How to Plan a Successful Medical Congress in 2025

A well-planned medical congress has the potential to make a major impact on the industry by creating unique opportunities for researchers, healthcare providers, and pharmaceutical companies to showcase research, discuss treatments, and build lasting connections.

As hybrid and virtual events become more common, healthcare congresses are more accessible than ever. Whether you're considering a hybrid, virtual, or in-person congress, this guide covers how to plan a successful event and which elements to prioritize.

What is a medical congress?

A medical congress is a large-scale event for healthcare specialists and companies to share knowledge, explore best practices, and collaborate with fellow medical specialists. A standard medical congress definition also includes a focus on guiding policy or making organization-wide decisions.

Often held annually, a medical congress usually spans multiple days. Many are organized by medical associations and include a different types of educational, scientific, promotional, and networking sessions, including:

• Plenary lectures that welcome all attendees and cover the event's overarching themes
• Breakout sessions where attendees can gather and discuss more niche topics
• Scientific sessions that invite delegates to discuss clinical work
• Symposia that let company representatives and researchers share new treatments and devices
• Exhibits that let medical device and pharma companies showcase new products

These events happen around the world and often draw a global audience. Some of the largest medical and pharmaceutical congresses include:

• World Cancer Congress, hosted by the Union for International Cancer Control
• World Congress of Dermatology, hosted by the International League of Dermatological Societies
• European Society of Intensive Care Medicine Annual Congress
• American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress
• Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Compliance Congress

Medical conference vs medical congress

While a medical congress is a large-scale event that often draws a global crowd, a medical conference tends to be smaller and attract fewer international attendees.

Whether they're local or international, medical conferences tend to be shorter and have a more flexible format. Instead of medical associations, universities and medical groups often host conferences.

Medical summit vs medical congress

Compared to the typical medical congress, a medical summit is much more exclusive. Instead of welcoming a wide range of attendees, many include key opinion leaders (KOLs) and other decision makers.

While a medical congress often includes a number of related themes, a medical summit tends to focus on a more specific topic. The goal of a summit is often to get attendees' consensus on the topic at hand.

Medical forum vs medical congress

In contrast to a medical congress, a medical forum is much smaller and more focused on interactive discussions. In some cases, forums include debates or question and answer sessions.

While medical congresses generally happen once a year or every four years, forums tend to occur much more frequently. Because they're less formal, they're also easier to organize.

5 Reasons to participate in a healthcare congress

From networking to education to marketing, medical congresses offer a wide range of benefits to delegates, hosts, and sponsors alike.

1. Networking with HCPs and KOLs

Because they attract providers in specific therapeutic areas, congresses are ideal for meeting health care professionals (HCPs) and KOLs. Many medical congresses create space for face-to-face networking with peers during breakout sessions, poster presentations, and social gatherings.

If networking is a key goal for your team, take time for KOL mapping prior to the congress. This way, you can identify specific attendees to connect with so you get more value for your time.

2. Learning about new treatments

Medical congresses offer invaluable learning opportunities for the healthcare industry. From scientific sessions to clinical trial presentations, delegates can learn about emerging therapies, new treatment guidelines, and updated best practices.

In some cases, session recordings can serve as continuing medical education (CME) courses or webinars. This makes the content even more valuable and helps it reach a wider virtual audience.

3. Demonstrating thought leadership

From presenting at symposia to participating in scientific sessions, clinicians and companies have plenty of chances to share knowledge and present research during medical congresses. This allows delegates to establish themselves and build their reputations as opinion leaders in their therapeutic areas.

4. Building pharmaceutical brands

Many medical congresses invite pharma companies and medical device developers to sponsor events. With sponsorships, you can introduce your brand to delegates and spark curiosity.

Some events also invite pharma companies and device developers to attend as exhibitors. As an exhibitor, you can connect directly with stakeholders and engage HCPs via virtual elements or in person.

5. Generating leads for pharma products

As exhibitors, pharma companies and medical device developers can host booths and distribute information about treatments and products. This creates ample opportunity for medical affairs teams to connect with clinicians and generate leads.

