medical event management platform, list the 9 best event platforms out there for HCP events, and provide an RFP template to help you compare vendors.
Want to go straight to the list of the 9 best event platforms for HCP events? Let’s go!
HCP event platform: 8 features to look for
Pharma has very specific needs for HCP events. So, investing in an event platform with the right features is crucial.
Here are just 8 of the features we recommend looking for in an HCP event platform:
#1 Templates
Building a complex medical event from scratch is no easy task. That’s why it’s a good idea to look for an event platform vendor that has ready-made templates you can build on for your different types of events.
Some event platform providers have templates tailored to life science companies that have all the features you need to create successful events that work for your specific use case. From medical congresses and scientific meetings to product launches and internal meetings.
#2 Branding
You should be able to brand your medical events. You want your participants to know that it is your company holding the event not somebody else’s.
That’s why it’s important to search for an HCP event platform that enables you to fully customize what your participants see. The best platforms out there give you the chance to personalize your:
- Theme
- Colors
- Logo
- Graphics
- Pictures
- Banners
- Menus
- Icons
- Images
#3 Personalized agendas
Make sure your participants know where to go at your medical events. Personalized agendas are vital for any HCP event platform. For example, when you want to send your HCPs into specific breakout rooms to give them tailored information.
You may have KOL speakers at your events to keep HCP energy high. To find out how to recruit and nurture the best KOLs to speak at your medical events, check out our latest post the ultimate KOL engagement plan for successful pharma events.
#4 Content strategy & targeting
At your HCP events, you may not want to send all your content to all your participants. For instance, you may have content related to different therapeutic areas that only relevant cohorts of HCPs would need to see. So, make sure you look for an event platform that allows you to target your content to specific audiences.
Your medical content should also be engaging for HCPs. That means using different sources of content to keep energy high. Many event platforms have the option to use a variety of content such as:
- Live streams
- Pre-recorded videos
- Activity feed
- Closed captioning
- On-demand content
- Case studies
- Knowledge ladders
- Collaborative breakouts
Ensure your HCP event platform has the variety you need to keep your HCPs engaged.
If you’re looking for a gated on-demand hub to upload your content to after your events, check out our very own content hub.
#5 Moderated Q&A & feed posts
It’s important to give HCPs the chance to ask questions and engage with your event content. But first, you want to check the content that will be published to ensure you meet compliance standards.
That’s why a great feature for medical events is moderated Q&A and feed posts. You can easily assign someone to moderate and manage everything that participants want to communicate.
To learn about how you can use other event platform engagement features at life science events while staying compliant, read our acticle on event compliance: busting 5 myths in the pharma industry.
#6 Adverse events reporting link
Having the option to report adverse events with one click of a button during HCP events is a key feature for pharma. After all, it’s not just about patient safety but also about protecting your company from expensive liability claims and financial losses.
#7 Reporting (registration, attendance, engagement)
To determine the success of your medical events, you need to be able to track key event metrics and create reports.
Many event platforms for HCP events have advanced analytics to enable you to evaluate your event’s success. For example, you can monitor:
- Open rates
- Click-through rates
- Registrations
- Attendance
- Q&A & polls
- Viewing time & drop-offs
- CX quotient
- Net Promoter Score
And some event platforms even have native integrations with Life Science CRMs, such as Veeva or IQVIA, to consolidate your event data and enable successful omichannel strategies.
#8 Continuous Medical Education (CME) credits & certificates of attendance
HCP events are about enhancing HCPs’ knowledge and skills. Their aim is to continuously educate HCPs so they improve patient treatment and care.
You’ll be well aware that some states require medical professionals to gain a specific number of credits every year to keep their licenses. So, having a feature on your HCP event platform that enables you to give CME credits and certificates of attendance to your medical events is a big advantage.
Looking for a full guide to help you manage your HCP events? Check out our latest article with the ultimate guide to pharmaceutical meeting and event planning.
