Conventions and Health Care

Arguably, medical meetings are the most important sector of the convention industry. Year in and year out, medical and health care events comprise the No. 1 category in terms on the number of shows listed in the Tradeshow Week Data Book. This year, 539 medical tradeshows with at least 5,000 net square feet of exhibit space will take place in the United States and Canada.

The shows are growing quickly, too. For example, in 2006, attendance grew by 7.8 percent, compared with the previous year, according to the TSW Medical Show Report. The same study found the number of exhibiting companies increased by 2.9 percent.

As time goes on, the medical sector will only become more important: Ten of the 20 fastest-growing occupations are forecast to be in health services. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2002 and 2012, the health care industry will have added nearly 3.5 million new jobs, a 30-percent increase. Demographic shifts will also continue to contribute to the growth of the health care business, and events will benefit.

However, this growth has also brought changes and challenges for medical exhibitors because more companies to exhibit means more competition on the showfloor. As one exhibitor told TSW, “We have our work cut out for us in proving why we are the company to work with.”

Exhibitors also tell TSW that buyers at medical events today are better informed about products and services before arriving at shows and spend less time in booths than in the past.

At the same time, wider issues are having an impact on the health care industry and, in turn, its conventions and meetings. Some examples are an aging U.S. population, rising health care costs, falling reimbursement, more informed consumers and government regulation, as well as staffing and technology challenges.

To get a handle on these dynamics and their effect on tradeshows, TSW Research and Skyline Exhibits recently conducted a study of medical and pharmaceutical exhibitors.

Fifty-eight percent of medical exhibitors responding to the survey said they had changed the way they use exhibits to better reflect industry and business changes. More than half said that, in the past three to five years, their exhibits had become more high-tech and upscale looking.

When asked how they thought attendees had changed, respondents gave three common answers:

• Attendees spend less time in the booth (according to 40 percent of the respondents).
• They are better informed about products and services (before getting to the show) than in the past (31 percent).
• Fewer are higher-level executives and buyers (15 percent).

Only 6 percent of medical exhibitors said attendees were spending more time in their booths.

The study also found a sense among medical exhibitors that it is harder to reach doctors, nurses and administrators on the tradshow floor today than it was a few years ago. A few exhibitors indicated that medical technicians were visiting their booths, while doctors were often busy with the educational curricula offered at medical events.

One key influence on exhibiting is the increased competition for face time with decision makers. Because attendees spend less time in booths, exhibitors believe, quickly grabbing a prospect's attention is critical. Medical exhibitors also are adjusting their messages to demonstrate value beyond product pricing.

One exhibitor said, “We bring existing customers to work the booth and provide first-hand testimonials to show attendees and prospects.”

As medical products have become more technologically complex, events have become more specialized. A different message is required for each show. In response, exhibit marketers are creating themes, rather than standalone graphics.

Certain features are particularly important to exhibit marketers:

• interactive booth demonstrations and video
• providing more education in the booth
• enhancing pre-show marketing
• providing more product samples instead of giveaways and trinkets

Marketing complex products also requires more training for booth personnel. Today, booth staffers have to understand increasingly complex product and service features and the advantages of working with the organization they represent, in addition to being able to qualify buyers quickly.

Medical conventions and exhibitions are different from tradeshows in other sectors. Associations dominate medical tradeshows and, often, even the largest shows' exhibit components are focused on education.

The medical and pharmaceutical business is also well known for having many exhibit-less conferences and corporate meetings, which are increasingly important. Two-thirds of the medical exhibitors surveyed said their senior management considered non-traditional event marketing to be more important than, or as important as, they considered traditional conventions and exhibitions two years ago.

Most of the study's respondents said their organizations ran or participated in events other than traditional conventions and exhibitions, and nearly nine out of 10 said they expected their organizations to participate in more, or at least the same number, in the next few years. That percentage is slightly higher than exhibitors in other industry sectors. The most common alternative marketing programs mentioned were sales meetings (70 percent) and training programs (60 percent). Forty percent said they also run or participate in conferences, corporate sponsorship programs and incentive programs.

Today, fewer medical exhibitors are selecting events simply because they have always gone to them. In a similar survey in 2005, 68 percent of medical exhibitors indicated they exhibited at the same shows annually, compared with 60 percent in 2007. Today, exhibitors are more interested in attendee demographics and perceived ROI or ROO as means to decide what shows to select.

The growth outlook for every type of medical event is good, but complexity, greater competition and rapid change will continue to provide challenges for exhibitors.