The Future of Partnering Conferences

Passport in date? Check

Suits still fit? Too big, but wearable.

Negative COVID tests? Yes! Three in hand.

Fully Vaccinated? Yes, since April.

Masks? Plenty. But can I sleep on the plane with a mask?

Hand sanitizer and wipes? Check. Goodness, look at my dry skin…

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Prior to COVID, many of these things would never make it onto a pre-travel checklist. Yet here we are, in 2021, still worrying about hand sanitizer and masks and COVID tests.

I had the opportunity to attend BioTrinity as a live / hybrid event in London June 21-22. I believe what happened points towards what future partnering conferences will look like for the foreseeable future. 

Pre-Travel Considerations

At the time of the trip, the UK government has a variety of policies in place to actually discourage inbound travel.

For example, there was a requirement to self-quarantine for 10 days AND submit COVID (PCR) tests on Day 2 and Day 8 of the trip. These tests had to be preordered prior to travel, and had to be delivered on the day of arrival (Day 0).

However, there was also a rule whereby a negative test on Day 5 (which also had to be purchased in advance) removed the quarantine restrictions. These tests were self-administered, and the results were returned in 1-3 days. Note that ordering had to occur prior to travel. 

In addition, a negative PCR test was required upon entering the country, This was a challenge because the test had to be administered 72 hours prior to departure, but none of the PCR testing sites could guarantee a result back in 72 hours.

My strategy was to submit three different tests to three different labs, under the assumption that at least one of them would deliver a negative test in time for travel. Fortunately, all three arrived negative and in time). 

The UK government also required a “Passenger Locator Form” to be submitted prior to travel. This form asked for complete contact details on where the self-quarantine was taking place.

This also enabled the National Health Service (NHS) to call every day to ensure that quarantine was taking place as described on the form. Theoretically, an NHS official could have visited the quarantine location, but none ever did. 

The Conference

BioTrinity partnering operated as normal, in the sense that meetings could be schedule well in advance of the event.

The added twist this time was the blend of live, in-person meetings and virtual (video) meetings. In other words, virtual/video meetings (held in the partnering area at assigned tables) were interspersed with live meetings. 

This approach had its advantages in that people who did not feel comfortable participating in a live event could still have meetings.

However, the serendipitous meetings and the casual follow-up discussions over coffee or drinks were lost. While this is a reasonable compromise during COVID times, it clearly illustrates why 100% live events are vastly superior to virtual and hybrid events. 

What does the future look like?

Short Term – We believe that for the next 12-18 months, we will see both virtual and hybrid events, such as CPhI in Philadelphia in August. Fully live events will be a challenge as long as cases rise and fall as per their usual seasonal cycles. These fluctuations, in turn, will make it difficult for governments to permit entry (or exit) from some countries.

It is not unreasonable to assume that countries who are relaxing their policies now may decide to re-impose restrictions in the future (cf., Australia).

This will make attendance at 100% live events impossible for folks in many countries. 

For those conference organizers brave enough to hold a live or hybrid event, local policies will largely dictate what organizers can and cannot do, especially when it comes to practical issues such as table spacing, dinners, evening social events, and so forth. Private social events are more likely to stretch the bounds of social distancing. 

Long Term – We already know that some upcoming events, such as BIO-Europe Spring, will be hybrid, with Basel serving as the host city for the live portion.

Will BIO 2022 be 100% live? It’s hard to say, although San Diego has already been identified as the location of the event.

Regardless, it is likely that attendances will decline simply because companies will use current events to slash travel budgets and encourage virtual participation. Companies may also take a long, hard look at how they source opportunities, and perhaps begin to question to value / ROI from attending and/or sponsoring live events, moving instead to digitization wherever possible.

Future government policies may continue (or be reinstated) to prevent entry into or exit from various countries. 

We also envision lower attendance simply because individuals will make personal decisions about their own safety (both in terms of vaccination and potential exposure), and therefore decide not to participate.

Some of this behavior will be influenced by corporate work from home (WHF) policies. These WFH policies were rather generous, but some companies are already pushing back and requiring employees to be back in the office at least part of the time.

What will the organizers of the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference do?

We do not have any insider information.

But our suspicion is that they will run a hybrid event, with a radically restricted attendance at the Westin to try to maintain social distancing. The 2021 edition was 100% virtual, and so the infrastructure is tested and deployable. 

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Are conferences dead?

Clearly not.

Even the most ardent supporters of WFH will agree that interpersonal contacts are critical for our industry to innovate and evolve.

But while they may not be dead, they will certainly be different. If attendances at the live events remain low, organizers will likely maintain a virtual/hybrid model to capture incremental revenue from WFH attendees.

Paradoxically, this reduces the value of the live event for the live attendees.

Will this spiral downward to the point where live attendees are generating insufficient ROI for their willingness to travel, therefore driving attendances below levels required for organizers to achieve profitability? 

Hard to say… 

Post Scriptum

At no point in any of this travel was I ever asked to demonstrate my vaccination status.

Not once.

I concede the point that my vaccination reduced the probability of a positive PCR, which would have impeded my travel.