Day 1: Monday, March 3, 2025 - ET (Eastern Time, GMT-05:00)
This working group session provides open discussion with industry peers on advanced topics within speaker programs. Please submit any questions for consideration to katelyn.reichheld@informa.com *Suitable for those with 2+ years of experience working in Speaker Programs. This session will not be recorded.
- Speaker utilization, training, annual compensation and frequency limits
- Benchmark on innovative ways to educate HCPs — Virtual and in-person programs
- Speaker program monitoring — Effective approaches for pre and post surveys
- Discuss organization exceptions process
- Learn how to develop, execute and monitor speaker program exceptions
- FMV breakdown — How to calculate extra services such as car services
- Best practices for training field reps to ensure compliance and address off-label questions during programs
- Review the key points from the Special Fraud Alert — What are the challenges now that we’re a few years in?
- Michael Varlotta - President, MLVII Associates
- Tim Reasoner - Director Lilly USA Faculty Administration & Lilly USA Third Party Management Office, Lilly USA
This annual program has been legitimized into a step-by-step certificate program, powered by the work of multiple vendors and manufacturers. They’ve partnered to share expert advice, tools, and provide a back-to-the-basics focus on excellence from all facets of Speaker Programs. Walk away with a concrete measure of your effort and continued education and dedication to Speaker Programs. Post-event, you’ll receive a digital Certificate of Completion. In order to receive a certificate, you must attend the entirety of the certificate program. *Suitable for those with less than 2 years of experience. This session will not be recorded.
Marketing 101
Developing engaging content for engagement
What does the final deliverable look like?
What to look for in vendor selection and agency interactions
Best practices in speaker communications and training.
- Sarah Dingle - Manager Professional Engagements, Takeda
- Robert Tarantino - Associate Director, HCP Marketing, Insmed Incorporated
This annual program has been legitimized into a step-by-step certificate program, powered by the work of multiple vendors and manufacturers. They’ve partnered to share expert advice, tools, and provide a back-to-the-basics focus on excellence from all facets of Speaker Programs. Walk away with a concrete measure of your effort and continued education and dedication to Speaker Programs. Post-event, you’ll receive a digital Certificate of Completion. In order to receive a certificate, you must attend the entirety of the certificate program. *Suitable for those with less than 2 years of experience. This session will not be recorded.
Compliance 101
The history of speaker programs and why our industry does them
How to bridge the business with the compliance and understanding the risks
Metrics for monitoring and auditing
Training internal teams and leadership on process.
- Stephanie Macholtz - Vice President, Healthcare Compliance, Organogenesis
- Achsah Warren, MSJ - Vice President, Head of Compliance, Sumitomo Pharma America, Inc.
*This session will not be recorded.
Live Polling (anonymous) Benchmarking on:
Live/virtual/hybrid events
Optics of programs and alcohol: wineries/breweries
Integrating association meetings with speaker programs
Cut off time for HCPs arriving late and “walk-ins”
Reps using speakers in their territory
Reps sharing patient access solutions post-program
Payment for speaker training
Adjusted FMV rates/dollar caps
FDA and Chevron
Number of speaker programs per year.
- Michael Varlotta - President, MLVII Associates
- Tim Reasoner - Director Lilly USA Faculty Administration & Lilly USA Third Party Management Office, Lilly USA
*This session will not be recorded.
Operations 101
Bureau establishment, program planning and recruitment, program execution, program close out.
- Ellen Friedman - Manager, Speaker Programs and Field Operations, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals
*This session will not be recorded.
Cross Functional Teams 101
Impact assessment for each role in context of programs – Creating living documents to outline
Checklist for pre-product launch, product launch, post evaluation.
- Jessica Constant - Associate Director - Commercial Excellence - Oncology, AstraZeneca
- Kevin Verbosh - Director of Corporate Compliance, Spark Therapeutics
- How increased knowledge about available medicines significantly improves health outcomes and overall well-being
- The role of understanding medication options in making empowered decisions about treatment
- Discussing the challenges of navigating medical information and how targeted education can bridge these gapsfrom the patient and HCP side
- Michael Riotto - Patient Advocate, and Multiple Myeloma Survivor
We will split into tables and connect on role-specific challenges first, then cross functional pain points, communication hurdles and problem solve for actionable results. Join this session to find solutions in conversation with your teams. If you’d like to review the findings from the 2024 working group, please follow this link.*This session will not be recorded.
Driving speaker programs standardization across company
Applying governance and documentation across organization while processes are growing and changing every day
Benchmark on managing set of requirements/company rules with vendors, how to store rules for quick recall
How to get information for metrics within the company when working cross functionally
How to address trust issues between team members.
- Sarah Dingle - Manager Professional Engagements, Takeda
- Danielle Barry - Associate Director, Marketing Operations, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
- Shelley L. Hays-Fisher, RN, BSN - Director, Ethics and Compliance, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals