Organizing a medical conference that brings results can be stressful. You’re juggling hundreds of sessions, thousands of HCPs, and a mountain of spreadsheets, all while dealing with outdated, unsustainable, paper-based surveys that make HCP follow-up unmanageable.
A medical conference app can alleviate much of your stress and help you make the most out of your conference by centralizing all your content in one, compliant environment, streamlining data collection through powerful CRM integrations, and automating targeted communications with HCPs.
Every day, we help 10 out of the top 20 life science and pharmaceutical companies get the maximum value from their events through technology. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the best medical conference apps to ensure you come away with actionable HCP insights and invaluable connections to drive your business forward.
Want to jump straight to the list of the best medical conference apps? Let’s go!
Disclaimer:
If you are considering changing your medical conference app, it is vital to consult your organization’s internal policies, recommendations, and lists of approved partners before consulting this list.
Why Do You Need A Medical Conference App?
According to SpotMe research, a medical conference app is consistently rated by participants as one of the top three features of an event. This is supported by EPG’s findings that:
79% of HCPs believe that medical conference apps add value to scientific meetings/events. – EPG Health
There’s no doubt that by using a medical conference app, you’ll see an uplift in HCP engagement and customer experience – something that should not be taken for granted in this era of ‘digital native’ HCPs.
“Here at SpotMe, we see more and more leading life science and pharmaceutical companies strategically implementing medical conference apps at their events. Where they see the most value is in being able to: a) centralize all event content in a compliant environment and target it to specific HCPs; b) create meaningful interactions and build relationships with HCPs thanks to networking tools and meeting schedulers; and c) collect invaluable first-party data in their Veeva CRM to inform their next best actions with HCPs.”
But medical conference apps don’t just bring value to HCP engagement. They are also cost-effective – a benefit not to be ignored in this ever-costly world we live in.
“A medical conference app might seem like an investment, but it is something that pays for itself because of the amount of time it saves you in printing out agendas, juggling spreadsheets, sending manual follow-ups by email, sending out notifications, renting out polling devices, rebuilding things from scratch for each event. All of these things in terms of manual, software, hardware, printing, and agency costs are offset by the fact that you have a medical conference app.”
In today’s digitally-driven landscape, a medical conference app is not just a luxury but a necessity for optimizing HCP engagement and operational efficiency. These apps serve as a centralized, compliant platform for disseminating event content, facilitating targeted interactions, and collecting invaluable first-party data for future strategies. Beyond enhancing the HCP experience, these apps are a cost-effective solution.
Let’s take a look at the benefits in more detail.
Benefits Of A Medical Conference App
A medical conference app provides numerous benefits for pharmaceutical companies and their representatives attending industry events.
Increase Exposure
Having a medical conference app increases exposure and visibility for your company among attending HCPs. It serves as a useful promotional tool where you can highlight your brand, products, and services. You can also push notifications about sponsorships, exhibits, and speaking sessions to draw more traffic.
Enhanced Engagement
A well-designed medical conference app boosts HCP engagement. It gives them a convenient way to access schedules, build personal agendas, take notes, rate sessions, and connect with other participants. By facilitating more meaningful interactions, an app helps create a better overall experience that keeps people engaged with your event and brand.
To increase HCP engagement at your events, consult our list of top HCP engagement solutions.
Valuable Insights
Medical conference apps provide analytics and data that offer valuable insights into how HCPs are using and interacting with your conference. You can see event metrics on session attendance, topics and speakers of high interest, popular exhibitors, and more. The information gained helps guide planning for future conferences and strengthens your understanding of customers and prospects.
Better Networking
Networking with HCPs at conferences is much easier with participant matchmaking features that medical conference apps have. By using QR code badge printing at check-in, you can easily scan HCPs’s personalized codes throughout the conference to access their profile information. Some medical conference apps give you the possibility to schedule 1:1 meetings with HCPs during your conference. With 1:1 meetings more effective that field visits, this is a great way for reps to build relationships with HCPs.
