New Technology and What It Really Means for Healthcare Exhibitors White Paper

It’s cool! It’s Exciting! But What Does It Mean for Healthcare Exhibitors? With daily updates on the latest and greatest technological breakthroughs in the event space, you could be forgiven for thinking that the exhibit world as you knew it is a thing of the past; that you had better get on board with the latest multimedia revolution, or be the laughing stock of the next medical conference. After all, who needs a plain old MOA video, when there is Virtual Reality? And why bother with a boring product theater, when Microsoft’s HoloLens will soon enable us to convert the entire booth into a truly augmented landscape? It is true that new interactive media offers us amazing ways to educate audiences around disease states and brand messaging, but at the same time, we must challenge the notion that “So, what’s new and exciting?” is the right question to ask.

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By some estimates, major brands are decreasing the amount of exhibitry – the stuff exhibit houses design, build, and sell – by as much as 25 to 35 percent, and funneling that money into audiovisual elements. - Exhibitor Magazine

In this document, we will share our industry and agency perspectives on the use of multimedia in the exhibit space, and provide some practical tips on the optimal way to identify and use the right solution.

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Beware the Shiny Object Shiny Object Syndrome…Most of us have at some point been involved in a project that on the face of it seemed so promising, so exciting, but that at the end of a long, arduous road did not provide the outcome we had envisioned. These projects start with an infatuation with a cool new technology, instead of with a more productive problem/solution scenario. Shiny Object Syndrome has the potential to seduce us with technology and can force us to lose sight of what it was we set out to accomplish. While it is often tempting to use a solution just because it is ’shiny’, we should always challenge ourselves to consider whether it is the right solution for our message, audience and setting. Let’s take, for example, Virtual Reality (VR). As a decades-old solution, VR has experienced a remarkable resurgence over the last 24 months. WWhile previous applications tended to be clunky and underwhelming, the technology has finally caught up with the hype and expectations. This technology has opened the door to a broad spectrum of new customer experiences. VR has proven to be a superbly versatile audience engagement platform, allowing brands to fully immerse audiences in key product messages. So, what we have is an amazing technology solution that may be the right fit for a brand; but then again….it may not be.

“Shiny Object Syndrome has the potential to seduce us with technology and can force us to loose sight of what it was we set out to accomplish.”

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After all, no matter how cool the technology, without solid purpose and great content, it will be nothing more than a gadget. This not only applies to VR, but to all forms of interactive media, including Augmented Reality, Interactive Touch, Transparent LCD….and the list goes on.

or other, will allow you to best articulate your message? After you can answer those questions, you then need to determine how you navigate this type of project through your internal organization and how you ensure the most optimal outcome. Let’s explore this approach in more detail.

So, we need to challenge ourselves to first focus on the critical questions before we even consider a specific solution. Who is your target audience? What is the message you want and need to communicate? What vehicles, technological

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6 Questions to Ask When Evaluating the Value of Interactive Technology for Your Exhibit 1. What are we trying to accomplish? Set your objectives. Sounds obvious, for sure. Too often, multimedia projects do not start with the question “What are we trying to accomplish?”, but instead ask: “How could we best use this?” You wouldn’t build a whole house because you like a specific door knob. Nevertheless, you know you need a knob to open a door. All investments you make must be solution oriented, and in the case of technology-based solutions which can often be expensive and may have a limited audience based upon the need for face to face interaction -use of technology for technology’s sake can be a costly endeavor that will not yield great returns. Until you can clearly articulate what you are trying to accomplish and what success looks like, you should not begin to consider executional tactics.

2. How does this support my narrative? Too often interactive solutions are used because of the wow-factor they deliver, rather than the way they could help a brand tell their story. As a result, an activation can seem disconnected from the rest of the booth and have people wonder why it is even there. It becomes a distraction. Ensure that there is close alignment between the company and the company’s internal and external stakeholders about the overarching objectives, messaging, booth design, and the intended visitor experience. What is the journey we want visitors to take? Is the interactive solution the starting point, the end point or is it bookended between two other stations? How does the solution help us tell the story?

