Innsena surveys 100 top health tech reporters and editors to highlight future trends and conference priorities
ATLANTA — August 20, 2024 – Innsena, a health tech consultancy focused on improving care outcomes for underserved communities, surveyed more than 100 healthcare reporters and editors on their preferences related to industry conferences. The results offer insight into future trends for media pitching and shifts in conference priorities.
“Health tech is pure noise right now, and journalists have the ability to shine a light on the people, products and initiatives that are making a difference in healthcare,” said Erin George, Managing Director for Public Relations at Innsena. “We have an obligation to support them, and reporters tell us pitch volume has made conferences a major pain point.”
Recent statistics show PR professionals are increasingly using generative AI to write pitches and leveraging CRM tools to mass pitch journalists, clogging their inboxes. So while most reporters ranked content generation as their top priority at industry events (86%), it’s not surprising they also identify relationship building as critical:
- 68% prioritize networking and building source relationships
- 27% prioritize exploring exhibit hall
- 14% prioritize learning or attending sessions
While healthcare media generally prefer to interview provider organizations that are end-users of health tech, half of respondents said they do not prioritize end-users at conferences as long as the vendor:
- Speaks uniquely to rising trends (55%)
- Is a highly influential executive or from a large company (50%)
- Has embargoed or interesting news (41%)
- Is speaking at the conference (36%)
HLTH and HIMSS tied as the most attended conferences in 2024 (59%), with written responses indicating budgets necessitate they attend the larger and broader health tech conferences for higher return on investment. ViVE was third (36%), CES fourth (32%) and JP Morgan fifth (23%). Niche-specific shows such as AHIP and HFMA were less than 10% each.
Innsena also asked reporters if they prefer HIMSS or VIVE, given how closely the conferences are scheduled. While respondents value both conferences equally, reporters are three times more likely to attend HIMSS.
In addition, 41% of health and med tech reporters prefer to receive conference-related pitches six weeks in advance. Respondents also highlighted best practices for pitching journalists around conferences:
- Provide agendas sooner
- Have a better understanding of conference layout
- Cross-promotion is encouraged, take photos during interviews and share across company-owned channels
- Provide access to embargoed news
About Innsena
Innsena is a health technology consultancy dedicated to improving the nation’s public health infrastructure and advancing care outcomes for underserved communities. Supporting innovators in digital health, public-private and non-profit partnerships, and government agencies, Innsena provides growth consulting, market access, commercialization, strategic communications, PR and public affairs services to create high-impact programs that improve the US healthcare system. For more information, visit www.innsena.com.
