Healthcare exhibition season is here again – Healthcare Estates in Manchester, Medica in Düsseldorf and in early 2020, Arab Health in Dubai - as well as a myriad of other trade fairs, trade shows and conferences. Allison Seabourneof Medstor considers whether, in an age where so much in the healthcare world is preceded by the word ‘virtual’ or ‘digital’, there is still a role for the human interaction offered by these events, and asks the question, in 2019, are trade shows still relevant?
Ask anyone in the healthcare industry, and they will agree that attending a trade show, particularly an international event, costs a lot in time, effort and, of course, money. Stand design, liaising with the venue, planning, staff training, sorting flights and accommodation, marketing, getting equipment shipped to the venue safely and at the right time then taken away again, even making sure you have enough brochures and branded giveaways – it calls for real team effort, a huge number of hours and costs thousands
Add to that the increasing necessity to justify and audit every penny spent, and you can see why companies might question whether it wouldn’t be easier to just run a social media campaign and leave it at that.
However, as sales director of Medstor, I have always believed that the importance of conferences and trade shows cannot be overstated and have first-hand experience of the long-lasting customer relationships created directly from meeting at these type of events. They are also a perfect opportunity to take our products, made, to my great pride, in our own factories by our own staff, and offer them for use globally – a truly rewarding experience.
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