A survey in May found that members expected to be grounded by company policies.
In May 2020, AAPS surveyed members about their current and future travel plans and how they would prefer to experience PharmSci 360 this year. The survey results clearly showed that AAPS members’ travel plans were unknown for the foreseeable future. Further, most respondents were interested in attending a virtual PharmSci 360 and accessing recordings after the event. The results of this survey impacted AAPS’ decision to make PharmSci 360 a fully virtual event, October 26–November 5, 2020.
There were 539 responses to the survey. An overwhelming 92.77% shared that they would attend or might attend a virtual PharmSci 360 this fall. Additionally, the majority (79.41%) said that they would only watch sessions that interest them.
Taking this into account, AAPS volunteer leaders and staff restructured PharmSci 360, expanding its schedule to two weeks, to allow participants to view more sessions and connect with others without virtual overload.
“Bringing PharmSci 360 online meant reimagining the event to fit how our scientists would want to engage with it—and they’re not going to want to watch back-to-back sessions online for 4 days,” Executive Director Tina Morris, Ph.D., said. “Virtual events are not immersive in the way that a face-to-face meeting is. You don’t move from room to room during a long day, catching a conversation and a moment’s recovery here and there. Instead, virtual events can offer shorter and targeted intervals of engagement over a longer period of time. They can be asynchronous through recordings. If you start with the assumption that this year’s registrants are attending only the sessions that they want to see instead of assuming they’ll attend some sessions simply because they’re available, as we often do at big events, and you understand that people are able to schedule blocks of time for the programs they really want to see, expanding the schedule is the best way to ensure members have all the opportunities they need to fit the parts of PharmSci 360 that are important to them into their work lives. At the same time, offering recordings will allow attendees to venture into sessions they would have had to miss during a compressed, in-person schedule.”
Asynchronous access was also important to respondents. 41% said they would skip some sessions with the intention of watching a recording later, and 66.79% of respondents think that it is very important to make recordings available after the event. With PharmSci 360’s move to online only, sessions will be recorded and made available to attendees until December 31, 2020.
42.86% of respondents said they would send questions to the speakers if there is the opportunity. AAPS staff ensured that the session platform that will be used during PharmSci 360 will have an interactive chat box, where attendees will be able to have live conversations with presenters and other registrants.
Many survey respondents would be interested in connecting with AAPS partners as well. 24.68% would visit a virtual exhibit hall to connect with partners; 20.22% would participate in polls and online games/contests during a virtual event; and 17.63% would participate in an online happy hour or other social gathering. AAPS’ new AI-driven virtual matchmaking tool, Connect 360, offers an easy way to chat or have a video call with other attendees, including exhibitors. This online platform will offer attendees professional and social experiences during the two-week conference.
In May, before COVID-19 spread further inside the U.S., only 20.77% of respondents expected to attend a large in-person event before spring 2021; however, 45.27% were not sure. Only 17.07% of respondents said that they would attend PharmSci 360 in person in New Orleans this year. 41% of respondents said that they would not attend because of their own safety, and 27.09% said that they would not be attending because of their company’s travel policy or expected travel policy.
Thank you to the respondents of this survey for helping AAPS make important decisions about the premier pharmaceutical science conference of the year, PharmSci 360. Learn more about the fully virtual PharmSci 360 and register today to take advantage of this robust, flexible opportunity to advance your career!