To Moderate or Not? Why Disabling Session Chat is Costing Your Medical Meeting

As a medical or scientific meeting planner, your “to-do” list is already overflowing. Between managing faculty disclosures, coordinating poster sessions, and ensuring the AV doesn’t fail during a keynote, the idea of adding “Chat Moderator” to your job description feels like a breaking point.

It’s tempting to simply toggle that “Discussion” button to OFF. You might think, “We don’t have the staff to watch for trolls,” or “What if someone posts something unprofessional?”

But here is the reality: By silencing the chat, you aren’t just avoiding a chore – you are stifling the very reason people attend scientific meetings: the exchange of ideas. Here is why it’s time to stop worrying and embrace the session discussion.

1. Take Advantage of the “Reputation” Safety Net

Scientific and medical communities are small. Unlike public social media platforms where anonymity breeds “trolls,” your event is a closed ecosystem.

• Verified Identity: Only logged-in, registered attendees can participate. There is no “hiding” behind a handle.

• Professional Stakes: In this industry, your name is your brand. Attendees are there to network with peers and potential employers. The risk of posting something unprofessional, which is permanently tied to their professional profile, is incredibly low.

2. Rely on Crowdsourced Moderation (The “Flag” Factor)

You don’t need a dedicated staffer sitting in every session. Tools like EventPilot empower your attendees to maintain the community standard for you.

• Flag as Spam: If a comment is off-topic or inappropriate, attendees can flag it instantly.

• Automated Alerts: Organizers receive an immediate email notification if a comment is flagged. You only need to step in if a problem actually arises, rather than monitoring “just in case.”

3. Benefit from Mitigated “Viral” Risk

In a closed scientific ecosystem, the risks associated with public social media simply do not exist.

1. Private Containment: Unlike X (Twitter) or LinkedIn, these discussions are not indexed by search engines and cannot be shared with the general public with a simple click of a button. Any minor professional disagreement or “hiccup” stays strictly within the secure walls of your event app and your specific community.

2. Professional Discretion: Because the audience consists of peers who value their own reputations, they aren’t looking to “expose” a colleague; they are looking to solve a problem. This creates a natural buffer where a stray or awkward comment is ignored or scrolled past, rather than amplified to the world.

4. Amplify Your Best Content

When a discussion is lively, it shouldn’t stay buried in a single session room. EventPilot pushes session comments into the Activity Feed, creating a “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out) effect.

• Drive Engagement: When attendees see a flurry of insightful questions or “Aha!” moments in the main feed, they are more likely to join that session or watch the recording later. It turns your program from a static schedule into a living, breathing conversation.

5. Deepen Speaker Engagement (Pre- and Post-Event)

The Q&A microphone in a physical room can be intimidating, and the best questions often come to mind hours after the speaker has stepped off the stage.

• Automated Speaker Notifications: With EventPilot, speakers are automatically notified via email whenever a user posts in their session chat. This removes the “black hole” of digital comments.

• Ongoing Dialogue: Because speakers are alerted, they can jump in to answer a complex question while it’s fresh. This sparks communication that begins before the session and continues long after the meeting has concluded, turning a 30-minute presentation into a long-term professional connection.

6. Support Community Building and Networking

Scientific meetings are built on collaboration. Turning session discussions OFF limits the networking connections that attendees prioritize.

• Connect Niche Interests: Highly specialized sessions attract focused audiences. When attendees post questions, others working in the same area can quickly identify peers with aligned interests for potential research collaboration or referrals.

• Lower the Barrier to Engagement: A session discussion provides a structured starting point for those uncomfortable with in-person introductions. A thoughtful comment can naturally lead to a private follow-up message or professional introduction.

7. Gain Critical Insights for Future Planning

Session discussions are not just engagement tools. They provide practical intelligence that can strengthen your next meeting.

• Identify High-Interest Topics: When certain sessions generate more comments, follow-up questions, or extended exchanges, it signals strong audience interest. This helps planners see which subject areas resonate most, beyond standard attendance counts. Engagement depth often reveals more than room size alone.
• Spot Emerging Trends: Repeated themes in session discussions highlight knowledge gaps or emerging research areas. This insight can guide abstract categories, refine session formats, and inform future speaker invitations based on real-time feedback.