The 9 best event platforms for HCP events
We’ve conducted some research and found the top event platforms that leading pharma companies choose for their HCP events.
Check them out and see which one could be the right fit for your needs.
#1 SpotMe
Named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: B2B Event Management Technology, Q1 2023 report and a Market Leader in Research In Action’s Vendor Selection Matrix™ Report – Marketing Event Management: The Top Global Vendors 2023.
SpotMe is the intuitive HCP events platform to create engaging, personalized, and compliant event experiences that help companies build better relationships with HCPs. With 15+ years of unrivaled experience helping leading life sciences and pharmaceutical companies to build omnichannel event experiences that HCPs love, SpotMe is the first choice for HCP engagement.
SpotMe will ensure that you skyrocket engagement at your HCP events from the moment they start to the moment they end. Whether they are in-person, virtual, or hybrid. With personalized event registration, seamless onsite check-in & badging, and an intuitive mobile event app, you can make a great impression as soon as HCPs sign up. And you can keep HCP engagement high with an interactive activity feed, networking tools, a meeting scheduler, and live chat to Q&A, polls, live applause, quizzes, gamification, and much more.
Its fully customizable, integrated, and easy-to-use HCP event app makes it the ideal solution for leading Fortune 500 companies in high-touch industries such as life sciences and pharmaceuticals looking to create branded and personalized experiences that HCPs love. Whether you’re running satellite symposia, investigator meetings, or advisory boards.
SpotMe has deep native integrations with CRM systems and MAPs, including Veeva, Hubspot, Marketo, Salesforce, and Rainfocus to name a few, making it effortless to automatically track numerous event metrics that will help you drive your next best action with HCPs.
In addition to its hyper-personalized mobile event app, SpotMe offers white-glove professional event services and instant 24/7 support to ensure your events run as smoothly as possible from the moment you start planning. Trust SpotMe to handle all of your event technology needs with their battle-tested processes and trained professionals, whether onsite or remote. Services range from event app creation, event app training, and speaker orientation to live production, coordination, and onsite attendee help desks.
Thanks to its enterprise-grade security and enterprise deployment, SpotMe is trusted by 10 of the world’s top 20 life sciences and pharma companies, including Roche, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, and GSK.
To find out more about what SpotMe HCP events platform has to offer, check out our product page.
#2 Cvent
Cvent has 1,500+ customers in the life science industry. It provides a disciplined approach to HCP event management.
Its powerful software means that pharma companies can run in-person, hybrid, and virtual HCP events while tracking HCP activities.
Cvent’s customers include:
- Merck
- Abbvie
- AstraZeneca
#3 ON24
ON24 works specifically with life science companies to host HCP events on its event platform.
It enables pharma to deliver the personalized experiences HCPs want more and more of. It also has features to help deliver training, share clinical studies, and host resources and reference materials.
ON24’s customers include:
- Abbvie
- GSK
- Takeda
#4 InEvent
InEvent has an HCP event management platform that allows pharma companies to plan all kinds of medical events.
From medical meetings, sales training, life science conferences, summits, webinars, telemedicine and lectures. InEvent helps life science companies plan every step of their HCP events.
InEvent’s customers include:
- Boehringer Ingelheim
- Merz Pharma
- Sanofi
#5 Eventdex
Eventdex’s HCP event management platform enables pharma companies to plan, promote, and report medical education events in various formats.
HCP events are secure when you run them with Eventdex thanks to its compliant and regulated software. It has some features specific to the life science industry such as abstract submission.
Eventdex’s customers include:
- Abbvie
- Merck
- Diversity Alliance for Science
#6 6Connex
6Connex is another platform that pharma companies can use for HCP events. It has enterprise-grade security meaning that it can hold up to tens of thousands of participants with no issues.
Although it is more targeted towards marketing and HR industry events, it has a strong virtual training and education platform. So, you can deliver impactful learning experiences to HCPs.
