An investigator meeting is a forum initiated by a pharmaceutical company to train physicians and their staff on a certain clinical trial or research they are sponsoring. Usually, the client advises the number of attendees who can attend from every site. However, it is often preferred that the event is attended by the Principal Investigator, a Study Coordinator, or a nurse. Also, A Clinical Research Organization representative attends the event because they have been liaising with the sites for the study. Below are the stages involved with investigator meeting planning:

Early Stage Planning

Pre-planning is important because this kind of event is often attended by over 100 people. Early planning lets planners achieve a better rate for accommodation, food and beverage, meeting venue, and audiovisual support. Also, travel is often booked for investigator meeting attendees and doing this early will mean great savings.

It is important to know as much detail as possible including the specifics like the required attendees, meeting agenda, meeting venue, meeting date, and budget. Also, determine if you require having an event coordinator onsite during the entire meeting.

Three C’s of Investigator Meetings

To ensure the success of an investigator meeting, it is important to partner with a reputable event planning company. A good company will focus on the following:

  • Compliance. Compliance includes internal aspects such as meeting policies, data privacy and protection, travel policy, and brand requirements. Also, this kind of meeting should adhere to the policies of the healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) home country that often includes a particular meal cap and rule son airline seat class and hotel start rating allowed. Finally, the meeting must conform to the pharma industry requirements.
  • Consistency. Expert event planners ensure consistency which means an attendee walks away with the same knowledge and experience as other attendees. Also, they have to be in line with the pharma industry’s norms to prevent HCPs from perceiving the meeting is an outlier in terms of payments, accommodations, or meals.

  • Cost-effectiveness. In terms of investigator meetings, the focus should be on spending money responsibly and in a way that helps build relationships with HCPs and train them. Although cost saving is important, there is a cost to an unengaged meeting attendee such as the expense and time needed to retrain them. Another cost is the time lost for the trial itself. That is why meeting planners to ensure the investigator meeting is engaging and well-thought-out to train and motivate personnel as well as offer investigative sites with solutions to issues that may arise.
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