Three Ways the Sustainability Movement Could Save Medical Conventions

This article was originally published by Access TCA, as an installment of their Advocacy Through Access series, which explored engagement in an ever-changing events industry.

Trouble is brewing. Exhibit industry press claims convention attendance and event space are back to pre-pandemic levels.

But corporate marketers share a different reality: budgets are stagnant, service costs are excruciatingly high and unpredictable, travel restrictions and reduced staffing complicate the convention manager’s job. Without solid data to refute skepticism, budget holders, especially those who have never experienced the energy of a really well-executed healthcare exhibit, remain skeptical.

To fix this, costs must decrease, engagement must increase, and there must be data to prove it’s working. Associations are in a unique position to make this happen.

Could Sustainability be a Powerful Tool for Big Change?

To most people, sustainability is the blooming onion of corporate initiatives. You know it’s out there but avoid it. Suddenly it lands in front of you, causing your eyes to roll. You eventually concede and dig in, only to find it messy and hard to navigate. Moments later, regret sets in.

Lacking clear goals, budget, or consensus, exhibit managers often resort to minor changes like recycled cups or plant walls, hoping the issue fades.

However, just as the PhRMA code shifted industry standards towards smarter engagements with healthcare professionals, the sustainability movement has enough support to unite major exhibitors and motivate associations to act. It holds potential for more than minor fixes—it could lead to structural changes that lower costs and enhance value.

From that perspective, sustainability could literally save healthcare conventions.

Lower and More Predictable Costs

Unpredictable and irrational cost hikes — even 20% or more annually — cast doubt about the value of conventions and create mayhem for convention managers.

Rates for many of the biggest of big-ticket costs — booth space, drayage, electrical, rigging, and catering — are set without exhibitor input.

By unifying each association’s largest exhibitors under a common mission, and with support from the very top of each organization, sustainability mandates could become the instrument of change that exhibitors need to demand transparency and new practices. Independent organizations like the Exhibitor Advocate were founded on this principle and could be an effective watchdog.

Consistent Data Across Meetings

Exhibit managers need reliable, consistent data and insights to guide decisions and to measure the success of their programs. For the former, exhibitors are using everything from $20 handheld tally counters to a new generation of AI-powered RFID tools like FastSensor. But without the cooperation of associations, it’s impossible to measure anything beyond the exhibitor’s own carpet line.

Asking associations to step up is no small task, but some of the data already exists, and much more is available through technology. For example, modern visitor management systems enable huge meetings like Euroshop to welcome tens of thousands of visitors with a single small registration desk, and far less registration and security staff, while providing every single exhibitor with pre-event insights into attendees’ real reasons for attending, and real-time, reliable, GDPR-compliant data on attendee traffic at the event.

Doing so could be a win-win for exhibitors and associations. The results would be credible and informative, spotlighting areas that need improvement, and providing exhibitors with meaningful context to their own data, in turn providing them a tool to justify spending and defend the medium’s value to those in their own leadership who decide their budgets.

And even if it didn’t do all that, it would certainly provide some valuable counterprogramming to the negative chatter about cost increases.

Deeper Insights into Delegate Preferences

Associations are also key to improving the other side of the value equation: helping exhibitors increase exhibit traffic by gathering and sharing delegate insights at the time of registration, i.e., in enough time for exhibitors to react.

According to Joe Federbush, president of Evolio Marketing, “By simply asking exhibitors what information valuable and prioritizing delegate input during registration, associations could provide exhibitors with essential planning insights. Why aren’t most doing this already? Very few exhibitors are asking for the right type of decision-making information, beyond the basics like attendance figures.”

A New Era of Medical Conventions

These three strategies show how sustainability can shift from the blooming onion of conventions to a powerful force that fulfills its greater promise of health and longevity. The gravitas behind sustainability mandates could make it a very effective megaphone. By breaking the costly cycle of skepticism, sustainability could empower convention managers to drive meaningful change, giving their organizations a competitive edge and re-asserting their own value in the process.