What physicians expect after a congress

Physicians are not asking congresses to change. They are asking for what happens around them to change. A study published in February 2026 says so with unusual precision.

The study

Emota and IPCAA surveyed 251 physicians across the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Respondents included oncologists, cardiologists, neurologists, primary care physicians and infectious disease specialists.

They are satisfied, and they want more

Sixty-six per cent reported being very satisfied with the congresses they attended. The scientific content and the expert speakers are not the problem.

What has risen is the expectation around them: interaction, accessibility, relevance. Satisfaction with the programme and frustration with everything else can coexist, and in this study they do.

The scheduling problem nobody owns

Thirty-nine per cent said too many topics are scheduled at the same time, which makes them miss sessions they wanted to attend.

This is worth sitting with if you sponsor a symposium. A share of the audience you paid to reach was in another room, not because they chose your competitor, but because the programme made them choose at all.

Live and on-demand, not one or the other

Eighty per cent said the best format for medical education combines live and on-demand content. Not a preference for one. A requirement for both.

The live part is the congress. The on-demand part is what almost nobody budgets for.

The overlooked opportunity

The study's managing director is explicit about where the gap sits. Post-congress engagement, he says, is the one overlooked opportunity. Physicians do not just want content after an event. They expect it. When follow-up is delayed, generic, or absent altogether, the momentum is lost.

That word, expect, is the one that should change a budget conversation. An expectation that goes unmet is not a missed upside. It is a disappointment attached to your brand.

What expecting means for a medical team

Medical teams at large pharma groups create a Juisci space on their key therapeutic areas or congresses, and onboard physicians directly from their booth. The space keeps publishing peer-reviewed science after the event, in the reader's language, matched to their practice.

It is the on-demand half of what the audience asked for, and it does not expire on the Sunday.

Peer-reviewed journals. Supervised by our medical team. Data hosted in the European Union, GDPR.

What matters, and why.

Source

• Emota and IPCAA, Healthcare Professional Congress Experience Report, February 2026, 251 physicians across six countries.

Talk it through

Book 30 minutes with our team and we will show you what happens after the booth comes down.