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7 Exciting Things at #SHSMD19

One of my favorite healthcare conferences is the annual Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) Connections event. The 2019 edition, #SHSMD19, is happening next week in Nashville, September 8 – 11.

I still remember showing up at my first SHSMD annual event not knowing a single person…until the incredible Dan Dunlop @dandunlop showed up and took me under his wing. He introduced me to everyone (literally everyone knew THE Dan Dunlop at SHSMD) and made sure I got a seat at the best sessions.

Ever since then I’ve been hooked on the SHSMD experience.

Here are seven things I’m looking forward to at #SHSMD19:

  1. The Keynotes. All 5 of the keynote sessions look interesting, but one in particular has me really excited – “Why Medicine Must Adopt a Consumer-Oriented Marketing Mindset” with Zeev Neuwrith. Dr. Neurwirth has a great podcast – Reframing Healthcare (disclosure I will be a guest on a future episode) and his book Reframing Healthcare was one of my favorite reads this year.
  2. The Breakout Sessions. Once again there is a strong emphasis on adopting consumer-oriented strategies, technologies and processes in the breakout sessions. One that looks very interesting is “Internal Comm-edy: How to Infuse Humor to Engage Employees” by Lisa Henry of Mary Washington Healthcare.
  3. Seeing SHSMD friends. Dan Dunlop (of course), Jared Johnson, Jeff Steblea, Kate Gillmer, Amy Jose, Kelly David, Jason Skinner, Sarah Bennight, Wynn Hansen, David Dalton, Paul Griffiths, Ben Dillon, Linda MacCracken, Ed Bennett, Andy Pollock, Suzanne Hendery and so many others.
  4. The SHSMD Exhibit Hall is always a fun place to meet new people and see old friends. It’s fascinating to see how companies market to fellow marketers. I’m particularly interested in what Geonetric will be doing this year – their ping-pong ball “Reboot” campaign last year made them a finalist for a 2019 HITMC Award. Here is a list of the exhibitors I plan to visit (in alpha order):
  1. Johnny Cupcakes Revive Health, BrandActive and other sponsors are bringing back last year’s keynote (and amazing branding expert) Johnny Cupcakes for a special evening event. This is definitely in the must-attend category.

  1. Connecting with podcasters. I love healthcare marketing podcasts. SHSMD is one of the best events to meet the hosts of the podcasts that I listen to like: Dr Zeev Neuwirth, Jared Johnson, Reed Smith, and the folks at DoctorPodcasting.
  2. Nashville. The food, the music, the vibe…did I mention the food (hot chicken!)?

Lastly, if you’re going to be in Nashville for #SHSMD19 or if you are local, be sure to check out:

  • #HCLDR #pinksocks meetup/tweetup Tuesday September 10th at Barlines in the @OmniNashville 7:30pm CDT, 8:30pm EDT
  • Taste-of-HITMC event Thursday September 12th. More details here.

About the author

Colin Hung

Colin Hung is an award-winning Marketing Executive with more than 15yrs of healthcare and HealthIT experience. He co-founded one of the most popular healthcare chats on Twitter, #hcldr and he has been recognized as one of the “Top 50 Healthcare IT Influencers”. Colin’s work has been published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology, American Society for Healthcare Risk Managers, and Infection Control Today. He writes regularly for Healthcare Scene and here at HITMC.com. Colin is a member of #pinksock #TheWalkingGallery and is proudly HITMC. His Twitter handle is: @Colin_Hung.

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