"Tiziana Bianchi, M&E Sales Executive en NH Hotel Group"

The pharmaceutical industry is facing big changes in Italy, affecting the M&E sector. Nevertheless, Tiziana Bianchi, as M&E Sales Executive, tells us about these changes and how NH Hotel Group faces them.

Can you please tell us about your career with NH?

I have been working in NH Hotel Group for 6 years as a M&E Sales Executive. My client portfolio consists of agencies that organize events, meetings, conventions and congresses, and pharmaceutical companies.

What was your first experience with the pharmaceutical industry for M&E?

Since entering NH, I have followed pharmaceutical companies. During the last year, I have been assigned a project related to new business in order to scout pharmaceutical companies for NH that could have a potential both for business travel and M&E.

When we think of a pharmaceutical event, we usually think of a huge congress, demonstrations of new medicines or technologies, etc. How is a pharma event different from other types of events? What are the main characteristics?

First of all, it depends on what kind of event it is: a convention, product launch, training session, or congress.

Lately, we’ve been experiencing some crucial changes in our industry: the two largest associations of pharmaceutical and biomedical companies in Italy must meet several standards. For example, events with tourism purposes are not permitted. You can’t host an event at resorts, 5-star hotels, cruises, golf clubs, or wellness and spa centers. These are only a few examples of this limitation.

Because of these limitations, we must adapt and find new ways to make a difference. The rules are the same for all of us; our real goal is to help our clients organize outstanding events.

What do you think are the most important factors for having a successful event in the pharma industry?

The most important factors that can mark the difference are: attention to customer and attention to detail, as well as the quality of the service and the product (hotel). Last, but not least, the rates. Many pharmaceutical companies have budgets that set limits on the cost of the room (especially with F&B).

How has the pharmaceutical event industry changed in the past few years?

I have already mentioned the recent limitations within our industry.

We have also noticed changes in the expectations of our clients: the number of events and dimensions depend on the individual pharma company. There are companies that do many small meetings and others that do less frequent but large events. Most pharmaceutical companies organize an annual convention or two meetings. We have also detected that budgets for product launch events are usually more generous.

Can you please tell us about an extraordinary or uncommon tech request from a booker/planner and how you solved it?

In our hotel spaces and meeting rooms, we provide basic technology supplies (video projectors, microphones and screens), technical assistance and free wifi.

If a customer has specific and technologically-advanced requests, we rely on external non-binding suppliers, so that the customer who can freely choose which technical service to lean on. Even considering this, there are always certain requests that we don’t necessarily offer, but that we manage to provide to our customers, like personalized stage settings.

Are there any pharma trends/disruptions for 2018 that meeting & event planners should keep in mind?

The future of Pharma industry events is about tailor-made services. We should keep all requirements in mind in order to create unique and unbeatable events. The quality of F&B has a lot to do with it; you can make a real difference there. Managing to respect budget limits is also very important for our clients. In a nutshell, we must always focus on our client: a happy client will be likely to trust NH Hotel Group again. And that’s good news for us!