Wave: our broadcast medical education journey
11 May 2021
Written by James Seed
The global pandemic forced a huge shift in the way medical education (med ed) was disseminated to audiences; face-to-face meetings were turned into online ‘broadcasts’ to safely and effectively reach audiences. Fortunately, here at Wave we began our journey into digital med ed in 2018 because we wanted broadcast medical education to be part of our future. So, we were ready when the pandemic hit.
Initially, our webinars were based on face-to-face meetings, which we then broadcasted. In truth, this felt second-best to us, the client, and the audience. So, we turned to television and took inspiration from the way magazine shows presented news. This means Wave’s programmes are adapted for broadcast from the very start, and they’re designed for the screen. We also changed more than the just the presentation style – now every element of the broadcasts are different, such as how data is used, presenters are prepared and the programmes themselves are broadcast. We also create a variety of pre-recorded collateral for these events, building in legacy from the start.
Wave now spends lots of time planning and delivering advisory boards, satellites and full congresses via broadcast, and the difference in impact between these and face-to-face events is phenomenal. We consistently achieve larger audiences with our broadcast events, and our HCP delegates’ satisfaction and confidence to prescribe are higher.
Brand creation is still an integral aspect of the programme because attendance grows as programmes evolve and legacy material sees as much – or more – customer engagement than the original. The built-in legacy content is particularly important because for years we wanted to incorporate effective legacy material, but it never happened with the challenges of attaining medical approval for footage post-event. Now, since the broadcast footage is pre-developed, these challenges evaporate.
Wave welcomes the return of face-to-face meetings, but we see a future with integration between face-to-face and broadcast in a way which was unimaginable before.
Wave is a global healthcare communications agency. We combine scientific, medical and brand expertise to deliver clinically focussed programmes which are trusted by HCPs and drive better patient outcomes. To find out more about us, click here.
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