Some different styles I have observed in the advisory board meetings conducted in India and other Southern APAC countries

Over the years, I have been part of various #advisoryboard meetings in India and other South-East Asian countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Bangkok, and others. While I had an opportunity to be part of the organizing team and lead the meetings during my tenure in the #healthcare industry, in my current role over the last 3.5 years, I have attended these as an observer on behalf of my clients for deliverables to be prepared after the meeting. I have observed some differences in some aspects of #advisoryboard meetings conducted by different companies in this part of the world. I thought sharing these on the #LinkedIn forum might be insightful to some readers and might be helpful in planning #advisoryboard meetings which can be optimized for success.

1. Who presents at the meeting?In some meetings, I have seen presenters to be either somebody from the #medicalaffairs team or from among the experts on the board. However, in some other meetings, I have seen presenters to be almost always from among the board members. Some meetings have a single speaker while others have more than one. In those with multiple speakers, the main topic is subdivided into smaller subtopics and there are 2-4 speakers, each of whom presents one subtopic. Or it might be the same topic and each speaker presents his/her take on it. I have seen that having more than one speaker breaks the monotony of a single speaker, keeps the audience attentive, and also adds to the variety of thoughts. Some KOLs who are speakers at these meetings are very particular about having the presentations ready well ahead of time, and they do a very deep review of the slides and the data that they will be presenting. No superficial or biased content is acceptable to them. They will usually expect somebody from the #medicalaffairs team to have several rounds of one-to-one discussions with them and structure the flow and content as they visualize it for maximum impact. I have found such KOLs to be the best speakers and they add a lot to the rigor and meaningful discussions and share their own experiences during the meeting. They can indeed influence how successful an advisory board meeting is. One can imagine that if you have 3 speakers each of whom is so particular about content, the meeting can be a super success.
2. How does the discussion happen?We all know that the discussion is the most important part of the meeting and the success of the meeting is the insights obtained from the discussions. In some meetings, the questions are usually thrown open to all members by the moderator either intermittently during the presentation or at the end. Of course, this is pre-decided and is not at random. However, one challenge I have seen is that this leads to multiple people speaking at a time while some others remain silent throughout the meeting. The person with the loudest voice is the most heard. The discussion hence becomes unstructured and some important points might also be missed and further deep-dive deliberations on a point might not take place. This impacts the success of the meeting for the organizing company. However, in some other meetings, the moderator at the outset sets the ground rules. A pattern is followed and everyone is asked to share their opinions sequentially by the moderator. Any member who wishes to ask a question or add to or disagree with what another member has shared is allowed to do so only during his/her turn to speak. This makes for a very fruitful discussion while also ensuring that everyone participates and all voices are heard. It also provides an opportunity for deeper discussion on a point which has lot of different opinions.
3. Taking notesThis is another major difference I have observed. In some meetings, it is somebody from the #medicalaffairs team taking notes as experts speak. However, when many people are talking at a time, it is a challenge to capture everything. Even when the discussion is happening in an organized manner, the writing speed cannot match the spoken speed and a lot of important discussion might be missed. Nevertheless, this needs to be done to prepare the minutes of the meeting (MoMs) later. In contrast, some other companies expect an observer to attend the meeting (this is an external person, not an employee) only to be a keen listener and follow the discussion so that it helps while drafting the MoMs. This is because the way the MoMs are prepared in these companies is very different (I will cover these in the next point).
4. Preparing the MoMsIn some meetings, the MoMs are merely a collection of bullet points that the #medicaladvisor has managed to jot down during the meeting and these are shared with the attendees of the meeting. However, in more rigorous advisory board meetings, the MoM is a very comprehensive report that goes to senior management as well. The video recording of the entire meeting is shared with the observer who takes 7-10 days to prepare the report. Hence, the selection of the observer and the agency/freelancer chosen for the job is also stringent. In such companies, it is a matter of great prestige for the organizing team that the report is of the highest quality. A mediocre job could land the agency/freelancer in trouble and they might lose the client forever. The report reads like a detailed dossier and captures highlights of what was presented as well as what was discussed. This way, even a person who has not attended the meeting at all is able to thoroughly understand the discussion. The report forms the basis of their medico-marketing strategy in consultation with senior management and is expected to be flawless.
5. Next steps after the meetingDuring my tenure in the industry, our focus after the meeting used to be the execution of what the KOLs suggested during the meeting for e.g., after one ad board meeting, we conducted several nurses' training workshops, after another, we conducted a multi-country patient survey and also planned our product launch strategy based on insights gathered. In recent times I have seen the focus shifting a lot toward publications, particularly consensus manuscripts. However, one deliverable that I have seen in some companies is the preparation of a white paper based on the meeting, which is then circulated to other HCPs on their list. This is possible because of the detailed report that has been prepared. While manuscripts take a long time to get published, dissemination of the white paper is faster and easier. This possibly helps companies gather the opinions of other HCPs or even influence them well in time before the next strategy is planned or rolled out. MSLs can play a vital role in this process. Moreover, a white paper and a discussion on it can be a very good HCP engagement activity.I hope these insights will help in better preparation for an #advisoryboard meeting going ahead.

#medicalaffairs ?#medicalwriting ?#medicalwriter ? medicalcommunications ?

#healthcarecommunications ?#scientificwriting ?#freelancemedicalwriter ?

#scicomms #medcomms #advisoryboard