All that Glitters Isn’t Service. Don’t Overlook Compliance and Security Needs in Life Science Meetings

“White glove” is a term used to describe a bespoke level of service that often elicits thoughts of lavish resorts and champagne flutes on silver trays. The hallmark of white glove service, though, isn’t sparkly objects; it’s being able to meet or exceed a customer’s unique needs. To Shelbie Baker, account manager at AMI, this means being the client’s primary source of contact with all vendors, knowing their unique needs and preferences, and maintaining an expertise in critical compliance and security issues. While each of these actions contributes to a positive experience for clients, it’s the focus on compliance and security that makes AMI’s clients comfortable and confident in planning meetings. 

“Whether the meeting we are organizing is an investigator meeting, speaker training, advisory board, or another instance where healthcare professionals are interacting with pharmaceutical companies, the most important thing to our clients is compliance,” says Baker, who has 10 years in the life science meeting planning industry and recently earned the Healthcare Meeting Compliance Certificate from MPI. “Our goal in planning meetings, then, is to provide an engaging and memorable experience for the HCPs while adhering to the client’s particular compliance and safety needs so it’s a win-win for all.” 

 Rules, standards, and perceptions 

The globalization of the pharmaceutical industry means it’s not enough to know standards and guidelines in the U.S. Meeting planners must be aware of and plan around multinational industry regulations and national laws related to honorarium, reimbursements, Visa documentation, and more.  

“For our part, we make sure the meetings we organize are compliant with all the relevant standards and maintain the documentation to support that,” says Baker, who adds that AMI acts as the primary point of contact between the client and other vendors. This is more convenient for the client, but also helps AMI ensure the sponsor’s security and compliance requirements are met by all.  

The security aspect 

While one important element of compliance in life science meetings is ensuring adherence to guidelines and regulations, another critical element is security. Often, the content being discussed and shared in the meeting is proprietary and intended only to be viewed either by specific parties or exclusively during the live meeting and not distributed to attendees afterward. According to Baker, this is the first topic they address when choosing vendors for these meetings. 

“When we’re vetting vendors from a security perspective, we’re making sure they’re tried, trusted, and dependable, and can provide the types of security measures our client needs,” she says.  

To maintain the confidentiality of information, AMI looks to partner with the venue for hard-wired Internet, and with the audiovisual and meeting technology vendors to make sure that they have the equipment they need, as well as appropriate security measures in place.  

“Especially when the meeting app is delivered via iPads® or other personal devices, there seems to be a lot more room for security issues because you’re connecting to either Wi-Fi or a hotel’s network that could be compromised,” says Baker. “We’ve used Array for many years because they have managed iPads® and set up a proprietary secure local network that restricts any unauthorized access to the content, removing those concerns. Since their techs are always on-site to manage the technology, it also frees us up to make sure we’re able to offer our white glove service throughout all the different areas of the meeting.” 

Creating a linkage of reliable vendors that can meet compliance and security standards is an important part of what AMI considers white glove client service. Since life science stakeholders have a security process to approve vendors, the company prefers to work with approved partners who have a history with and expertise in life science meetings.  

“Working with a company that is already an approved vendor means we’re not introducing our client to someone untested who they have to vet,” says Baker. “It’s ideal when we can tell our client that our partner has worked with large pharmaceutical or biotech corporations, passed all the security measures those companies have in place, and we’ve maintained a positive relationship with them over many years. The peace of mind we can offer them with that level of confidence is an important part of our service ethos.” 

Engagement and metrics 

As varied as compliance regulations are, one constant is the need to demonstrate that the healthcare professionals (HCP) was at a professional meeting (whether to learn or share information) and not an entertainment or incentive trip.  

“Perception is very important in compliance, and working with hotels, such as ‘resorts’ or in cities like Las Vegas that are seen as destinations, can create the wrong impression of the meeting,” Baker explains.  Similarly, at a time when many meeting types are embracing AI and holograms to make presentations more exciting, she says they cautiously avoid these when healthcare providers are involved, noting, “Once we start getting into the creative side of technology, it then opens the door for compliance, because we're not supposed to have any type of entertainment or anything that can be viewed as an incentive for HCPs to come to the meeting.” 

During meetings, AMI focuses on attendance and engagement as important compliance metrics. Maintaining attendance records along with details of individual attendees’ engagement are simple and important ways to establish participation in a professional meeting. 

This is among the reasons AMI chooses to use Array’s features that make it easier for attendees to interact with the speakers and content while gathering data at the individual level with each interaction. There are also important safeguards available with these tools, such as: 

• Digital Q&A: The moderator chooses which questions should be addressed during the appropriate Q&A segment and can avoid having a question or comment on a topic that risks compliance stated aloud. “This also avoids having unwanted comments or questions shared on screen for all to see,” Baker adds. 
• Annotating and saving slides: As a security feature, if there are slides the sponsor or presenter does not want shared after the meeting, the attendee will receive their note via email, but not the slide detail. 

After the meeting, AMI receives a report they share with their client to identify who attended, in addition to each person’s unique actions such as questions asked, correct answers to polling, notes they took, and slides saved.  

Baker explains, “For meetings where the HCP receives an honorarium, being able to identify that they left early would impact what they’re getting paid. In the case of investigator meetings or others where it’s a matter of making sure they’re attending the sessions they’re supposed to, it’s extremely valuable to the sponsor to have deeper insights that show exactly how much they engaged, what content or speakers they interacted with most and even where there may be knowledge gaps.” 

Demonstrated ROI 

AMI most often partners with Array on investigator meetings, which are usually held in a series. “Having the user journey throughout the meeting provides a clear idea as to how the iPad was used so you have that immediate ROI showing people were engaging with the tool,” says Baker.  

The data also helps clients determine if the meeting met their objectives, and if not, how they can make changes to achieve them next time. This is particularly useful for meetings that take place in a series, with the same goal for each meeting, such as a series of investigator meetings that take place in various locations on each continent. Stakeholders use these insights to benchmark across meetings and determine if there are changes to make to content, presentations, or other elements of the meeting that would help them achieve their goals. 

Meeting and exceeding expectations 

There are multiple elements that contribute to the success of a life science meeting. Whether the goal of the meeting is focused more on training and sharing information or receiving feedback, security, and compliance is the responsibility of each vendor involved. If a vendor doesn’t seem to make that a priority, they may not have much more to offer than sparkling things. 

Array can partner with you to deliver effective, memorable, and compliant life science meetings. Schedule a demo to learn more about our engagement technology, white-glove service, and insights reporting.