Easy Content & Logistical Information Sharing
A medical conference app acts as a central compliant hub for all your conference content and communications. Attending HCPs can find all key logistical information and content on their mobile device and keep it to hand throughout the event. This also makes it easy to keep people informed of any last-minute changes at your conference, as you can send out targeted push notifications directly to HCPs’ mobile devices.
Cost-Effective, Sustainable Alternative
Developing a dedicated medical conference app is often more budget-friendly than printing extensive programs, flyers, and other physical materials. It also reduces waste and is a way to run a more sustainable event. Updates can be made efficiently through push notifications without reprinting, and last-minute changes are easy to communicate through the app.
In summary, a well-designed medical conference app is a powerful tool for enhancing your event, boosting brand awareness, engaging HCPs, and gaining valuable insights. For pharmaceutical companies, the benefits of a medical conference app can positively impact both short-term conference success as well as long-term business goals.
What Makes A Great Medical Conference App: Key Features To Look For
A great medical conference app provides valuable features that help pharma companies and HCPs get the most out of conferences. The app should be intuitive to use and include:
- An interactive (personalizable) conference agenda with the ability to save sessions of interest, receive targeted reminders minutes before each session starts and sync across devices. This allows attendees to efficiently plan their conference experience in advance.
- Speaker bios and session descriptions to learn more about the content and presenters. Well-written, searchable content helps attendees determine which sessions will be most valuable based on their areas of interest and responsibility.
- Polls, surveys and Q&A features (with the option to moderate) to actively engage attendees. Gathering data and feedback in real-time provides actionable insights for improving future conferences and tailoring content to audience needs.
- A conference feed or activity stream (with the option to moderate) to stay up-to-date on announcements, connect with other attendees, post comments and share insights. An engaging social component enhances networking opportunities and the overall conference experience.
- Sponsor and exhibitor listings, including booth numbers and descriptions. This enables attendees to easily locate sponsors and exhibitors that are most relevant to their work.
- Local area information like nearby restaurants, transportation options and things to do. Helping attendees navigate the conference location and surrounding area contributes to an enjoyable, stress-free experience.
- Exhibit hall maps and navigation because navigating large conference venues and exhibit halls can be challenging. Medical conference apps with interactive maps, wayfinding, and navigation help you explore the entire conference space and locate specific exhibitors or sessions with ease.
- Messaging and networking to help your team connect with HCPs and with fellow HCPs to network with each other. The leading medical conference apps facilitate messaging, allowing you to send direct messages to other users. Some also provide networking features to help you discover and connect with people with similar interests or from target companies.
- Content and materials access to give HCPs access to session materials, presentations, videos, and other content. HCPs can download and review all the information that interests them in one place, even after the live event has ended. Some medical conference apps also allow speakers and sponsors to upload content in advance of sessions.
- Targeted push notifications to keep attending HCPs up to date with session/meeting information and any last-minute changes at your conference. Most medical conference apps allow you to target these notifications to individuals to give them a fully personalized experience.
- Meeting scheduler to set up meetings between reps and HCPs during the conference. The medical conference app should have the option to pre-schedule 1:1 and group meetings before your conference starts and manage meeting locations easily.
- Lead capture to make building relationships with HCPs easy and fast. Having everything synchronized on one app, there is no need for outdated spreadsheets and paper forms.
- Gated on-demand content to make recorded content or downloadable material available for your HCPs after your conference.
To see an example of a gated content hub and get access to life science event industry insights, register for SpotMe’s content hub.
- Team chats & discussion boards to boost team engagement and productivity with live updates and interactions in one central place.
- CRM integrations that automatically feed event data into your pharma CRM, so you can store all HCP information in one place and follow up easily.
