Ian Youngman looks at the medical tourism conference and events sector, the competitive market for medical tourism speakers, and the introduction of restrictive speaker agreements in the sector.
The article considers the implications for medical tourism speakers, provides reaction from eminent speakers and invites comments from the industry. It also provides advice on what to expect in terms of payment of expenses.
As well as an ever-increasing number of medical tourism conferences, medical tourism sessions appear on the agenda at healthcare, employee benefits, tourism and insurance events.
The demand for speakers has increased, but the number of authoritative speakers and experts in medical tourism who really know their business is in short supply.
Few conference speakers get a fee; it is usually in return for a free place at the conference. Some may get their travel and accommodation costs funded by the conference organizer.
Until recently, speaker agreements have been a relative rarity in the medical tourism sector, but as the conference market develops, they are now appearing. A new speaker agreement for the World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress, the official conference of the Medical Tourism Association, contains restrictions on the speaker’s rights, including limiting the ability to speak at other conferences. This agreement has stimulated lively “should I sign this?” discussions on the medical tourism conference circuit.
What is a restrictive speaker agreement?
A restrictive speaker agreement may incorporate terms and conditions that:
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Restrict the speaker’s freedom to speak at other competing conferences.
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Restrict the speaker’s freedom to promote his own services or business.
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Give conference organizers the right to use presentation content following the conference in other formats and media that may give them commercial benefit.
Concerns around the WMTGHC speaker agreement
The clauses in the agreement distributed to WMTGHC speakers which have given rise to discussion, are:
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“Speaker will not compete with congress by speaking at a competing conference in the US”
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“Speaker grants to Congress, its subsidiaries, affiliates, agents, successors, and assigns a royalty-free license and release to reproduce and permission to record, use, publish, stream live, stream on-demand, offer for download, offer for sale, or otherwise distribute any recordings of any session speaker conducts or participates in at Congress. Such right and permission includes, but is not limited to, speaker's name, recorded audio or video, photograph or likeness, biographical information, handouts, electronic slides or any material based upon or derived from the session.”
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“Speaker does, however, grant a non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide perpetual license to Congress to utilize, as described above, the specific recorded audio or video production and handout or slide materials from the session the speaker conducts or participates in at Congress.”
Reaction from the industry
The WMTGHC speaker agreement is very much a sensitive subject and understandably, some regular conference speakers are reluctant to voice their opinion. None of those asked for comment were happy with the wordings. Some leading speakers in the sector have provided their opinion:
Constantine Constantinides of healthCare cybernetics is a regular contributor to medical tourism conferences and has also helped organize some, so his advice should be noted:
“ We are aware that some event organizers oblige honorary speakers to sign legalese-rich speaker agreements. The speaker needs to wade through the document, some would say with the help of legal counsel, to determine if it is safe and prudent to speak at the event. Some of the clauses of the agreement cover issues such as non-disclosure / confidentiality and non-competition.
For example, the speaker will not compete by speaking at a competing conference in the US, to which there is no time limitation. This effectively prevents the speaker from speaking at other industry or sector events ever again? How will he know if any event is a competing” event, rather than merely another industry promoting and knowledge-providing event? “
Another medical tourism pioneer and regular conference speaker, who prefers to remain anonymous, adds:
” Fairness does not matter as any agreement is a legal contract . Any speaker who signs such agreements should be aware of the consequences and make a considered decision. I have signed speaker agreements before, but they usually concern the release of the content of my presentations, to establish that I gave permission for slides to be distributed; which is the focus of most of the rest of the contract. That of course is fine. Any clause that seeks to stop you speaking elsewhere with no definition of time or what is meant by a competing conference is a problem. Besides the time-wise open-ended nature of the clause, there is also no clear definition of what these competing conferences are. A wide definition could be argued as the medical travel industry develops and the topic of medical travel appears at more tangential events on insurance, tourism, and employee benefits. The clause is hardly industry practice. I think that most event organizers would not place such an onus on their potential speakers because that would drive some more prominent/intelligent speakers away and lower the overall quality of their conference and it would therefore hurt their own event business. The speakers who agree to such a clause may be new to the industry and hence not aware of the other platforms and opportunities. The seasoned campaigners, including the true luminaries and pioneers, know they have other options and would not sign. “
Josef Woodman is a well-known author and regular speaker at conferences in many countries, and he too is wary:
” As one who speaks frequently at sundry medical travel, travel medicine, wellness and global healthcare venues, of course it would impossible for me to sign such an agreement. I would likewise caution most anyone else against signing such a document.”
IMTJ has repeatedly asked questions of the organizers of the World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress/ the Medical Tourism Association, but they refuse to reply, explain the restrictive nature of the agreement, or provide any comment. The conference company, WMTGHC Inc, is run by the MTA President, so we must assume that the conference company’s policy is a reflection of the Association’s view.
Our advice to conference speakers
Conferences need good speakers more than you need to speak at a conference.
With regard to agreements
The best advice is not to sign anything at all. If a conference organizer really wants you, and you are good at what you do, do not sign a speaker agreement. If you feel you have to sign anything, give it to your lawyers and take their advice.
With regard to payment of expenses
You should expect that your accommodation, travel and entrance fee to the conference is paid. In the current economic environment, you should insist that any travel arrangements are arranged for by the conference company or that you receive payment in advance for these. There have been recent examples where conference companies have failed to reimburse speakers' travel costs to medical tourism conferences after the conference organiser has experienced financial problems.
We welcome your comments below.
Ian Youngman is a writer and researcher specialising in insurance and health. He writes regularly for a variety of magazines, newsletters, and on-line services. He also publishes a range of insurance reports and undertakes research for companies. An ACII, with an honours degree in Economics from the University of Liverpool, Ian was a co-founder of The General Insurance Market Research Association. He also has widespread experience within the insurance industry at management level, working for brokers, a bank and an insurance company.
