Healthcare has long been an industry where in person events and conferences are the main vehicles to meet and interact with industry professionals. It’s the namesake way, the tried and true way of bringing together peers along the diverse lines of research, technology, healthcare practice, etc. The annual HIMSS conference alone attracts over 40,000 industry professionals every year! In health tech and digital health — it’s no different. Health 2.0’s annual fall conference, the annual Rock Health Summit, and Startup Health Festival — provide the same opportunities for connection, to name just a few.
If you are looking to build your community, and produce health tech events at the regional level, there are some things that you might want to consider in order to help increase your likelihood for bringing attendees together around a common theme. Here are 6 ideas that you might want to consider:
Shoot for a trifecta in leadership. Cover all your points of access through your leadership: healthcare industry, startups, and patient/caregiver experience. Position someone from the healthcare industry – someone who is steeped in experience, knowledge, and comprehends bureaucracy with an eye toward change. Find a startupper, someone who has either owned their own startup, or works for a healthcare startup and understands how change occurs from the outside. To round out the trifecta, choose someone who empathizes with the patient and caregiver experience. This trifecta will help balance future programming, and help create access points for people in your region who might have an interest in the future of digital health.
Assign one person to be a host or hostess for the event. Assuming the event has less than 100 people, the host’s role is to know attendees before they arrive and connect people to one another. It’s a difficult position to be in, but it’s one that can provide great strength for the group.
Once in awhile, go off the program trail. In other words, avoid yet another panel discussion. Yet another fireside chat. Try a walk and talk, bowling night, high tea, a tour of a nearby digital health headquarters, or a conference. Every meeting doesn’t have to be yet another panel discussion. I’m convinced that healthcare professionals spend a majority of time attending panel discussions. Not that there’s anything wrong with that – something different though might prove worthwhile, and encourage attendance.
Try to schedule an event within walking distance of a major health system. Make it as easy as possible for healthcare professionals to attend. Go to them, don’t expect them to come to you.
Identify needs. It’s the best way to understand your group as it continues to grow. What are the needs of the group and where does it collectively want to grow?
Nail your first pitch night. Do it right the first time, and you’ll keep them coming back. Do it wrong the first time, and attendees won’t return. Healthcare professionals expect to see their years of study reflected around them, especially in entrepreneurial efforts, the better off you are. Really work to find the best digital health startups that are ready for the opportunity. Don’t settle. Not for your first pitch night because this will set the tone for every pitch night thereafter. Many medical practitioners are hungry for entrepreneurship, and when they see others – often their peers – developing a solution to a problem, it’s inspirational and motivating, as it is for all of us. I know that’s a generalization, but it’s really true.