Conferences are a whirlwind of activity. Turn it up to 11 when the location is Las Vegas, which was the site of this year’s Healthcare Marketing & Physician Strategies Summit (HMPS). Vegas is a bit much for me. Actually, it’s way too much. Sensory overload. Despite the potential distractions of the location, the conference content held a tremendous amount of interest and delivered value for me and many others who attended.   The big theme this year was AI, which does not come as surprise. There is so much promise with AI to augment and assist what we do as communicators and marketers ..read more

What’s the state of discourse on remote work? Jokes. Mocking. Mandates. PR disasters. The situation is grim, but it doesn’t have to be that way. While the debate over remote work continues as we start 2024, return to the office (RTO) mandates are popping up all over. I’m not going to wade into all the aspects of the RTO debate - just the communications. Why? Because RTO communications – formal and informal – are just terrible. Too often, the “conversation” has been juvenile and disrespectful. At best. I want to focus two messages that were in the news this year (for all the wrong reasons) and ..read more

Although I’ve always loved reading, I struggle to remember the specific books I’ve read from year to year – with a few notable exceptions. So, I keep yearly lists to remind myself which books are essential, just for fun, or not worth a second chance. If your taste in reading is like mine, you might enjoy some of these or at least avoid investing your time in a few I didn’t think measured up. As always, I hope you will consider purchasing any books that interest you through an independent bookstore like Powell’s in Portland, Oregon or Vroman’s in Pasadena, California. Here is a glimps ..read more

I hate email. I also love email. Many of you probably feel the same way, especially if you remember a time before email existed.   At my first professional job – a reporter for a small community newspaper – we had one shared email account for the newsroom. One!   You had to call or meet people to ask questions. Sending documents required a courier service. Everything was very, very slow.   When I moved on to larger companies that assigned a personal email account to every new employee, email became more and more a part of my daily work. On average, it’s now estimated that office ..read more

I want to start by looking back about three years. Crypto, blockchain, NFTs, Web 3 and the Metaverse were all getting hyped to incredible levels. They were going to change the world. Democratize experiences. Start adapting now or be ready for redundancy! Matt Damon was telling us to be bold. Don’t miss out! I was not bold. The super bowl ads for crypto didn’t move me. If anything, I was confused. I never understood any of it. I’m not ashamed to admit that now, especially with how things turned out. Thanks for nothing, Sam Bankman-Fried. When sorting through all the hype around each of those ar ..read more

I recently attended the Becker's Healthcare CEO/CFO Roundtable Conference for the first time. I was struck by the level of passion and dedication among the attendees. This event was a gathering of some of the top healthcare professionals in the industry, and their shared goal was to improve care for patients, consumers and caregivers. Changing health care is challenging and slower than any of us want. Yet, the desire and focus to that is there. That was clear from the presentations I attended. Although it was impossible to capture everything that happened in three days, I’ve put together a day ..read more

Fall is conference season and that means the annual Healthcare Internet Conference (HCIC) is just around the corner. If you’re joining the action in Los Angeles this year, here is a quick preview of the conference along with some tips for getting the most out of your time. What’s on tap for 2023 HCIC is renowned for curating some of the biggest names, strongest voices and most inspiring topics in healthcare. This year, that includes three keynotes, four mainstage panel discussions, eight master classes and more than 55 concurrent sessions focused on the business and transformation of healthcar ..read more

What a tremendous event in Chicago this week! As always, the SHSMD Connections was filled with amazing people, presentations and conversations. Like I did, I know many attendees left with a variety of takeaways that will impact their work. The content was inspiring and insightful. Here are five quotes that stood out to me from keynote and concurrent sessions I attended. Those quotes are all great, but I especially like the idea of “disrupting distraction.” Isn't that what we’re all called to do? Looking for messages, strategies and connections that break through the daily noise of our work an ..read more

After months of having the date circled on my calendar, the SHSMD Connections conference is coming up in just one! Going to industry conferences is always a fun experience, but it can be even better when you plan ahead for how you’ll get the most out of your time. Here are some simple things to remember before and during the conference. What to do before you get there Download the event app. Check your email for instructions. Share your plans to attend! Spread the word using the hashtag #SHSMD23 and the social media toolkit. Sign up for a 15-minute, one-on-one LinkedIn profile audit with Rach ..read more

Perfect is the enemy of the good. We’ve all heard some version of that advice. Yet, we often fail to heed it with predictably negative results ensuing. Disappointment and disillusionment being the most common. Don’t let this happen to you. Fight it. I was thinking about our unhealthy obsession with perfection while recently surfing LinkedIn. This is what I saw people doing: Dismissing solutions because they only make minor progress to solving a major problem. Looking for the “perfect” job. Looking to hire the “perfect” candidate for a job – often called searching for a unicorn. I’m betting t ..read more