A conference kit to help you develop your own medical device playbook for success

Nearly 250 professionals from startups and entrepreneurial organizations will gather in Newport Beach, California for Medical device commercialization guide Event presented by StarFish Medicine.

The event aims to inform and inspire entrepreneurs in the medtech and biotechnology industries. The event presents the stories and insights of the most outstanding entrepreneurs and experienced experts in the industry.

Scott Philips, Founder and CEO of StarFish Medical, sat down to discuss the event that kicks off today.

Let’s talk about the Medtech Playbook for a moment. It’s not the same as other conferences or space shows. It has a different atmosphere, different feelings.

Phillips: “Mostly, conferences in our industry focus on sponsors. And so all the panels and divisions… are basically designed based on the sponsor’s expectations. That’s why we wanted to create a conference focused on the participants.”

“And then we bring the second part. We bring in speakers that our attendees haven’t seen before because, you know, in every city there are local luminaries who always speak at every conference and people have kind of heard their stories. So we wanted to keep it fresh and bring in people (our attendees) we hadn’t heard of before.”

Is the Medtech Playbook kept in roughly the same place each time, or does the location change or change?

Phillips: “We started in Vancouver and then moved to Toronto and we’ve been doing it every year in Toronto since about 2016. Newport has grown over the last few years. This is the second year for Newport and we also plan to visit Boston this year.”

“We’re going to create sort of an institutional atmosphere so that every year people want to come out to the event with textbooks and meet people; maybe find some contacts to (raise funds); maybe it will inspire you to continue your endeavors; or find ideas on how to do it better.”

One thing I wanted to ask about was the regulatory discussions. Are you talking about EU MDR because it is a hot topic of discussion?

Phillips: “Yes, this is absolutely a hot topic. So Tonya Porter, who runs a regulatory agency in Southern California, comes to the conference and is highly regarded.
She did a lot of work outside the home ophthalmology especially, which is a popular industry in Southern California, and she just has tons of experience in (EU MDR).”

What information can listeners expect from speakers?

Phillips: “We invite people to really tell their stories, and when we curate, we always encourage them to enter the dark night of the soul. Because it’s easy to tell stories about how you made one brilliant decision after another and then achieved great victory. It’s insensitive, has a moment of unreality, and is almost demoralizing for the audience – people struggling to hear the voice of someone who has never had any problems. So we (our speakers) want to share that they have a lot in common with the audience.”

Check out the Medical Device Guide agenda and list loudspeakers for the event.