Untrained booth teams are one of the biggest hidden risks in congress investment

Author:

Andrew Moore, Client Engagement Director, Inizio Engage XD

The exhibition hall problem no one likes to talk about

The exhibition hall is one of the few places where pharmaceutical companies can engage healthcare professionals face to face, in real time. That alone should make it invaluable.

Instead, it has become one of the most challenging environments to get right.

It is noisy, crowded and relentlessly time-pressured. HCPs move fast, compare constantly and disengage quickly. In this setting, even well-intentioned booth teams can struggle. Without the right preparation, conversations become inconsistent, opportunities are missed, and interactions fall short of what HCPs actually want from the experience.

The result? Significant investment, diluted impact.

What the evidence is telling us

Data from IPCAA and Emota’s fourth edition of the HCP Congress Experience research is unequivocal: when the exhibition hall delivers substance, it is one of the most valuable engagement spaces at congress.

HCPs do not visit pharmaceutical booths to be sold to. They come to learn.

The strongest drivers of booth attendance are learning about new products or pipeline developments, accessing clinical data and research findings, and collecting educational materials to review later. Traditional sales-style interactions and pre-scheduled meetings rank far lower in importance. This puts enormous pressure on spontaneous, unscripted booth conversations to deliver immediate, credible value.

Face-to-face interaction remains highly valued — even as digital and AI-enabled tools become more common. Technology is welcomed when it enhances dialogue, not when it replaces it. This makes the booth a uniquely human touchpoint, but one that demands confidence, clarity and scientific credibility from the people staffing it.

The research also shows that HCPs are far more open to ongoing engagement than many teams assume. Nearly half are happy to be asked for consent to be contacted at the booth, and only a small minority prefer not to be asked at all. When handled well, the booth becomes a compliant, permission-based gateway to meaningful post-congress follow-up.

And the stakes are high. A majority of HCPs report changes in clinical practice or prescribing behaviour based on congress learning. High-quality dialogue matters — and booth interactions are part of that learning ecosystem.

The hidden cost of standing still

When booth staff training is treated as optional, the risks are predictable:

• HCP interactions vary wildly depending on individual capability
• Scientific and educational conversations are diluted or missed
• Consent discussions are avoided or handled awkwardly
• Data capture is incomplete or unusable
• Post-congress engagement loses relevance and momentum

At that point, the exhibition hall stops being a strategic asset and quietly becomes a cost centre.

Why training changes everything

A structured booth staff training programme is not about scripting conversations or turning teams into polished presenters. It is about preparing them for the realities of the environment.

Effective training equips booth staff to operate confidently under pressure, initiate compliant two-way scientific dialogue, and quickly understand what each HCP is looking for. It aligns teams on how to explain value, ask for consent appropriately, and connect conversations to digital tools and CRM processes that enable timely, personalised follow-up.

Most importantly, it creates consistency — ensuring that every interaction reflects the same level of credibility, confidence and purpose.

From presence to performance

When booth staff are properly trained, the exhibition hall becomes more than a physical presence. It becomes a high-performance engagement engine that supports HCP learning, strengthens trust, improves data quality and maximises the return on congress investment.

In a congress environment where attention is limited and expectations are rising, booth staff capability is no longer a “nice to have”. It is a strategic differentiator — and one that organisations can no longer afford to ignore.