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3. How will we measure success? Now that we know what “success looks like”, we need to determine how we will assess if that success has been attained. It is hardly a revelation that companies will want the outcomes of their customer engagement to be measurable. What has been a revelation though, is how often this is merely an afterthought. Agree in advance, both internally and with the agencies involved, what metrics you want to apply

“An activation can seem disconnected from the rest of the booth and have people wonder why it is even there”

4. Can it be scaled? Multimedia can have a significant impact on the exhibit budget. As you are considering a specific technology, be sure to consider where else all, or part, of this asset could be used. Will it only fit in your largest booths, or could you scale it down for use at smaller shows as well? Could it be leveraged as a tool to be used by sales people as they visit the HCPs? Is there an opportunity to use it for training? Any agency worth its salt will consider scalability before they present you with a new multimedia solution. If they don’t, perhaps it is time to consider finding another agency.

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5. Are all the stakeholders aligned? “We don’t have to involve [fill in the blank] yet. We’ll just show it to them when we are done.” If there is a surefire way to set up a project for failure, it is by keeping the stakeholders in the dark. While we are not advocating a ‘design by committee’ approach, and know that, yes, sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness than for permission, securing buy-in from the people that matter will make your life a whole lot easier. Ideally, every stakeholder group that will be using the solution (e.g. Sales) or that has the ability to influence the project (Medical, Legal, Regulatory) should be present during the kick-off, and be apprised of the progress for the duration of the project. If there are any concerns about the strategic direction and tactical execution, you want to know right at the beginning of the project; not halfway through. “Hi Susan, we have been working on this interactive solution for the last three months, and now it turns out it needs to interface with our CRM. Any chance you could help out with that?” Few things annoy your IT department more than being asked to support a nearcomplete project that they have never seen before. If the multimedia solution has to interface with your company’s IT architecture and/or may require the support of your internal IT resources, be sure to give those resources a seat at the table. Not only will this help you avoid the impression that you are creating ‘Shadow IT ’ (solutions specified and deployed by departments other than the IT department), the people you are now involving might identify hurdles you had not considered, and offer solutions you would not know where to find.

“If there are any potential concerns about the strategic direction or tactical execution of your project, you want to know right at the beginning, not halfway through”

“We developed this really great game, but the doctors are just not interested in playing it.” Walk any show floor at any medical conference, and you will inevitably see a booth featuring a cool whiz-bang interactive environment that is only being used by the sales staff. If you want to deploy something brand new and you are not 100% sure that your specific audience will use it, why not ask some of your KOLs what they think about it. It is appropriate? Does it make sense? Does it add value? Would you use it? View the other stakeholders in this process as your partners. It will help you avoid a lot of obstacles down the road. 6

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6. How will we manage the budget? You must be very clear about the total investment needed to successfully deliver the project. It is very easy to find yourself half way through a technology-based project and encounter scope creep, or worse, have your budget reduced. Excessive resource challenges can result in an inferior product being delivered, and most likely that product will not yield the results you or your stakeholder had expected. Be quick to identify the point of diminishing returns in your project and don’t be afraid to seek alternative options if you will not be able to achieve your desired outcome.

In other words… Interactive technology, no matter what form, continues to offer us new and exciting ways to tell our stories with more impact. It helps us stand out among the crowd, engage an often complacent audience, and even reenergize our own staff. When used right, a multimedia activation will encourage congress attendees to visit your booth (“That is intriguing. Let me see what that is all about”) and provide an engaging, memorable and meaningful experience. The key is to treat technology like you would any other tactic, as one of many channels available to engage your audiences. And while it is perfectly fine to get excited about new technology, we should always view it for what it is: a means to an end - another way to create awareness and engagement. Nothing more, nothing less.

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Contact Us Christine Farmer

Hans Wernke

Sr. Director, Marketing Operations Novo Nordisk Inc. [email protected] 609-786-4265

Vice President, Business Development Inhance Digital [email protected] 203-940-2963

About the Authors Christine Farmer is Senior Director, Marketing Operations at Novo Nordisk Inc. Christine has been involved in Convention Marketing for over 15 years and is currently serving as Past President of the Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association. Hans Wernke is Vice President of Development at Inhance Digital, where he helps pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies optimize their communications with healthcare professionals through a broad range of interactive marketing solutions.

7918 Jones Branch Drive Suite 300 McLean, VA 22102 p: 703-935-1961 f: 703-503-3266 www.hcea.org [email protected]

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