The Bottom Line

Disabling session discussions doesn’t just save you a task – it removes a layer of value from your event. In a world of digital fatigue, participation is the antidote. By trusting your professional community and leveraging automated moderation and speaker alert tools, you can foster a high-energy environment without adding a single hour to your staff’s workload.

Keep the discussion ON. Let the science speak for itself.

Learn more: See all the features available in the EventPilot conference app.

Next-Gen Event Support with a Smart Assistant

From finding the most relevant sessions to navigating the venue with ease, the sophisticated and deeply integrated AI assistant transforms how attendees experience your event program. Near-instant answers to natural language questions come enriched with deep, in-app links, creating a fluid, intuitive experience that keeps every detail just a tap away.

New Features Designed to Enhance Usability, Visibility, and Security

Enhance Navigation

A prominent floor plan thumbnail in the session detail view provides immediate visual access to the room’s location pin drop. This intuitive and sleek design helps attendees quickly understand where a session is taking place, reducing directional questions to onsite staff and creating a smoother on-site flow.

Highlight Search Terms for Faster Content Discovery

Search results visually highlight matching terms within all description fields and abstracts, making it easier for attendees to spot relevant information instantly. This improvement helps participants quickly scan and focus on the most important content, increasing engagement with sessions, posters, and other event materials.

Increase Speaker Spotlight

The updated speaker detail view features a large, centered photo above the speaker’s name for a modern, visually balanced look. This design draws attention to the speakers, improving recognition and enhancing the overall professionalism of the meeting app.

Protect Conference Data with Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication is available for the Conference App Builder, adding an extra layer of security to safeguard event data. This enhanced protection helps ensure only authorized users can access and manage content, giving meeting planners greater confidence in the integrity of their event setup.

Conference App Builder Improvements

Availability

Features listed are available now for all new projects getting set up. If you have a branded shell app, please contact your project manager to determine the best time to resubmit between your projects.

Some features may only be available in specific editions, packages, or as add-ons. The AI Assistant is available to add to Onsite+ and Hybrid Pro Packages. 

Creative ways to engage attendees using the conference app ScanHunt gamification

At today’s medical and scientific conferences, keeping attendees energized is no easy task. But event apps like EventPilot allow meeting planners to easily deliver more interactive experiences. EventPilot’s ScanHunt Gamification is one of the easiest pieces of event technology you can use — and it’s way more exciting than your typical “scan-and-go” expo passport game.

Images below generated with AI

Best strategies for a winning conference scavenger hunt game

Get your Game On! Use ScanHunt in Your Event Technology Strategy

EventPilot’s ScanHunt gamification makes it easy to drive attendee behavior, increase time spent in your conference app, and provide value to exhibitors and sponsors. It’s fully integrated, works offline, and captures analytics you can use to demonstrate ROI to stakeholders.

Ready to create an unforgettable experience? Plan a ScanHunt that challenges, entertains, and educates — and watch your attendee engagement soar.

Skip the Scroll, Get to the Science

How much valuable research do your attendees miss simply because they couldn’t find it? With thousands of abstracts at major medical meetings or scientific conferences, even the most diligent attendees struggle to identify all relevant sessions. Transform how attendees discover research with EventPilot’s new AI-powered tools and give them the edge to quickly connect with the presentations that matter most to their work.

As scientific meetings continue to grow in size and complexity, tools that help attendees navigate content effectively become increasingly vital. These AI-powered enhancements in the EventPilot conference app represent a significant step forward in making scientific content more accessible and discoverable, ultimately leading to a more productive conference experience for all participants.

CME / CE Credit Certificate Enhancements

Bluesky Support

As scientific communities explore new platforms for scholarly discourse, EventPilot helps you stay ahead: The Activity Feed now includes Bluesky alongside X (Twitter)!

