07 Mar Thoughts from HIMSS 2012
Have you ever been to a HIMSS conference?
I attended the most recent–my first–last month in Las Vegas. If you haven’t been to a HIMSS conference, you have no idea what you’re missing. The sheer magnitude of the HIMSS event is overwhelming: imagine more than 60,000 attendees and visitors in 1.9 million square feet of space, all with one common goal–to introduce and discuss the latest technologies, products, advancements and challenges in healthcare.
Networking at HIMSS
But even more impressive than the size of the event was seeing how effective and productive strategic networking can be for companies and individuals. At 1st Solution USA, we network at conferences like this all the time, but seeing people and companies forge associations that they might not have otherwise connected, was amazing. I saw company HR representatives interviewing potential employees, vendors signing contracts with business partners and healthcare providers viewing product demonstrations. I even got a chance to finally meet clients and candidates I’ve worked with virtually for years. Best of all, the HIMSS conference gave me a chance to secure 1st Solution USA’s relationship with key decision-makers at top organizations.
HIMSS 2013
If you didn’t make this year’s event, be sure to attend next year’s (it’s in New Orleans), if for no other reason than to network. The ability to make contacts–face-to-face, in person–is not only significant, but unparalleled by anything you can do online. Sure, the Internet allows us to connect with anyone, anywhere, pretty much all the time. But this type of intense, personal collaboration between providers, vendors, payers, regulatory organizations and patients would not be possible without conferences like HIMSS.
So, what say you? Will we see you at next year’s HIMSS?