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HIMSS is like Christmas at Amendola

HIMSS Is Over. Now What?

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At our agency we think of HIMSS as our “Christmas.” We face similar time pressures and high expectations as those in retail leading up to the holiday, but as one team member says, “HIMSS is the “Happiest Time of Year.”

Like the annual family gatherings, we see clients, media, analysts and industry leaders all in one place. We network with old and new colleagues, learn about new offerings and trends and much more. However, it’s not all Christmas carols and eggnog. There’s quite a bit of hard work that occurs months before HIMSS: arranging meetings, creating themes, developing strategies and plans, and then poof it’s over. Just like Christmas, the rush of opening presents is over in a blink and before you know it, it’s time to take the tree down and do your gift returns.

It’s true, HIMSS is now over, but there is still fun to be had! As you leverage the opportunities you uncovered and follow-up on all of the activities leading up to and at the show, you’ll experience the “gifts” of secured bylined articles, analyst coverage and strengthened relationships.

And even if you still have a HIMSS hangover and that extra Tylenol and sleep hasn’t yet kicked in we’ve made it easy for you with the best practices listed below. Follow each step and you’ll magic those leads into tangible results!

  • Do your follow-ups from media interviews, networking events, speakers you enjoyed, potential partners, existing partners with whom you met, etc. In fact, often the best conversations come from those random instances where you bumped into someone on the exhibit hall floor or in the elevator. Never underestimate the impact of unexpected conversations and meetings at HIMSS those are my favorites. After 20+ years of attending the conference, I love the reunion aspect of it. It’s the perfect way to re-connect with industry colleagues, clients and members of the media. Be sure to follow-up with a note on LinkedIn or an email you never know what will happen!
  • Great information doesn’t mean actionable information. Translate what you’ve heard/learned into goals and actionable next steps. But don’t get distracted by the shiny new objects that you learned about at HIMSS. Instead, focus on what applies to your organization, your product line and the larger business/industry problems that your company’s solutions address. Don’t try to be all things to all people it just doesn’t work. Be clear about who you are, your value proposition and unique differentiators, and most importantly, how you solve your client’s real-world problems.
  • Biggest challenge: Prioritization of all those great ideas! HIMSS is over now don’t waste the investment. Develop a calendar of follow-up marketing initiatives to continue driving interest and momentum, along with an execution strategy. Below are some of my personal secrets to success:
    • Did you launch a new product at HIMSS? Do you have a client user or a pilot running? Did you conduct a Focus Group or survey at the show? Now is a good time to share the results. Leverage post-HIMSS press releases to continue the excitement. Be strategic and space the news out appropriately. Generally, I recommend a cadence of every other week, if news permits.
    • Continue your social media outreach using #HIMSS17 – and even add #HIMSS18 as you look toward the coming year’s trends!
    • Wondering what to do with all the contact information you collected from prospects, potential partners and investors who stopped by your booth? Implement a timely email campaign to continue the conversations and reach them at various stages of the buying funnel. I suggest disseminating a series of targeted e-blasts with a strong call-to-action such as downloading a gated white paper, infographic, ROI calculator or other value-added content.
    • Did you capture client testimonial videos at the show? Embed them into your corporate presentations, highlight them on your website and promote them via social media.
    • Did you or your clients present at HIMSS? Take that content and turn it into one or more thought leader articles, blog posts, ebooks, webinars (which can then be uploaded to SlideShare), podcasts and possibly the inspiration for a thought leadership video series. Content can usually be sliced and diced in multiple ways; leverage what you have rather than creating new materials.
  • Biggest misstep: Not tying your new/updated goals, strategies, and tactics derived from HIMSS’ insights to your organizational KPIs. Remember, if your results don’t track to the CEO’s expectations, they don’t count!

P.S. Don’t forget to tune in for my next post on healthcare IT analysts and key influencers top takeaways from HIMSS. They’ll set you on the right path for the rest of 2017! Finally, I hope you all had a Merry HIMSS I know our A-Team did!

AC thanks the media for its friendship and all it does

To the media Thank you for being our friends

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“The light which has been shed on mankind by the art of printing has eminently changed the condition of the world.” Thomas Jefferson, writing to John Adams, 1823

Thomas Jefferson, champion of a free and independent press

Thomas Jefferson, champion of a free and independent press

There has been a lot of attention paid lately to the rise of “fake” news, alternative facts, and the role a free and open press should play in a democracy. You can read about that ad nauseam on Facebook, Twitter, news portals and even GASP in your daily print newspaper! (Yes, they do still exist.)

I am not here to debate the merits of the respective positions on these political and cultural issues. What I am here to do is to say thank you to the healthcare IT press who cover our clients here at Amendola Communications (AKA, the A-Team).

We just finished #HIMSS17, by far the biggest conference of the year for our clients. We had more than 20 clients there and scheduled more than 130 meetings with the media and analyst firms at the conference. It was an unbelievably extensive and intensive effort by the A-Team over the past two months, and as the managing director for the agency I applaud their hard work over the past two months.

But I am also a former member of the press, a business writer, bureau chief, editor and yes, the worst of the worst, a sports columnist by training and trade. So I also want to applaud all my friends in the healthcare IT press the folks who took countless calls, tweets and emails all day long for weeks on end from me and the rest of the A-Team, not to mention dozens of other PR agencies and departments around the country, prior to the show.

