[02] Buying Authority
The cohort skews heavily toward signers, not spectators.
Of the 164 planners who disclosed their authority, 67 identified as the final decision-maker and 87 as a direct influencer on vendor selection. Pure implementors are the minority.
Planners were also asked which decision-maker levels they want to meet with — a signal that vendor-selection conversations are actively on the agenda, not incidental.
[03] Buying Power
Per-event budgets and annual event volume, side by side.
Average budget per event (contract value)
Events they manage per year
Methodology: budget-band midpoint × events-per-year midpoint, summed across disclosing planners. A conservative view of annual contract value inside this cohort.
[04] Category Demand
Which supplier categories planners are actively researching.
Planners self-reported the categories they want to learn more about. Count reflects the number of planners flagging active interest — a proxy for near-term category demand.
[05] Buyer Composition
Who they work for, and where their meetings land.
Planner type on-site · 2026
Company type
Where their meetings happen
Event types they organize
[06] Cohort Turnover
41% of the 2026 cohort was first-time.
Live polling from Pharma Forum 2026 shows a meaningfully refreshed audience year-over-year — the buyer roster is not a static list of returning names.
Asked what they were most looking forward to, planners surfaced a consistent set of operational themes worth tracking as leading indicators for category spend.
Themes planners flagged as top-of-mind
- 01AI in event planning
- 02Event technology
- 03Sustainability
- 04New pharma trends
- 05Congress planning
- 06F&B guidelines
- 07HCP engagement
- 08Compliance updates
- 09Sales & procurement
- 10Booking windows
- 11Contracting
- 12Production support
[06b] Engagement in Practice
What buyer engagement actually looked like on the floor.
The 2026 post-event data quantifies how much planner ↔ supplier contact the cohort generated in a single week — useful context when sizing this channel against other outbound motions.
Source: Pharma Forum 2026 Post-Event Report · Boston, MA · March 22–25, 2026.
[07] Deal Economics
The compliance framework planners work inside.
Benchmarks from the 2025 Pharma Forum Life Science & Medical Meetings Survey. Meal caps and out-of-office policies define the price envelope for F&B, venue, and hospitality categories.
of respondents apply event-type-specific meal caps — the pricing rulebook varies by meeting format.
apply out-of-office meal caps in the US — the same policy scaffolding governs off-site programs.
raised their caps year-over-year — a directional signal that premium tiers have room to move.
[08] Size Your Slice
Stop guessing at your addressable slice of the $1.4B.
The interactive dataset lets you cross-tab the 245-planner cohort by category interest, budget band, decision authority, company type, and geography — and watch the count and aggregate spend recompute in real time.
Sample queries →
- ▸ AV & production buyers with ≥$1M annual spend
- ▸ Corporate planners sourcing hotels outside the US
- ▸ Final decision-makers shopping meeting-tech platforms
Why it matters
Every filter narrows to a concrete, nameable buyer segment — the same segments that show up in the room each March. Use it to pressure-test your ICP against real demand before you spend a dollar chasing it.
[09] About This Report
Published from the Pharma Forum community.
Compiled by Informa Connect from first-party 2026 attendee data, live event polling, the Pharma Forum 2026 Post-Event Report, and the 2025 Life Science & Medical Meetings Benchmarking Survey.
Looking for ways to reach these buyers in-person at Pharma Forum 2027? Get in touch.