Our Best Tips to Make the Most From Physician Conferences
It’s hard to believe summer is already coming to an end! Not only does that mean schools are back in session, but physician conferences and tradeshows are back in action, too. As a physician recruiter, attending these events can be a great opportunity to source new candidates by creating meaningful, face-to-face relationships.
The bad news? Getting value out of conferences isn’t as easy as just showing up. In order to reap the most out of your physician facing events, you’ll want to plan early and think strategically. Inspired by our recent webinar “Marketing & Conference Strategies to Attract Physicians at Your Next Tradeshow”, we’ve compiled our best conference tips to help you meet (and hire) physicians from shows. The first 5 tips are below and you can download our Guide to Conferences to get all 10.
Pre-Show
1. Evaluate Which Conferences to Attend.
Deciding which conferences are worth your time shouldn’t just be a spin of the wheel. Depending on what you are looking for, some conferences will provide a much higher value for you than others. At Doximity, our physician facing team completes a conference evaluation form (download the full Guide to Conference below to view Doximity's Conference Evaluation template) for each show to help our physician facing team determine which conferences to attend. Don’t be afraid to nix a conference you’ve gone to in the past if it doesn’t check out well. Pro-tip: If you’re on the fence about attending, try finding someone who attended in a previous year and get their sense about the event.
2. Define Your Pre-Conference Marketing Strategy.
How will you measure success at your event? Will it be by the number of new email addresses you get? Number of interviews that come from contacts you met there? This won’t be the same for everyone, but stick to the same metric(s) for all of your conferences so you can compare apples to apples.
3. Order Bag Inserts / Pre-Show Mailers.
Conference sponsors usually have the option to add something to the attendee bag. At Doximity, our physician facing team has had great results by including a postcard as a bag insert. On this card, you can include your booth number and a description of your giveaway offering so people feel like they are getting a coupon. Doximity has also had success including this type of postcard as a pre-show mailer too - typically about 1 week before the show. Either way you choose, this type of postcard is a great way to keep your organization top of mind while also providing an opportunity for a transactional interaction with a candidate when they stop by the booth to “cash-in” their postcard.
4. Determine Show Giveaways.
Think outside of pens! Even on a limited budget, giving physicians a reason to stop by your booth is crucial in creating value at conferences. How much is that conversation worth? It doesn’t have to cost a lot, but try to think creatively about what will not only draw people to your booth, but entice them to stay for a conversation. For example, Doximity has given away things like free head-shots, $5 off Lyft/Uber rides, cell phone chargers, etc.
5. Create a Conference Playbook.
This should be one document with everything you would need to succeed at this conference - important names/phone numbers, budgets, receipts, etc. That way if something goes wrong, you have a backup of everything at your fingertips. It will also free your brain from needing to remember any of that information and will allow you to be fully present at the show. (You can also view Doximity’s Conference Playbook template in the full Guide to Conference Guide below.)
Want day of show and post-show conference tips, too? Download the full Doximity Guide to Conferences to get our 10 best tips, in addition to templates for our Conference Evaluation Form, Conference Playbook, Outgoing Shipment Form, and Event Marketing Metrics Tracker.
