Client Communication
VBMA teamed up with Pfizer to present a 3 part series on Client Communication with Dr. Rodgers. The series is modeled after the FRANK program for veterinarians. The first session was held October 6th in the evening. We required an RSVP to know the numbers for dinner and copies of the presentation. We invited all students to the event, not just VBMA members. The meeting was organized very quickly but it came together smoothly in the end. Our Pfizer student representative did most of the planning for the event, the VBMA organized the meeting place and dinner. We had a small turn out but attendees really enjoyed the program and are recommending the rest of the series to classmates. Evening meetings are alot of fun and can provide more information but more difficult to get students to take away from their evening to attend the event. The next meeting is taking place next week on Nov 4th and the last will take place in Dec. Unfortunately time got away from me I have sent out the RSVP infomation slightly last minute, but we should still generate a good turnout! I will let you know how it goes!
Lisa Thompson
U of Minnesota, Marketing Chair
Class of 2012
Thanks, Lisa
Interesting Lisa. Let me know how the second one goes. Do you have any more information on the program?
Nathanel
Interesting Program; Thinking about the Same at Cornell
Hi Lisa,
The VBMA here at Cornell was approached by Pfizer to do the same program, and myself and the other three members are considering if we would like to try the program here. Did you space out the three sessions, like Pfizer suggests? And how did you advertise the event? We are a little worried here that we may not get good turnout for all three sessions. We were also thinking that we would hold it on a weekend if we were to do this program at all, but again, we don't know how many people would be willing to give up a few hours on their Saturday to do client communication. What day of the week did you plan your sessions for? Any other advice you could give our group as to this program would be so helpful. Like I said, we have not yet decided if we want to do this program, so some feedback from someone not associated with Pfizer would be great!
Erin
Second Session
We just had the second session on Wed evening. The program is excellent and I really enjoyed it. I know other classmates that have gone have really liked the program as well. Our school does not do alot of evening and weekend meetings due to low turnouts. We struggle with getting people to attend. We have about 15 people turn up for each session. The nice thing about the progam is that you can attend any of the sessions, you don't necessarily have to go to all 3. We had the first session in Oct, the second session in Nov and the third session in Dec. I liked having them stretched out over a couple months, plus Dr. Rodgers also presented some lunch time talks - this month he had a talk on feline heartworm for the 2nd years. Advertising was mostly by email with requiring an RSVP to know how many to get food for. We try to get good food like pasta and chinese to try and motivate the students to stay. The program could easily be done on a weekend with good advertising. The day of the sessions varied depending on travel for the pfizer rep and the lunch time talks. We had the first session on a tues, second on a wed, and third will be on a wed as well.
I struggled because I did not know that much about the program to start with, our student Pfizer rep set up the meeting and then handed over the planning to us. If you included exactly what topics were being covered and when, that would help get the students interested. I can give you the outline from our sessions as I assume they would be the same!
Does Cornell have alot of professional development or client communication in your curriculum? At MN we have alot in our first year so many of the students feel like they have heard it all before and that is a struggle for getting students to turn up for a communication speaker.
I hope that helps. Feel free to ask more questions and I can help as much as I can!
Lisa