Over the last 5 years, The Attendee Experience Company (atex) has supported PCMG to not only significantly improve the conference attendee experience of its annual outsourcing assembly, but significantly increase the conference revenue, sponsorship and membership numbers. We discover how they did it…

Background

The PCMG (Pharmaceutical Contract Management Group), a renowned organisation that leads best practice in clinical outsourcing, has been hosting its annual outsourcing assembly for two decades, relying on a dedicated group of volunteer committee members and a professional conference organiser (PCO), Moore Insight to lead logistics, sponsorships, and activities. The success of the event hinges on balancing outsourcing and pharma participants for financial stability and sustained engagement.

The problem

Over time, the assembly faced challenges in attendee engagement, particularly during interactive sessions. Covid-19, travel restrictions and a pause on live events caused memberships to reduce. Attendees also expected more, but budgets remained the same. With a need for rejuvenation to turn attendee experience around, PCMG asked the PCO, Moore Insight to find a solution to enhance the attendee experience.

The solution

Moore Insight turned to The Attendee Experience Company (atex) back in 2019 to help improve the audience experience and drive engagement, beginning with an initial refresh in 2019. As well as introducing a professional host for the first time, atex redesigned the interactive session, which resulted in it being the highest-rated session ever.

In the following years, atex helped PCMG navigate the challenge of COVID-19 by putting the conference online. With a focus on engagement, and by training co-chairs and moderators, the virtual event in 2020 was a success. In 2021, Covid travel bans meant the event had to pivot back to a virtual format at short notice. However, by creating a programme that featured plenty of opportunities for delegates to meet, interact and connect, the event managed to exceed expectations with strong attendee engagement.

The event went back to live in 2022, and atex helped the team tackle financial and geopolitical issues, by introducing new meeting formats resulting in record-breaking attendance. What was formerly known as “the interactive session’ evolved into the impact session, a co-creation solutions room, which was the first session with collaboration and problem solving that resulted in the delivery of a white paper for the industry.

There was also a multi-use keynote session in the same plenary space using silent seminar headsets. Delegates had the choice of two critical topic areas in the field of sustainability. Rather than a top line session or panel, it gave them the opportunity to deep dive into this critical subject and gain key takeaways to help affect change in their industry. This also launched their internal sustainability committee which continues to share best practise and goes from strength to strength.

In 2023, coaching sessions with atex offered insights into attendee behaviours and innovative meeting session formats, helping committees to focus on the “why” and the “learning outcome/behaviour changes” that their sessions would deliver for the attendees, which really has changed the game and elevated this event to becoming a flagship in their industry.

Sponsors were also featured throughout the assembly, putting faces and stories to the logos and increasing ROI.

The results

Over the last 5 years, atex has supported PCMG and Moore Insight to significantly improve the conference attendee experience, retaining and attracting than 200+ attendees to the conference year on year.

When asked how the PCMG Outsourcing Assembly compares overall with other outsourcing conferences, 90% of delegates said the content was better or much better and 90% said the opportunity to interact with other delegates was better or much better.

Since 2019, the new engaging conference formats have supported PCMG with achieving a rise of 21% in new and increased sponsorship deals. Due to the ROI sponsors received at 2023 assembly, the rebook and sponsorships sales target was achieved just 2 months from the end of the assembly.

Between 2021 and 2023, with a flagship event people want to attend, the PCMG have grown their membership by 40%. As a result of these successes, atex has been retained as the design, hosting and training partner for 2024 and is in discussions for 2025.