Welcome! If you haven’t already filled out the webinar proposal form including Faculty Agreements, please do so now. Then come back here for everything you need to know once your proposal has been approved. Please note that webinars are scheduled a minimum of 8 weeks from the time proposal is approved, so get the form in ASAP!
Timeline (scroll)
Overview
MAPS webinars are live, 60-minute events held at 10am ET, with FAWG webinars on Wednesdays and Partner Circle webinars on Fridays. The goal of these webinars is to provide directed learning and expert perspective on topics relevant to the practice of Medical Affairs. Most webinars include 20-30 minutes of speaker presentations followed by 20-30 minutes of live Q&A, offering attendees the opportunity to engage directly with expert speakers. Webinars are created and delivered via Zoom, with a moderator and speakers on screen, along with accompanying PowerPoint presentation. Free registration is required. The live event is open-access, meaning that anyone may register and attend regardless of MAPS membership; after the event, the recording is published to the MAPS Knowledge Center for on-demand viewing, where access requires MAPS membership or one-time payment. Examples of upcoming webinars can be found at the MAPS Events Page. Many examples of previous webinars now available for on-demand viewing can be found at the MAPS Knowledge Center. Please see the following requirements and suggestions/resources for more information about the format and process of MAPS webinars!
Requirements
Presentation Requirements & Suggestions
- Your webinar must be nonpromotional. Company logos may be included on the speaker intro slide. Logos may not be included on any other slides. If a webinar is deemed promotional, it will not be published for on-demand viewing.
- Partner Circle webinars MUST include an industry (pharma, life sciences, etc) member as a speaker or presenter. Proposals that only include members of the proposing companies will be put on hold until industry members are included in the submission.
- Your webinar should contain enduring material. (Remember, the recording will be made available for on-demand viewing at the MAPS Knowledge Center.)
- Handouts: You are welcome but not required to provide a downloadable handout. The handout may contain logos.
- Polls: We suggest including 4 or fewer live polls during your webinar. Options for poll types include multiple choice, multiple answer, ranking, and or short text answer. If using polls, please prepare about 60 seconds of content to present while attendees are answering — rather than leaving blank airtime while they respond.
- MAPS webinars are 60 minutes in duration. Most use the following format:
- 3-5 minutes: Topic introduction, speaker introductions, disclosures
- 20-30 minutes: Speaker presentations
- 20-30 minutes: Moderated Q&A
- 2-3 minutes: Closing remarks
- Please prepare questions for use during the Q&A in case attendees are slow to submit their own.
- MAPS does not provide a moderator, please include one as part of your proposal.
Slide Requirements & Templates
- The MAPS slide template must be used. Download slide templates for FAWG webinars HERE. Download the slide templates for Partner Circle Webinars HERE.
- Company logos may ONLY be used on the speaker introduction slide
- We suggest a maximum of 20 content slides plus additional slides for into/outro, polling and Q&A
- All photos and figures must be created for the purpose of this presentation, have a purchased license, have permission granted by the creator, or be in the public domain.
- Industry functions are proper nouns and thus capitalized: Medical Affairs, Commercial, Research & Development, etc.
- Slides MUST be submitted at least 1.5 weeks before the webinar and will be checked by MAPS staff.
MAPS Nonpromotional Policy
MAPS webinars are nonpromotional. This is true for both FAWG and Partner Circle webinars. For further reference, please see the MAPS Nonpromotional Policy.
Disclaimers/Permissions
- The MAPS legal disclaimer will be shown during a 1.5 minute video that will play at the beginning of the webinar.
- Please ensure you have permission from your company to participate. MAPS is not obligated to ensure your company’s approval.
- If your company requires disclosure/disclaimer language, please include it in your slides.
- MAPS requires all speakers to complete a Conflict of Interest (COI) form. This should have been managed and checked while completing the Webinar Proposal Form. If not, please complete your COI now at this link.
Rehearsal
All speakers/presenters must attend a live rehearsal approximately 1 week before the webinar itself. The rehearsal (along with the webinar) will be scheduled in coordination with the MAPS webinar producer. Prior to the rehearsal, slides must be finalized and all presenters must have completed COI forms. Delays in these items may push back the rehearsal and could result in delaying the webinar.
During the rehearsal, your group will practice the steps listed in the “Overview of Day-Of Mechanics.” This will include checking microphone and video quality, as well as practicing polling and Q&A features.
Overview of Day-Of Mechanics
Note: All mechanics of the live webinar will be practiced during the rehearsal.
- Dress professionally. Sit up straight or stand. Manage your background. Minimize background noise. Place devices in “do not disturb” mode. Remain engaged even when not speaking.
- Please use the speaker links provided (not the public Zoom link!) to join your webinar at 9:30am ET, which is 30 minutes prior to the 10am ET start time.
- At 9:55am ET, speakers will go off camera and on mute. Attendees will be allowed to start joining at this time.
- At 10am ET, MAPS will play the pre-recorded, 90-second introduction video.
- As the video ends, all speakers will go on camera and off mute. The member of your team designated to screenshare and advance slides (often the moderator) will start the PowerPoint presentation. This will be specifically practiced during the rehearsal.
- Attendees will submit questions via the Zoom Q&A feature and will not be able to access the Zoom chat feature. Presenters may use the Zoom chat feature to communicate privately and with MAPS staff.
- During the webinar, MAPS will:
- Open polls based on cues from speakers (moderator will close polls — we encourage leaving open for approx. 60 seconds)
- Help to monitor and manage the Q&A
- When the session ends, speakers are encouraged to join the separate debrief session to discuss the event and align on any next steps.
Suggestions, Resources and Information
Marketing
MAPS will promote your live webinar in the following ways:
- Added to MAPS Events Page
- Included in all Tuesday “Upcoming Events” newsletters
- Announced via social, including the MAPS LinkedIn, X and Instagram (with speakers tagged!)
- Day-before reminder via MAPS LinkedIn
After the event, MAPS will promote on-demand viewing of your webinar in the following ways:
- Published to MAPS Knowledge Center (access requires MAPS membership or $35 payment)
- Announced via MAPS LinkedIn, X and Instagram
- Included in the following Thursday’s “Recent Resources” newsletter
What you can do:
- Share the MAPS social posts to your personal/company profiles
- Announce the webinar and/or your participation at your own social media
- Work with your company to announce the event through internal/external channels
- Message colleagues and professional friends directly
Attendance & Engagement Metrics
You will receive a report directly following the live webinar including attendee names, companies and regions (email addresses are not able to be shared). The post-webinar report also includes all questions submitted via Q&A as well as poll results.
Zoom Backgrounds
MAPS Zoom backgrounds are optional and can be found HERE.
Post-Webinar Publication
After your live webinar, the video will be published to the MAPS Knowledge Center for on-demand viewing — and will be promoted via MAPS social outlets and newsletters. On-demand webinars are available for free to MAPS members and via one-time purchase to non-members.