How we evaluated the impact of multiple conferences on HCP perceptions

The challenge

Our client’s key focus in a specific therapy area led to major involvement at five meetings across the space of 12 months; two of these taking place in US and three in Europe. The requirement of this research program was to track reactions to company activities and to certain belief states around key product communications through the period of a year.

Our solution

We proposed a set of five individual ‘conference live’ projects, each specific to a single meeting and each with pre-, during- and post-conference surveys (multiple surveys during each meeting). Sample sizes and questionnaires were designed to support cross-conference comparisons and the measurement of growing product awareness and belief states over time, while respecting the size of each meeting and its likely ability to yield amenable physician respondents. At smaller meetings, we drew respondents only from the geography of the meeting itself but, at the two largest (European) meetings, we surveyed both US and European physicians, enabling a further element of subgroup analysis.

The results

We delivered overall samples of n=80 for three larger meetings and n=40 for the two smaller meetings. Having combined ‘standard metrics’ (to be applied in relation to each meeting) with detailed questions specific to individual events, presentations and competitor activity, we were able to deliver insightful meeting-specific insights, but also higher-level trend data over the period of one year and insights into the utility and value of different activities and engagements in different meeting contexts. Evaluation of performance after each meeting fed into optimisation processes for subsequent meetings, and the success of these processes could be objectively measured.

For more information about Conference Research, contact john.branston@researchpartnership.com