Last month’s Healthcare IT Marketing and PR Conference in Las Vegas was brimming with intelligent people bringing a creative and analytical approach to the HIT marketing table. Attending a conference where like-minded professionals can come together to share innovative ideas on marketing to help each other stand out in the unique and competitive healthcare space was truly an exceptional experience.
Back at the office, going through notes on the breakout sessions from amazing speakers like Stacy Goebel, Jeff Zinger, and Christine Slocumb, it was hard to pick which session I enjoyed the most. One breakout that stood out was the Twitter panel discussion with John Lynn, Amber Glende, Colin Hung, Chad Johnson, and Cari McLean. These panelists used an informal, laid-back style to communicate their strategies, giving the audience free range to ask questions whenever they chose. Of the topics discussed, the audience learned how to build Twitter chat attendance, how to prepare employees for company-sponsored Twitter engagement, and how to bring a personable personality to a corporate Twitter account.
Another highlight of the conference was attending Jared Johnson’s breakout session on digital strategies for patient engagement in 2015. This presentation offered an informative look at new choices in consumer care, from wearables to the climb of consumerism in healthcare. With new healthcare services opening in retail settings like CVS, Walgreens, and even Wal-Mart, consumerism is going to be a big factor in small physician practice patient attendance. Partner that trend with the projection that global wearables adoption is slated to increase 133% from 2014 to 2015, bringing the entire wearables community to just over 45 million, and you can be sure that marketing practices and strategies will be changing as the focus shifts more to the consumer corner. Johnson did a phenomenal job offering the audience new approaches to help healthcare systems and vendors market to the community.
Porter Research President Cynthia Porter was also in attendance, teaming up with co-presenter Elisa Logan, Vice President of Marketing at IOD, for a session that elaborated on the evolution of vendor marketing in the B2B healthcare arena. This session offered a real-world look at how the companies are using market research programs to create compelling content that resonates in the market, builds awareness, and establishes thought leadership and credibility with traditionally elusive c-suite decision makers.
To say I learned a lot from this conference would be an understatement. In addition to gleaning fresh marketing approaches to help rise above the noise in a rapidly changing industry, I was able to meet some really great people. Networking was made easy with short breaks between topic discussions, breakfast and lunch gatherings, and on-site socializing outlets. I also enjoyed the opportunity to bond more with coworkers in a new environment and brainstorm ways to use what we learned in our own projects.
I left the conference with more knowledge and friends than I had before I came and already look forward to next year’s conference. Healthcare IT is an interesting field to market in where creating thought leadership is imperative, making attendance of this event very beneficial. John Lynn and Shahid Shah did an outstanding job hosting this extraordinary conference.
