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At some events, speakers par a registration fee if they choose to participate in the rest of the conference as an attendee.
PCMA’s Catalyst community offers members a platform to ask each other questions, share ideas, or, as the website says, “communicate and collaborate.” Here’s a sampling from a recent Catalyst discussion.
“As we continue to evaluate best practices for our events, I’m curious to hear from others in the industry,” Deborah Goedeke, destination services manager and Albany Film Commissioner at Discover Albany and Film Albany, wrote to her peers on Catalyst. “Do your speakers typically pay a registration fee for the events they are speaking at? If so, how do you structure this? And if not, how do you manage the associated costs?”
At a former organization, this was their policy:
- If they are only attending the day of their session they are speaking, their registration is free.
- If they are attending the entire conference, they are expected to pay half of the registration fee, because they can leverage and participate in networking opportunities.
I’ve always thought that was fair to both the speakers and the organization.
— Racquel Codling, CMP, CEM, Director, Meetings & Events, National Health Council
We have them pay the full registration and they get reimbursement up to $1,500, which includes two nights [at a] hotel, airfare/travel, food, etc., but are not reimbursed the registration fee. If they are speaking one day at the conference, they can request a comped day pass, but can’t claim any credit, and we will reimburse travel and one hotel night.
— Laure Herzog, CMP, Manager, Education and Meetings, The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America
We host several client events each year and we allow them to attend the entire day [comped] in return for speaking at the event. I think it depends on the length of the event as well as if you are paying them or not.
— Nicole Keshler, National Sales Manager, Visit Raleigh
AI Policy
“I am asking for a colleague who needs medical associations’ input on AI policies for medical practices,” Joan Eisenstodt, principal at Eisenstodt Associates, wrote on the PCMA Catalyst forum. “It’s different than an office environment, since there is a clinical side to AI use in things like radiology, etc.”
We’re a scientific organization that works in life sciences, especially around public health and drug development, so we’re really a combo of a science/medical association. Much of our content involves the use of AI in analyzing data, so this is something that is important to our members and stakeholders. Here’s what we use as our AI policy, which differentiates AI in research vs. using AI in authoring content. A few key points from our policy:
- The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) encourages responsible use of AI or AI-assisted technologies. Responsible use includes disclosing whether AI was used to produce their submitted work(s), and if so, how it was used.
- Authors are not permitted to list AI and AI-assisted technologies as an author or co-author, nor cite AI as a reference. Authorship implies responsibilities and tasks that can only be attributed to and performed by humans.
- Use of AI-assisted content will not be considered in deciding whether to accept or reject submitted content, but ISPOR reserves the right to withdraw accepted content found to be non-compliant with this policy.
— Paul Wong, Director, Global Events, ISPOR
- Read previous Catalyst discussions in our Catalyst Questions Archive.