Speaker symposia generates quality sales leads

Client

Oncology brand team within global healthcare company

Situation

After participating in tradeshow-style exhibits at healthcare professional conferences, the brand team sought to expand their presence at four targeted, professional symposia by offering a breakfast or lunch speaker program. With the goal of increasing understanding of the benefits, risks, and appropriate uses of their oncology product among health care professionals (HCPs) who might use it, they believed a peer speaker could share their specific experiences and protocols to accelerate product trials.

Solution

Leverage Point Advisors (LPA) leveraged an existing cadre of trained speakers to identify, recruit, and contract two key opinion leaders for each of four symposia over the course of a fiscal year. The speakers were selected based on their specialty as well as their ability to relate with the target audience as a peer educator and mentor.

Working with the client’s meetings team, LPA coordinated the meals as well as attendee registration and communication, ensuring these activities were within the compliance guidelines. LPA provided regular registration reports to the brand team to share with the sales team.

Speaker accommodations were reserved by the meetings team at the designated conference hotel. LPA provided guidance to the speakers on appropriate, compliant travel, then the speakers’ arranged their own travel. LPA served as the conduit between the various partners to ensure each detail was finalized and shared among the group.

After each symposia LPA reconciled the expenses, completed the compliance documentation and submitted for HCP compliance tracking.

Program management for the symposia included:

• Obtain regulatory, compliance, and legal approvals via HCP engagement needs assessment
• Schedule and contract 8 HCP speakers for 4 symposia programs 
• Coordinate logistics for speaker breakfast/lunch with client’s meetings team
• Manage the project workplan with responsible partners; ensure collaboration
• Oversee attendee registration and reporting
• Submit HCP speaker payments and expenses
• Submit compliance reporting documentation
• Report on registration and attendance of symposia programs, including tracking sales regions, promotion sources, and unique customers

Results

The symposia programs averaged over 45 attendees and generated significantly more high-quality leads for the sales team than did the tradeshow exhibit booths alone.