Display content from just one platform or create a unified social experience combining both. The same robust content filtering automatically extends to Bluesky posts, ensuring only relevant content is shown to attendees.

Self-Service Speaker Certificates

Speakers can now download their personalized certificates of participation directly from the app, eliminating the need for organizer intervention.

Note: Implementation of this feature is dependent on the speaker data / authentication setup.

Bigger Brand Impact for Exhibitors

The updated exhibitor detail view now features a large, centered logo displayed prominently above the exhibitor’s name. This clean, visually balanced design enhances the professionalism of your event app while maximizing exhibitor brand recognition for your attendees.

Enhanced Survey Features

Conference App Builder Improvements

Availability

Features listed are available now for all new projects getting set up. If you have a branded shell app, please contact your project manager to determine the best time to resubmit between your projects.

Some features may only be available in specific editions, packages, or as add-ons.

What a year it’s been! From creative onsite kiosks to beautiful landing screens, we’ve seen event planners like you redefine what’s possible with event apps.

We’ve pulled together our favorite success stories and best practices from 2024 into a quick read to inspire you for 2025. Check out how other meeting professionals are using ScanHunt, live transcripts, and more to create next-level event experiences:

Make certificates hassle-free for both your team and attendees, just like MicroTAS 2024 did! The meeting planners saved over 10 hours of administrative work by turning the 5 minutes per certificate admin task into an instant, user-driven download experience.

Instant access to attendance, speaker, and credit certificates is now possible directly within the EventPilot event app. Plus, with fully customizable templates, you can reflect your organization’s brand and style seamlessly. An integrated solution that saves you hours of time!

ACC took advantage of the LITE add-on to turn every corner of their venue into an instant information hub with strategically placed kiosks. Perfect for attendees without the app or dead batteries, these kiosks provide quick access to vital event details like session, speaker info, exhibitor lists, and maps—no login required!

And it doesn’t stop there—boost event revenue by offering premium screen real estate to sponsors. Showcase their messages directly on the kiosk home screen and create impactful, high-visibility opportunities that benefit everyone. A win-win for accessibility and sponsorship!

Simplify your attendees’ journey and make your event app their favorite companion with beautifully designed Intermediary Landing Pages like HRS! By breaking down complex information into visually intuitive categories, these pages streamline navigation, ensuring even the most intricate meeting agendas are just a tap away. Whether it’s finding sessions, checking credits, or diving into must-see exhibits, these cleanly organized screens reduce cognitive overload while keeping users laser-focused on what matters most. Say goodbye to cluttered home screens and hello to an experience that’s as smart as it is easy to use!

ASMS created a highly engaging ScanHunt game that over 400 players participated in and generated thousands of scans. You too can transform your event into a treasure trove of learning and connection with trivia-based ScanHunts. Engage attendees by leading them to uncover your organization’s history, achievements, and key contributors through interactive clues. Perfect for sparking conversations, these trivia challenges work wonders as icebreakers!

Beyond fun, ScanHunt gamification encourages exploration of key event areas like membership desks or award ceremonies, ensuring participants discover more while creating memorable experiences. It’s learning, networking, and adventure all rolled into one!

ASHG ensured that everyone can fully participate in their event with seamless live closed captioning — a simple link to StreamText service in each room made all the difference. Attendees with hearing impairments or those in need of translations can easily follow along without missing a moment. With live captions available on their own devices, attendees from diverse linguistic backgrounds can follow along in real time.

This approach keeps the focus on the presenter for everyone while making accessibility effortless. Enhance inclusion and participation with minimal setup, all while delivering a world-class experience!

ADA implemented an exemplary communication strategy with consolidated daily alerts to deliver all the day’s essential updates in one well-organized notification, ensuring attendees stayed informed without feeling overwhelmed. From key reminders to special announcements, all critical details were just a tap away, available 24/7 via the app’s interactive list view announced daily via an alert.

The results speak for themselves — a remarkable 70% click-through rate that showed they were able to reach more attendees, drive engagement and improve the overall experience. Simplified messaging can make every alert count!

The developers have been busy crushing bugs and releasing loads of new features for your future event apps.