Virtually tired of virtual

2020 is the year of the virtual meeting. COVID has changed our lives and taught us how to navigate without a script. How we interact with friends and family; how we shop, how we go to school... the changes are countless.

In medtech, depending on your market segment and geography, there are usually a core set of important conferences and trade shows to attend. These meetings provide continuous clinical education, customer engagement, and professional networking.

Major international meetings include:

Medica: Held in November in Duesseldorf, Germany, one of the world’s largest medtech exhibitions annually hosts more than 5,000 exhibitors and 120,000 visitors in 18 halls. It’s now virtual.

RSNA: Held in Chicago’s McCormack Place each year the week after Thanksgiving, it’s the world’s largest imaging show. It’s now virtual.

MedTech Conference (AdvaMed): Held in North America each fall, it’s the leading meeting for executives of the Fortune 500 medtech companies. It’s now virtual.

Dozens of other major industry events have now gone virtual. The good news is that it does keep us all safer during these unpredictable times. It also lowers the travel and conference budgets for many companies. These are the right decisions, but we are becoming weary of the virtual world. Going from one online meeting to the next is almost as draining as traveling to these events in person.

There is a certain level of efficiency we can appreciate about this virtual solution for the short-term and we remain grateful for the opportunity to stay connected to our peers.

However, we look forward to the return of the personal interaction that we have all come to expect from these events. The energy derived from meeting new business contacts, renewing old acquaintances, and connecting with long-time industry friends is always well worth the airline and hotel travel experiences.

Let’s push through this fall’s virtual experiences as we hope for a renewal of re-connecting in person in 2021. We believe it’s worth the virtual trip in 2020 to get there! We hope to see you soon at an event relative to your market segment!

MedWorld Advisors
https://medworldadvisors.com

About the authors: CEO Florence Joffroy-Black is a long-time MedTech M&A and marketing expert. She can be reached at florencejblack@medworldadvisors.com. Managing Director Dave Sheppard is a former medical OEM Fortune 500 executive and an experienced MedTech M&A professional. He can be reached at davesheppard@medworldadvisors.com.