With regulatory compliance crucial at life science and pharmaceutical events, it is also important for medical conference apps to fully follow compliance standards. Here are some key compliance features to check for:
- One-click access
- Job code displays from MLR reviews
- Dynamic privacy policies
- On-screen disclaimers
- Advanced free text moderation on the feed
- CME credits & certificates of attendance
- Reporting (registration, attendance, engagement)
- Content targeting
- Optional participant list display
- Adverse events reporting link
- Prescribing information (PI) display
To find out how to run compliant conferences with event technology, check out our article created with the help of Caroline Petit from Takeda.
A cutting-edge medical conference app that includes these key features will allow you and your reps to provide HCPs with a highly valuable conference experience. HCPs can customize their itinerary, actively participate, connect with others and gain helpful insights. And you can capture leads and gain valuable insights to help drive your next next actions.
How To Choose The Best Medical Conference App
When selecting your medical conference app, consider your event’s unique needs and goals. The options range from simple scheduling apps to robust event management platforms. Evaluate each app based on the following factors:
Functionality
Determine which features are most important for your conference like scheduling, messaging, polling, or analytics. Medical conference apps focused on event logistics or networking may suit a large conference while a basic scheduling app could work for a small event. Select an app that provides the essential features you need without unnecessary complexity.
Customization
Look for an app that allows you to brand it to match your conference and create a seamless experience for attendees. Consider options that let you add your logo, color theme, and images. The app should also be customizable to your event’s agenda and session details.
Accessibility
Choose an app that is compatible with both iOS and Android devices and accessible to attendees of all technical abilities. Look for an intuitive, easy to navigate interface.
Analytics
Consider an app that provides analytics on attendee engagement and participation. Look for options that offer metrics related to logins, posts, polls, and session attendance to gain valuable insight into your event’s impact and success.
Customer Support & Services
Select a medical conference app that offers customer services and technical support alongside it. For large pharmaceutical conferences, having self check-in kiosks and a participant helpdesk can ensure everything runs smoothly. And having an event technology specialist on hand to help you maximize the benefits of your medical conference app can be a big advantage.
By evaluating medical conference apps based on these key factors, you can choose an option well-suited to make your event a success. The right app will enhance your HCPs’ experience and provide you with useful analytics and insights for future improvement.
How We Selected The Best Medical Conference Apps
Want to know how we put together our list of the 15 best event check-in software? Here are the criteria we based it on:
- Features: We looked for medical conference apps that included the most sought features listed above.
- Capabilities: As well as features, medical conference apps should offer other services in addition to the platform itself, such as event technology support.
- Customer reviews: We’ve explored the review sites G2 and Capterra to see what users say about the medical conference apps.
- Independent research firm reports: We’ve read reports created by independent research firms about the best event technology.
- Event technologist opinions: We’ve spoken to numerous event technologists who work in the life science and pharmaceutical industries and listened to their views on different medical conference apps.
Why you can trust SpotMe with these reviews
We have been in the event technology industry for over 20 years. During that time, we have helped leading life science and pharmaceutical companies, such as Sanofi, GSK, J&J, and Roche, to run thousands of events with our event software that welcomes 500,000+ attendees each month.
We have worked with 200+ pharmaceutical event production, event management, and medical communications agencies to help our customers deliver engaging medical conferences and events that have resulted in 10,000,000+ customer relationships. And thanks to our long list of integrations, including Veeva and IQVIA, we work with a variety of technology providers every day.
To see some examples of the mobile conference apps we’ve created for customers like GSK, Sanofi, and Takeda, visit our customer page.
The Best Medical Conference Apps
Disclaimer: The order in which we have listed the medical conference apps is subjective and based on our team’s personal assessment, as well as the number and quality of G2 and Capterra reviews.
SpotMe
Named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: B2B Event Management Technology, Q1 2023 report and a Market Leader in Research In Action’s Vendor Selection Matrix™ Report – Marketing Event Management: The Top Global Vendors 2023.
