This past week, the Bernard HODES Group exhibited at the annual conference of the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development (SHSMD) held in Orlando, Florida. As we know, many associations and conferences have experienced at least a 20% decline in their attendance, however SHSMD only had a 17% decrease in their number of final attendees (over 700) and they had the most exhibitors they have ever had—over 120!! Steve Mitchell, Christina Tierney and Judith Russell manned the booth and attended some of the sessions. The keynote session that created the most “chatter” was the founder of the company “Life is Good.” He had a very interesting story to tell about the startup of his company.When some attendees were asked what their CEO’s are most concerned about, attendees cited costs first, then keeping physicians engaged (not losing market share) and finally, maintaining patient satisfaction at a high level.Many attendees stopped by to discuss social media, especially since this is a very hot topic right now. They expressed the need for more strategic thinking and planning around this and benchmarking what their current online brand actually is. Christina circulated throughout this conference to actually interview some of the attendees. Please check these out:

Expo Floor Interview Janet with Witt Keifer SHSMD 2009

Shannon C Isom, Associate Director Marketing and Community Relations, Scott & White, Austin, TX

Diane Weathers, Sr. VP University Advancement & Communications, University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey

Kathleen Dean, Marketing & Communication, Oregon Health & Science, University of Portland, OR

Judith Russell, VP Client Solutions Healthcare Division

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