With the 2026 J.P. Morgan (JPM) Healthcare Conference at hand, it’s the right moment to take a final look at strategies and suggestions to help you make the best use of your time and resources at the industry’s premier annual healthcare investment symposium. From a communications perspective, successfully leveraging the unique opportunities afforded by JPM calls for strategic preparation, clear expectations, and a tactical approach aligned with your integrated investor and public relations programming.
Standing out from the crowd at JPM means capturing the attention of your intended audience and leaving a memorable impression by articulating your unique value and differentiators with clarity and consistency. This holds true whether you are seeking funding, researching potential partnerships, looking to amplify visibility of a new product or connect with service providers and industry colleagues.
JPM is also a time for you to learn and to gather intel as you plan for the year ahead. Listen and take notes about what audiences are saying. The financial and competitive markets are always moving targets, so absorb input, feedback and questions allowing you to fine-tune your outreach and messaging after JPM. If a JPM meeting leads to continued interaction, that is the best outcome!
To that end, here are some steps to help you maximize your presence at JPM and advance your IR/PR program goals.
Focus Your Strategic Messaging for JPM
- Craft a narrative that highlights your unique value and how you differentiate from other companies in the same sector or with similar products. Remain consistent and adhere to your corporate positioning and key messaging while focusing on points that help you stand out. The executives you want to reach will be meeting with and hearing from a plethora of attendees in your respective field, from big pharma to emerging biotechs, medical device, diagnostic, health tech companies and others. You want to deliver a concise and compelling story backed by data points that link your science and mission to real-world needs and market opportunities.
- Know what interests your audience and tailor your messaging accordingly (e.g., talk about complementary technologies for potential strategic partners; provide information about your AI-driven platforms or the latest clinical data for investors and analysts).
- Stay the course with your specific game plan for JPM – presenting your company’s story – but be prepared to talk about major themes at the conference and how they impact or align with your technologies, platforms, drug candidates and pipeline. Expect major discussions on topics including Healthcare Financing Shifts, Biotech Rebounds, AI, Digital Health, the obesity market and more.
- Be ready to pivot and respond to new information presented or announced at the conference. Companies often time positive news or reserve impactful announcements to coincide with JPM week. Even while immersed in the buzz of JPM activity, stay current on industry news inside and outside of the conference and be ready to leverage that news to your benefit with commentary relevant to your organization.
- Expect tough questions and be prepared with responses that align with your messaging and convey consistency and confidence.
Refresh Your Deck for Relevance and Practical Considerations
This is not the time for a total makeover of your investor or corporate presentation, but you do want to look at your deck with JPM in mind for needed revisions both in terms of content and form. Does it accurately tell your company story? Does it convey your unique value proposition? Does it answer the questions your JPM audience likely will ask?
- Keep in mind any time constraints of meetings and revise or delete non-essential slides – those that don’t directly address your objectives for this conference.
- Have multiple versions of your deck. What’s appropriate for a general presentation is different from what investors or analysts will find compelling.
- Remember, this is a visual presentation. Slides are not meant to be copy-heavy or have a lot of content to read. Your audience should be able to digest the takeaways from each slide quickly and easily.
Additionally, some appointments may not want to be guided by an investor deck; are you prepared to hold the meeting without visuals and get all your points across?
- Did you attend JPM last year? Is your presentation notably different? Consider highlighting a few accomplishments of 2025 and choosing two to three milestones expected in 2026. It’s beneficial to bring something new to say at JPM. Others will be making announcements about new products, technologies, or strategies. Explain how these milestones advance your strategic growth.
- Practice your delivery and talking points and have confidence in your ability to convey your message – nobody knows your story better than you.
Leverage social media. Integrated communications plans involve multiple media channels, and this is no different for JPM. As you continue your social media journey for JPM, ensure consistency of your “before” messaging with what you post during the conference and as follow-up after the conference ends.
- Hashtag the conference in your posts
- Review what you have been posting and refer back, with links, in subsequent posts to increase visibility.
- Keep your post short but informative as many peers are posting at the same time.
- Be on point, current and relevant with what you post during conference week. Refer to topics and issues being presented as well as your own messaging. Give your stakeholders a taste of the conference and what’s trending.
- Remain consistent across your communications channels while tailoring content for each platform.
Prepare for Both Formal and Impromptu Meetings
From 8,000 to 10,000 healthcare executives and policymakers attend JPM, with thousands of additional industry professionals flocking to the area during the conference week for ancillary events and meetings. In between formal sessions and pre-arranged meetings, you will have the opportunity to talk with attendees during meals, on a coffee break, in hallways and other informal settings. Practice your elevator pitch and be prepared for a spontaneous deep dive, as well, if someone asks for detail about how your latest drug candidate differs from a competitor’s. Also always remember, others may be listening to your conversation – what do you want out there and what do you want to keep private?
Stay Current on Conference Attendees
At this juncture, meetings are likely set, and your staff and PR agency have done the legwork and provided you with insight, data and content you need to prepare you for JPM. Now is the time to make sure you have up to date information on your own data, as well as the companies, executives and investors you will be meeting. You want to be prepared to address their needs and questions.
Other conferences. If you also are participating in affiliated or alternative events like Biotech Showcase or the RESI Conference, make sure everything you communicate and present is coordinated and consistent. Keep up to date on announcements and outcomes from these other events, as well as JPM.
Document and follow up. Be prepared to document all discussions, planned and unplanned, during JPM so that post-conference follow-up can be conducted strategically. Make sure you have a method for an easy exchange of contact information for all the people you meet formally and informally. Have a plan in place for how to leverage and continue your success at the J.P. Morgan healthcare conference when you go home.
