#HCSMEU reunion write-up

Two weeks ago we had our first #HCSMEU reunion in close to a decade.?? #HCSMEU was a weekly tweetchat, back in the day when Twitter was still Twitter and it was still a cool platform.? HCSMEU was about HealthCare Social Media EU and each week we would chat about hot topics around all things social media and pharma.

There was a public spreadsheet where people could add the question they wanted to discuss, adding any supporting information if required. In preparation for this reunion I dug up the old spreadsheet.? Going through the old questions I was struck by how many were just as relevant today as they were over ten years ago.

#HCSMEU was an incredible community. We had people from all walks of life.? Some worked in pharma, other in agencies.? We had people from across the world joining, not just Europe. It was a very democratic and friendly space.? There was no politics or trolling.? People may have had opposing views but there was always respect and open-mindedness.? A few of us, like myself, even got jobs as a result of #HCSMEU.

And so it was that some of this amazing community came together in London on October 4th. Thanks to the amazing John Pugh we were able to meet in the Slalom offices.? It was so wonderful to meet people after all this time.? We were all a little older but not that changed!?

We kicked off the reunion with a trip down memory lane.? We looked at the original beliefs, mission and strategic imperatives of #HCSMEU, which Michi kindly dug up for us.? We all agreed that for the most part much of this still rang true today.? We also felt we had achieved some of the goals set out.? Some had been perhaps a little lofty to fully achieve though.? Have a look at the embedded file and see what you think.

Next up we had a look at some of the original questions and started debating one of them.? “What are the best examples of European healthcare SM you've seen? Where have pharma or h/c bodies got it right?”? Still a relevant question today wouldn’t you say?

At this point I popped out.? Unbeknownst to those in the room we had organised a secret virtual dial in for the non-UK people who could not join.? Returning to the room we then surprised everyone with the virtual group.? Getting into the spirit of things John Mack, aka Pharmaguy, went off and put one of his famous Hawaiian shirts on.

As we returned to the questions, we talked about why pharma was still not doing social media well.? Or why the industry still failed to do really well integrated omnichannel.? One premise was that all the pioneers, including some in the room, had left pharma.? Those that replaced them were “starting from scratch” rather than continuing the pioneering work.? In some companies what we have seen in the past is a lack of transfer to new people taking over.? Others argued that things have improved and we are seeing better hand overs.? There was also the feeling that there was still a lack of understanding around the value of social media.?

We could have continued chatting but it was time for the final agenda item – Suffolk cheese and wine! It was a perfecting ending to a fantastic reunion.? We all agreed that we should not leave it as long until the next one.?

Take a look at the embedded file and share your thoughts.? Do the original beliefs and goals still resonate?? Or how about the questions – any thoughts on those?

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