SpotMe is an end-to-end medical conference app that offers everything life science and pharmaceutical companies need to create smooth, stress-free conferences and events that HCPs love. Its app is an integral part of a holistic life science event platform, which synchronizes effortlessly with your CRM – be it Veeva, IQVIA, or others – making medical conference management easy from start to finish.
SpotMe will ensure you skyrocket engagement at your medical conferences. With personalized event registration, seamless onsite check-in & badging, and an intuitive mobile event app, you can make a great impression from the moment HCPs sign up. And you can keep engagement high with an interactive activity feed, networking tools, a meeting scheduler, and live chat to Q&A, polls, live applause, quizzes, gamification, and much more.
In addition to its hyper-personalized medical conference app, SpotMe offers white-glove professional event services and instant 24/7 support to ensure your medical conferences run as smoothly as possible from the moment you start planning.
Thanks to its enterprise-grade security and enterprise deployment, SpotMe is trusted by 10 of the top 20 life sciences and pharma companies worldwide, including J&J, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, and GSK.
SpotMe’s Key Medical Conference App Features
- Personalized agendas & interactive conference feeds
- Engagement tools such as polls, surveys, Q&A
- Exhibit hall map navigation
- Networking & meeting scheduler
- Veeva CRM integration, reporting & analytics
- And much more
SpotMe Reviews
Cvent
Named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: B2B Event Management Technology, Q1 2023 report and a Market Leader in Research In Action’s Vendor Selection Matrix™ Report – Marketing Event Management: The Top Global Vendors 2023.
Cvent’s medical conference app aims to help you deliver a flawless attendee experience to attract more HCPs and get them coming back to your future conferences. With many integrations, data can flow seamlessly between your app and your other systems. But this may result in you having to use multiple solutions for different medical conference tasks.
Cvent Reviews
6Connex
Named a Contender in The Forrester Wave™: B2B Event Management Technology, Q1 2023 report and a Market Leader in Research In Action’s Vendor Selection Matrix™ Report – Marketing Event Management: The Top Global Vendors 2023.
6Connex’s collection of four medical conference apps helps you manage conferences, streamline check-in, engage HCPs, and track data. One disadvantage is that you have to use all four apps together to be able to manage your event end to end.
6Connex Reviews
Bizzabo
Named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: B2B Event Management Technology, Q1 2023 report and a Market Leader in Research In Action’s Vendor Selection Matrix™ Report – Marketing Event Management: The Top Global Vendors 2023.
Bizzabo’s medical conference app helps you put the power in your HCPs’ hands at your conferences. It has the tools they need to network, navigate the conference venue, and engage with your sessions and content.
Bizzabo Reviews
Cadence
Cadence is a medical conference app that helps you to align all stakeholders by giving full visibility into every meeting. Its compliant app also has streamlined and intelligent scheduling and provides you with actionable HCP insights from your conferences.
Cadence Reviews
uSummit
uSummit is the innovative creation of TIPMed, a standalone digital authority renowned for providing cutting-edge solutions to the pharmaceutical sector. Its medical conference app helps to improve team efficiency with its customizable interface, logistical and engagement features.
uSummit Reviews
- G2 Score: N/A (1 review)
- Capterra Score: No reviews
Why SpotMe Is The Best Medical Conference App
SpotMe is a comprehensive medical conference app tailored to meet the specialized needs of the life science and pharmaceutical sectors. The platform offers an end-to-end solution that not only simplifies event management but also enhances HCP engagement.
From seamless integration with various CRM systems like Veeva and IQVIA to personalized event registration and real-time interactive features, SpotMe provides a one-stop solution for creating impactful, efficient events that HCPs love.
SpotMe also offers specialized event services and 24/7 support to ensure smooth execution from planning to completion. And its robust security and enterprise-level deployment have garnered the trust of 10 of the top 20 global life sciences and pharmaceutical companies, including J&J, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, and GSK.
To see for yourself why SpotMe is the best medical conference app, request a free demo today.
