Eyeworld

28 | EYEWORLD | APRIL 2023 ASCRS NEWS by Steve Speares ASCRS Executive Director events across the country, a global pandemic is among the most lethal of business challenges a firm can face. One of these vendors, Freeman, has become an invaluable partner to ASCRS. As we navigat- ed the uncertainty of a return to large gather- ings, we did so with data and information from Freeman as our compass. Freeman had begun exhaustive in-depth research on attendee senti- ment for everything across the meeting space. From Comic-Con to Consumer Electronics, and ASCRS to the American Society of Hema- tology, Freeman assessed where live events were headed and how they might change from pre-pandemic. Prior to COVID-19, there were microtrends building in the meeting attendee mindset, but as with so many other things in our soci- ety, these trends accelerated as the pandemic waned. Gaining visibility into all medical meet- ing attendee sentiment has been instrumental in guiding some of the changes that you will see in San Diego. Freeman's surveys revealed that attendees are selectively coming back to events with far fewer concerns about health and safety and large gatherings. While attendees are returning to events, they are returning to an average of 25% fewer events than pre-pandemic. Looking forward, only the strongest events will thrive. Events that will thrive in this new environment will be those that are really tuned into the spe- cific needs and expectations of their audiences as well as being clear about the attendee value proposition. Across the entire spectrum of live meetings, 2022 saw a near return to pre-pandemic levels with one category exception: medical meetings. There are several hypotheses around the slower rebuild of medical meeting attendance, and many are related. In 2022 we still saw travel restrictions as an obstacle, particularly from international attendees. Almost all U.S.-based medical meetings have a significant interna- tional participation. We also saw universal approaches by medical schools to reduce staff travel during the 2022 calendar year. These attributes also showed up in the Freeman research. An event taking place over a ASCRS ANNUAL MEETING PREVIEW Adapting live meetings to fit attendees' needs A s ASCRS members prepare to return to San Diego, California for the Annual Meeting, it is hard to fathom the monumental changes our world has experienced since our last meet- ing there 4 years ago. Rolling into San Diego in May 2019, we saw a robust economy with low inflation rates, low interest rates, and healthy, thriving ophthalmic practices. Four years and one global pandem- ic later, our practices face staffing shortages, declining reimbursement, borderline hostile payers, and in some cases, completely different practice ownership structures. On the industry side, companies have been upended with disrupted clinical studies, some consolidation, increased regulation, dramati- cally increased cost of goods, and global supply chain disruption on a scale never experienced. Building a better mousetrap has never been more challenging. How has ASCRS weathered the storm? As an organization, we were certainly battered and bruised by the pandemic, facing many of the same challenges both practices and industry have faced. But with challenge comes oppor- tunity. The 2021 ASCRS Annual Meeting was one of the first medical society meetings to be held again in person worldwide. With a pared down staff and lower fixed costs by going to a virtual office setting, ASCRS demonstrated we could pull together a quality educational and networking experience under a massive cloud of uncertainty. But celebrating survival is not a viable long- term strategy. We needed to determine what members and meeting attendees were looking for in this post-COVID-19 world. It was clear surgeons and administrators looked at attending a meeting such as the ASCRS Annual Meet- ing through a different lens coming out of the pandemic. Our industry partners were also clear in communicating their needs as we returned to live meetings. Many companies were still constrained with office and facility visits by their sales and clinical teams. Finally, our vendors, without whom this event does not take place, were also emerging from an existential crisis. When your business is putting together live

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