Five Ways to Maximize Impact at Medical Congresses with Veeva Link Key People

Jul 28, 2022 | David Medina Tato

The growing role of social media in scientific exchange makes it more challenging than ever to prepare effectively for medical congresses. It is a struggle to keep a finger on the pulse of a vast and vigorous online debate: in April 2022 alone, there were over four million tweets from scientific experts¹.

To understand the conversation in their therapy areas, medical affairs teams need to track expert commentary on their data and the activities of key people. Yet this is challenging, given the speed at which the clinical landscape is changing, and the volume of clinical data being commented upon.

Real-time customer intelligence could enhance engagement strategies with key people in pharma and maximize ROI at medical congresses. Here’s a recap of five ways you could use Veeva Link Key People today to devise your strategy, focus on the right experts, and increase your brand’s scientific share of voice.

1. Identify key people in your therapy area and home market

What is it? Veeva Link’s global dataset on key people can be used to pinpoint current and emerging scientific experts, and digital opinion leaders, for a deeper understanding of the ecosystem surrounding your therapeutic area.

• Use filters on the global database to identify key people by country and therapy area
• Identify which key people are participants at important upcoming congresses
• Establish what kind of congress contributions key people are making, with seven categories captured (e.g. award winner, panelist)
• Follow real-time Twitter updates, track ongoing collaboration, and gain insights into year-on-year trends to see how discussion topics from previous congresses are evolving

How this feature will help you:

• Track the evolving debate to decide themes and inform sessions for your planned events
• Build closer relationships with experts in your home market who are contributing to important congresses and organize meetings ahead of time
• Make best use of contact time at in-person congresses by scheduling advisory boards
• Target key people with the right engagement (e.g. reach out and congratulate an expert on winning an award, discuss the agenda with a congress organizer)

2. Target resources at local/specialist events important to your ecosystem

What is it? Veeva Link Key People provides high-quality data on events taking place at the international, regional, national, and local levels.

• Search and identify medical congresses by topic (e.g. breast cancer), from flagship international congresses to smaller home country events

How this feature will help you:

• Learn which congresses to focus on, and which sessions to attend
• Stay close to any new science that is relevant to your area
• Target resources and investment toward events that will have maximum impact within your ecosystem

3. Achieve internal alignment on pre-congress planning

What is it? Gain up-to-date information for consistent internal preparation ahead of congresses.

• Develop consistent criteria for the whole organization on congress planning activities
• Reduce time spent by teams doing manual research that can quickly end up out-of-date
• Gain a full understanding of your therapeutic ecosystem at a time when the landscape is changing quickly

How this feature will help you:

• In a competitive landscape, thorough preparation is critical to making a positive first impression on an expert—and building a relationship with them
• Real-time information gives your organization a complete and consistent picture to inform the engagement strategy

4. Capture important brand insights during congresses

What is it? Use the real-time congress Twitter feed in Veeva Link Key People to see what people are saying about your brand during medical congresses and use these insights for wider business planning.

• Identify presentations at congresses that are most relevant to your brand
• Gather important clinical insights and learnings, including how experts perceive your data could affect the clinical landscape

How this feature will help you:

• Identify and prioritize engagements with the most relevant experts for your organization
• Use real-time insights to understand any education gaps in your therapy area
• As static brand plans are no longer enough, gain competitive intelligence with meaningful insights to shape business strategy

5. Identify and collaborate with rising stars

What is it? Use Veeva Link Key People to filter for emerging leaders in your therapy area and build relationships with them while their profiles grow.

• Identify rising stars within your therapy area and connect with them sooner

How this feature will help you:

• Develop long-term partnerships with emerging experts
• Pinpoint potential collaboration opportunities, based on the quality and quantity of their scientific contributions

“Veeva Link helps us prepare earlier to gather insights for congresses and also keeps us close to the evolving insights throughout the course of the congress. It informs us on the potential medical impact of our own products and how they’re perceived in the broader multiple myeloma environment.” Margaret Doyle, Global Medical Affairs Leader, Hematology, J&J Innovative Medicine

Learn how J&J Innovative Medicine uses Congress Insights from Veeva Link Key People to improve scientific engagement.

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^{1 Source: Veeva Link Key People, Global Dataset across all 22 Therapy Areas (TAs)}