6Connex’s customers include:
- Salesforce
- Veritone
- Alcatel Lucent
Looking for a MedComms agency to help you manage events with the best pharma event technology? Check out our list of the top medical communications companies.
#7 Eventogy
Eventogy is an HCP event management platform that gives pharma event managers the tools to create, manage, market, and report on their HCP events.
It has a registration builder, an event app, a check-in feature and powerful reporting. You can plan your HCP event from end to end.
Eventogy’s customers include:
- Freshfield
- Linklaters
- Clifford Chance
#8 Webex Events
Webex Events (formerly Socio) offers frictionless, secure telehealth experiences through its virtual event platform.
Its software enables pharma companies to conduct accessible training and it has powerful end-to-end security meaning HCP events can stay compliant.
Webex Events’ customers include:
- One World Surgery
- UniCredit
- McLaren
#9 Hubilo
Hubilo aims to drive engagement at HCP events with its virtual event platform.
Its software gives pharma companies the chance to organize internal events, education seminars, and conferences.
Hubilo’s customers include:
- Roche
- GITEX
- Informa Group
Why SpotMe Is The Best HCP Events Platform
When it comes to delivering engaging HCP events, every interaction, whether face-to-face or digital, is important. 86% of event marketers believe that technology can have a major positive impact on the success of their events. SpotMe helps companies in high-touch industries such as life sciences and pharma stay one step ahead of the competition by prioritizing HCP engagement, personalization, and the overall HCP event experience.
Here are some reasons why SpotMe is the best HCP events platform.
Engage HCPs Like Never Before
SpotMe delivers a complete omnichannel event experience so you can meet HCPs where they are and create a personalized journey for them. 10 of the top 20 life sciences and pharma companies, including GSK, Sanofi, and Takeda, use SpotMe’s HCP events platform to create engaging digital-first experiences that are fully compliant and secure.
With its wide range of interactive features, event organizers can engage HCPs before, during, and after events. This leads to stronger relationships that last a lifetime. Meanwhile, HCPs enjoy relevant and engaging content that’s right at their fingertips.
Get First-Party Insights Fast With Deep CRM Integrations
Events are one of the few remaining sources of first-party data. And with onsite events more popular than virtual and hybrid events, using technology at HCP events is the only way to get these valuable insights. SpotMe collects hundreds of event metrics and feeds them automatically into your CRM system/MAP. This way, event marketers don’t have to manually extract data.
With deep, vertical-specific CRM/MAP integrations with systems such as Veeva, you can view all the rich engagement data collected when HCPs use the SpotMe event app. You can see the entire HCP journey – from the average time spent on the event app, and the average number of interactions per visit to the features they used most and the path they took through the event app. As a result, event marketers and sales teams can understand HCP behavior and follow up with the most appropriate next best action.
SpotMe Is Always On Hand To Help With Your HCP Events Platform
Having an HCP events platform that is easy to set up and use for both HCPs and event organizers is critical for life sciences and pharmaceutical companies that run many different types of events every year. Leading organizations such as Novo Nordisk, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Roche don’t just choose SpotMe for its intuitive HCP events platform. They also choose it for the exceptional event technology support services we offer alongside it.
With 100+ certified event professionals worldwide, 20+ years of event technology training, and excellent customer NPS scores, our support team is always on hand with their industry-specific event expertise to help you deliver great HCP events.
Give SpotMe’s HCP Events Platform A Try
Our fully branded and compliant HCP events platform is designed to create engaging events that HCPs love. By equipping your event organizers with the digital tools they need to keep HCP engagement high and gain detailed insights into HCP behavior, you can build lasting relationships with them at scale. And with our battle-tested professional services, it has never been easier to deliver smooth HCP events with a flawless user experience.
Join the 12,000+ event builders from 10 of the top 20 life sciences and pharma companies who use SpotMe to run better HCP events. Request a demo today.
