Virtual meeting speaker programs need to work in parallel with local speaker programs, especially as virtual program evolve into high-volume use. Virtual and traditional speaker programs generally overlap in many ways, including speaker faculty, speaker training, presentation content, and promotional materials. These resources tend to be similar but not identical, and there are cost and quality synergies in coordinating these elements.

Perhaps the biggest issue for coordination regards the Web-based systems, or ePortals, that many biotech/ pharma companies use to request/fulfill speaker events, and to post speaker program information and resources. These ePortals serve as the hub of speaker programs, especially for sales reps, and it simplifies work for Reps if they can use a single ePortal that supports both local events and virtual meetings. An integrated ePortal also can deliver significant value to brand managers (visibility to speaker activity, speaker evaluations, reconciliation reports, etc.), field managers (rep scheduling, budget utilization, etc.), and even the speaker program faculty (scheduling ease).

Integration of virtual speaker activity into an existing speaker program ePortal can pose significant challenges. Speaker program ePortals are usually connected with a company’s compliance-tracking system, and these tend to be large complex systems. When evaluating virtual meeting platforms and providers, you should look into the vendor’s experience and capabilities with integration into biotech/ pharma speaker ePortals. It could make a big difference in how quickly your virtual program gets onto an ePortal, so sales reps can schedule attendees and get going with virtual speaker events.