Take social media from complexity to clarity through these interactive workshops guaranteed to jumpstart your conference experience. These workshops are a great opportunity to advance your learning and network with fellow attendees while taking a hands-on, common sense and practical approach to mastering social media for pharma that will enhance your understanding of the informative, case study presentations throughout the entire conference.

Attend All Three for Maximum Value and Learning

Social Media 101: How To Successfully Leverage New Web 2.0 Tools To Form Relationships, Manage Connections, And Communicate With Your Audiences

Many pharmaceutical companies are tempted to explore the murky waters of social media, but are hesitant to hold their nose and take the plunge. This trepidation is not unwarranted. Between regulatory hurdles, an apparent cultural mismatch and ill-defined measurement processes for social media success—the pharmaceutical marketing executive is left wondering where to begin. And while challenges do exist, navigating the social media waters is not impossible.

Come ready to explore the possibilities of using social media in your pharmaceutical company and procedures for successfully moving forward within the limitations outlined by the FDA, as this session addresses:

• Answering the question: “Why I am getting involved in social media in the first place?”
• Establishing goals for your social media platform
• Understanding the importance of setting a social media policy and ideas
  on how to put one in place
• Overcoming the hurdles of social media for pharma - - i.e. regulatory,
  a cultural misalignment, etc.
• Identifying the resources required to effectively manage a social media
  presence and the internal structure of a social media team
• Key metrics for success with social media

Armed with a “Pharma Social Media Textbook” covering the major tools available including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., you will walk away with a deeper understanding of the tools that are shaping the opinions and decisions that matter to your business, and ways to put them into action.

WORKSHOP LEADER:  Chris Iafolla is the Pharmaceutical Practice Lead for SHIFT Communications, an award-winning PR and social media agency. He also authors the blog PRforPharma, which focuses on the specific issues faced by pharmaceutical companies when engaging in social media.  His work has appeared in publications such as MediaPost and PM 360.  In addition to his work developing social media strategies for healthcare companies, Chris has worked with a variety of B2B technology companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies and everything in between.

11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Afternoon break/lunch on your own.

12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
WORKSHOP B

How To Implement A Social Media Strategy That Will Benefit Your Organization's Bottom Line: A Step-By-Step Process

The standards for participation in social media from the FDA have been constantly evolving and thus, difficult to navigate for the past few years. But the fact remains that caregivers, consumers, doctors and patients utilize the Web and multiple social networks every day as a primary point of research for their medical care.

Multiple pharma companies like Pfizer, J&J and many others have successfully navigated FDA mandates to connect with their publics in ways that have raised awareness, education and sales. Whether B2B or B2C, branded or off-branded, utilizing best practices online with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and up-to-date social media tools will only benefit the ROI for your organization.

This workshop will provide you with multiple social network case study examples of how various pharma companies, hospitals and others in the health field are benefitting consumers, caregivers, doctors and the bottom line.

Working in teams, you will be charged with:

• Generating insights about your key stakeholders (patients, physicians, caregivers, alumni, etc.) to learn how to speak to them where they are on/offline
• Creating a social media strategy based on your insights that gives value to your audience/customers
• Developing marketing materials for social media channels for a fictional hospital and pharma product as a tool to provide fresh thinking around pharma issues online outside of the realm of your particular organization
• Managing crisis situations by utilizing social media

You will leave this interactive, hands-on session with practical tips and knowledge to help your organization navigate through a successful and strategic social media campaign.

WORKSHOP LEADER:  John Havens is Senior Vice President, Social Media at Porter Novelli, and the author of the book, Tactical Transparency: How Leaders Can Leverage Social Media To Maximize Value and Build Their Brand (Wiley 2008). He is a recognized expert in the fields of Transparency and Augmented Reality for Social Media/Public Relations. He is the former VP of Business Development at BlogTalkRadio and has been blogging about social media since 2005 when he was the first Guide to Podcasting at About.com. A frequent speaker on transparency and augmented reality, John has written for/been quoted in Fast Company, iMedia, and ADOTAS amongst other sites. He is also a 2010 Fellow for the Society for New Communications Research.

2:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Afternoon stretch break.

2:45 p.m. to 5:15 p.m.
WORKSHOP C

How To Blend Social Media Into Your Traditional Pharma Communications Platforms

We stand at a crossroads in marketing and communications, where tried and true methods of the past are being challenged by a new crop of tools and techniques—especially ones enabled by social technologies. While these new technologies offer greater accountability through measurement and data, they're not necessarily the silver bullet that everyone's looking for. Success is achieved by playing to the strengths of ALL the tools in a marketer’s toolbox and integrating newer methods into the mix—using the right tools for each specific job.

In this workshop, we'll look at the ways to blend the old with the new by expanding audience insights, challenging the traditional components of the marketing plan, and redefining how to measure success. Looking at best-in-class examples as inspiration, you'll walk through the planning process to build "next year's" plan for a fictitious brand, strategically integrating social technologies.

• Expand upon existing insights to broaden your view of the customer
• Look at past program successes as indicators for future opportunities
• Build a marketing/communications program around newly
  identified habits and behavior
• Identify clear objectives and strategies for social efforts that tie into your larger communications plan
• Deploy relevant social technologies across multiple channels
• Redefine how to measure the effectiveness of your campaign and make optimizations based on in-market performance

Structured to get you thinking outside of typical boundaries, this session will leave you energized with new ideas and actionable ways to incorporate social technologies into your current communications and marketing mix.

WORKSHOP LEADER: Bill Evans is a senior vice president in the New York office of Fleishman-Hillard where he leads the FH Digital team. His team combines industry-leading strategic counsel in interactive, digital, and social media with full-service design and development capabilities to help clients navigate the evolving world of integrated communication, conversation, and community. During his career, Mr. Evans has handled programs for some of the industry's best-selling healthcare products, including Pfizer's Lipitor and Celebrex, Allergan's Botox, GSK's Levitra, and Schering Plough's Claritin, Dr. Scholl's and Coppertone brands. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The State University of New York at New Paltz.