05 February 2017

NetworkPharma runs conferences and networking events for professionals who specialise in medical communication, publishing and education, generally called ‘medcomms’. These meetings range from a dozen participants to 100.

It was an early adopter of Lumi’s IML Connector, a handheld device which encourages attendees to participate in presentations and share opinions via polls or texting with the built-in keypad. A built-in microphone allows them to participate in Q&As.

As a small company, NetworkPharma does not have the budgets of many firms in the pharmaceutical industry. While managing director Peter Llewellyn says he was happy with IML Connector, cost constraints were always a challenge.

He knew of apps that would allow guests to provide their own devices – and would therefore cut the cost of running events – but was sceptical of their practicality. “I’ve seen quite a number of instances where [meetings apps] don’t work in practice because people just can’t be bothered to download them or they don’t know how their smartphone works – what ends up happening is organisers give out 100 iPads with the app pre-loaded, because they have the resources to do so.”

Then Llewellyn saw Meetoo in action: “One of the groups I work with had gone with the Meetoo app and the tipping point for me was that they estimated 70 per cent of the people at the meeting had engaged with the app.

“What that said to me was that enough of the people in my community were willing to turn up to a meeting knowing how their smartphones work and would download the app and join in.”

As well as allowing attendees to interact with presentations instantly via texts and multiple choice polls, moderators can ‘push’ information to them and collect information to be used either at meetings or afterwards.

Llewellyn decided to use the Meetoo app at every event over a year. “It downloads very quickly and it’s very simple for people to get involved with. I’m easily getting a majority of the people in my audiences engaging with it now.”

At one of his recent events, 45 out of 65 guests used the app to interact with polls. Llewellyn says that another added benefit is that it allows attendees to continue engaging and asking questions even after the event is over, often when he is on his way home.

What’s more, now more guests arrive with the app already installed on their smartphones.