Consider incorporating a medical congress exhibition booth into your pharma product launch. This way, you can promote emerging treatments and secure early adopters.

How to plan a high-value medical congress

Use this framework to plan a successful in-person, hybrid, or live medical congress.

Prioritize strategic planning

Develop a strategic plan for the event and define your goals for the congress. As the organizer, you may want to:

• Become known as the premier event in a certain medical specialty by attracting the largest audience.
• Establish your congress as the top event for scientific advancement by welcoming top-tier researchers.
• Turn your congress into an essential networking event by creating space for collaboration and socializing.

Set goals for sponsorships, too. Based on your available resources and financial goals, decide on sponsorship tiers and the number of available spots for each.

Then, get clear on the event's audience. Will you focus on inviting delegates from certain subspecialties or global regions? Have you identified specific KOLs or medical science liaisons to invite?

For many congresses, location is determined ahead of time, either by votes or bids. But if you're planning a primarily in-person congress, you'll also need to decide whether to make the event hybrid. Offering a virtual component can be a great way to make the congress accessible to a much wider audience.

Develop a scientific and educational program

Decide on a theme that reflects a current issue or trend in your therapeutic area. Designate committees to curate the various programs based on these themes.

• Scientific programs might include symposia, debates, and physician case presentations.
• Educational programs might include best practice exchanges, practitioner workshops, and courses.

Create lists of KOLs and HCPs the committees would like to participate, taking care to develop balanced yet engaging programs. Then, reach out and invite each one directly.

Handle the logistics

If you're planning a physical event to take place in person, you'll need to book a venue that accommodates your target audience. In addition to capacity, look for a venue that has the technology you need (e.g., projectors and sound systems) to make the event successful.

If you're planning a hybrid or virtual event, you'll also need a software platform for sessions to be held virtually. For example, Livestorm permits you to stream event content for an exclusive audience or make it available to more viewers by restreaming to channels like YouTube or LinkedIn.

Livestorm also has built-in tools for virtual engagement, networking, and screen sharing. Encourage attendees to submit questions for a Q&A session, host networking sessions in virtual breakout rooms, and make it easy for speakers to share their presentations online.

Make an event marketing plan

Once you've planned the event and confirmed the logistics, you're ready to start your promotions. Create a marketing strategy and decide on the channels you'll use to expand reach and increase attendance.

For example, you might rely on:

• Social media event promotion, including posts on LinkedIn or Facebook
• Video marketing with teasers featuring guest speakers
• Email marketing, including newsletters highlighting the congress

Collect event registrations

Make it as easy as possible for attendees to register for the event. Create a registration page where participants can sign up or purchase a ticket and get all the information they need about the congress.

Include details like:

• Congress dates and times
• Guest speakers and sessions
• Key events and networking sessions

With Livestorm, you can easily create custom landing pages for your virtual events. Our landing pages automatically include the event date and time, including a countdown. Just add your branding, customize the copy, and start collecting signups.

If you're planning an in-person event, you'll also need to organize badges. Aim for a solution that makes it easy for attendees to introduce themselves and share their contact information with others.

Finalize the program

At least a day before the congress begins, host a run-through with stakeholders and presenters. Confirm the schedule so everyone knows when they'll go live.

Host a dry run with speakers to make sure their presentations look as expected and confirm that they know how to use the technology. Leave time for conversations and questions to set everyone at ease.

Host a postmortem

When the congress ends, gather with your event planning team to review the analytics. Check metrics like overall attendance, engagement with specific sessions, and attendee reviews or survey responses.

Then, compare the results with the goals you set before the event. Identify areas where you succeeded and where you could stand to improve. Use these insights to make the next congress even more successful.

Livestorm for virtual medical congresses

To host an impactful medical congress, you need the right virtual event software. Livestorm makes it easy to:

• Stream large-scale live events to 1,000+ participants
• Record events and making them available on demand
• Turn event recordings into CME courses
• Engage HCPs and KOLs via breakout rooms, Q&A sessions, and live chat
• Use Livestorm integrations to promote your event and manage follow-ups

Curious how our virtual event software works for your healthcare organization? Book a demo to see Livestorm in action and learn more about our enterprise and business plans.