All I can say to my friends in the media is thank you, again.

What gets lost in the rush to stake out our positions and perspectives on whatever is published through the media either in print, through the airwaves, or through digital channels is the value that a free and open press does bring to our society.

Just in our little corner of the world Healthcare IT that value comes in the form of informing, educating and influencing technology buyers. It comes in the form of honoring industry innovators and staging thought leadership events around the country and world. It comes in the form of educating readers on best practices in healthcare. It comes in the form of driving interest in topics such as CRISPR gene-editing, persona-based behavioral analytics, and value-based care and reimbursement.

So again, thank you to all of the A-Team’s friends in the media.There are so many, many of you who met with us at HIMSS 17 and work with the A-Team every day throughout the year to inform and educate the healthcare IT industry.

You are making significant, worthwhile contributions to our industry that often go overlooked or underappreciated but shouldn’t not in an industry as important as healthcare IT, not for an audience that has as significant an impact on the well-being of the entire American public every minute and hour of every day.

As Jefferson said to Adams, your work continues to shed light on mankind and eminently changes the condition of the world in which we live. And for that we here at the A-Team thank you all so very much.

Four HIT journalists and insiders share what they will be looking for at HIMSS17

Catching a Buzz: Trends to watch at HIMSS17

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Health IT insiders, journalists share what topics they’ll be tracking at HIMSS17.

HIMSS17, the juggernaut of all healthcare technology conferences (a.k.a. #HIMSSanity) is just weeks away, and soon we’ll all be high on interoperability, blockchain, burnout and whatever other trending buzzwords permeate the convention center air this year.

In fact, I can’t wait. Next to reuniting with colleagues, my favorite thing about attending the annual HIMSS conference is gauging the mood of industry and tracking the key narratives of the show.

What will be top of mind for this year’s 45,000-plus attendees? What major themes will unfold among the parade of 1,200 show floor exhibitors? I asked four respected health IT insiders and journalists what plotlines and trends they’ll be following at HIMSS17.

Jeff Byers, Assistant Editor of Healthcare Dive, musician, pyrography artist, and craft beer enthusiast
Follow him @jeffpbyers @HealthcareDive

“Flying in from the swamps of D.C., I look forward to the humid Florida air welcoming me to HIMSS17. This year, I’m looking at the integration of technology into the clinical continuum and how it’s impacted care. Some of the main questions I will pose are, “Is this cost effective? and “Does this technology help push the needle toward value-based care, population health? I’m sure every vendor will respond with a resounding “Yes! to each, so I’m much more interested in hearing about the day-to-day struggles over technology in the industry and how such integration has changed care delivery for better AND worse.

Being from D.C., most of my casual acquaintances assume I love talking about politics. While that couldn’t be farther from the truth, the new administration and potential changes to health policy and their impacts across the industry will be important to watch. In addition, I’m looking for “cool stuff to help me think about the changing landscape, however you define “cool.”

Kate Gamble, Managing Editor of HealthSystemCIO.com, sports aficionado, die-hard NY Giants and Red Sox fan
Follow her @khgamble and @hsCIO

“At HIMSS17, my focus is on education and women who rock! I want to learn which organizations and vendors are leading the way with population health and interoperability. I want to hear from some of the top women in the industry who will be presenting sessions, including Judy Kirby, Deanna Wise, Carla Smith, and I definitely want to hear from Ginni Rometty, President & CEO of IBM. Inspiration is everywhere, and I can’t wait to soak it in!”

John Lynn, Founder of HealthcareScene.com and the Health IT Marketing & PR Conference, exceptional dancer, prolific blogger and social media savant
Follow him @techguy and @healthcarescene

“At HIMSS17, I’m most interested in technologies that work the magic of lowering costs while improving care. That’s a challenge, but it’s time we start expecting this from our technology solutions. I’m also still particularly intrigued by the challenge of changing health behaviors.

I love exploring the exhibit floor and I may even leave one day with no meetings so I can just casually explore the exhibit floor. Wish me luck on that ambitious goal!

Finally, I’m taking a bit of a different approach to HIMSS this time and I’m doing a bunch of meet-ups where anyone can attend and share their ideas. This kind of unplanned interaction and engagement has always been my favorite part of HIMSS, so I hope everyone will join me at these meet-ups so we can all learn from each other and hear the unexpected first-hand experiences and perspectives that make HIMSS special.”

Shaun Sutner, News and Features Writer for SearchHealthIT.com, avid skier, adventurer, and snow sports correspondent for Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
Follow him @ssutner and @SearchHealthIT

“I’m definitely looking for vendors and users that are working closely around value-based care. That’s a big plotline because it’s where healthcare reimbursement is headed. You need advanced analytics, business intelligence, machine learning, cloud and just about all the technologies in health IT to make value-based care work.

I’m also really interested in care coordination and patient engagement, the personal side of population health.”

While often the most exhilarating moments of the conference are the unexpected, I’ll be on the look out for coverage related to the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase (#EmpowerHIT) and the promise of precision medicine. I’ll also be pursuing those “best in show” exhibitors that are experimenting with new marketing tactics and companies that are aggressively humanizing their tech story.

What trends and themes will you be following at HIMSS this year? Weigh in below and be sure follow the buzz at #HIMSS17 and via our contributors Twitter handles above. See you in Orlando!