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And engaged. We don't thank our channel sponsors who are investing in our mission to develop the next generation of health leaders. VMware Hillrom, Starbridge Advisors, McAfee and Aruba Networks. Now onto today's show. Today we are joined by the head of Global Conference planning for himss Karen Malone, probably one of the most busy persons on, on the face of the Earth right now.

Uh, and she's gonna share with us some of the preparation that's going on for the HIMSS 21 conference. That is, uh, coming up August, I think it's eighth through the 13th. Welcome to the show, Karen. Thank you, bill. My pleasure to be here. Do I have those dates right? August 8th to the 13th. Yes, the official dates are really August 9th through the 13th, but we have some pre-conference activities.

Folks, several arrivals will start on August 8th, that Sunday. Yes. We used to come early because you have a lot of really good things that go on on the eighth for people to sign up for, but those are over and above the conference. Yeah, and you're right. Generally that's so, and that would normally be on the Sunday, but over the, the past few years we've migrated so that our pre-conference day is really that Monday.

So that Monday will be August 9th in Las Vegas. We actually open with our keynote on the evening of Monday, August 9th. Because we find when we're on the West Coast in Las Vegas, that works really well that we do that because of the time that folks have more time to travel. So we'll open the conference with pre-conference on that Monday the ninth, and then in the evening with the opening keynote, and then segue right into our opening reception right after.

Fantastic. All right. Let's start high level. Because, uh, I mean, there's a lot of things we could talk about, but I figured we we'd start high level. Just tell us about the, the preparations that are going on for the conference and, and what you guys are doing right now. Great question. We have just a little bit going on.

As you, as you referenced previously, this conference, it, it, first of all, when we go back and we think about the conferences, historically it's been in existence for over 60 years. Right. And we've seen tremendous growth over the years. As a matter of fact, I've been with him, . For 24 years, I've been running this event for about 24 years.

So, you know, this of course is the, the largest conference in the industry and it's the first conference that will be held post covid first healthcare conference. Will be held post covid. So we're very excited about that. And you know, there, there will be a lot of eyeballs on this, but there's so much interest as well.

And excitement. We opened registration for example, just over five months ago or, yeah, well at the five months out Mark in March. That's our normal cadence. Generally. We normally open registration about six months out, and we have seen tremendous interest since we've opened registration. Frankly, it's been a little surprising and that our numbers are doing very strong.

They're actually holding on par, if not higher than prior years, and we do expect that we're going to see some slippage just naturally people to know of, of covid and travel bans and things like that. It's also the quality of our registrations. The demographics are very, very strong. For example, we're seeing really strong participation engagement from C-suite much higher than prior years.

So people are anxious to get back out again, and I think we're really starting to see that with our registration numbers. And we're seeing a correlation between our registration numbers and our hotel reservations as well. So that's nice to see that there's that actual correlation and pick up there. We have recognized, of course, this year as we're doing preparations, the many ways that C Ovid 19 pandemic has immensely transformed the health ecosystem and the impact that that's had on everyone throughout the world.

Of course, and of course, in our planning. The global health conference and exhibition and just like everyone else, we have to pivot and we have to look at our new normal that I think will be with us forever now. So we've been doing a lot of planning around that as we're planning to reconnect healthcare professionals around education solutions exhibition, they see as you're planning this, I would imagine normal is not a word that was used that often, I would imagine you were looking at it going, all right, so we know what we did prior to covid, uh, prior to the pandemic.

We know what we were planning to do last year, but you know, this is a new year. It has been 18 months since people have been together and you know, from what I'm hearing from people, they're really chomping at the bit to get back, face-to-face with their peers, have conversations, get back to those discussions that help to really poll the ideas and.

Across the industry, but as you're planning for this, you really don't know what to expect, do you? I mean, there's just so many variables at play. There are many variables and, and you're right. I think folks are ready to get back and see each other and they wanna share their stories. Not only do they wanna see their friends and their peers, but they've got many stories I think that they want to share and get affirmation on or thoughts and just very fascinating conference.

I think we're gonna see throughout the conversations. And you're right. This conference, it's so different. We have added many layers to what's already a complex event, a very complex event. So we've got a new date pattern. For example, we've got a new campus approach that we're rolling out this year with a brand new building that we're going to be one of the very first groups using in Las Vegas.

And then we layer onto that health and safety protocols that we're rolling out in a new digital offering. So we have a, a, a lot of new things that you'll see that yes, of course, adding in all these layers and and complexities that will be making a big difference really this year for us. That is one of the questions that's top of mind for a lot of people.

What, what are the safety protocols? What will they find when they get to Vegas? Yeah. Well, we've gone ahead and we've rolled out a, and it's on our website, our Health and Safety Hub. So we have adopted a vaccination required approach for all attendees, exhibitors, speakers, and him, staff at conference, basically anyone that has a badge, you'll see they, they're, they are required, um, to be vaccinated.

And this in, in practice. What this is gonna mean that all HIMSS attendees, exhibitors, speakers, staff, anyone again with a badge, will have to provide proof of their C Ovid 19 full vaccination in order to gain access to the HIMSS 21 campus and, and get a badge to be able to have access to the exhibit hall education sessions, networking.

For the purposes of right of entry 21, a person is really considered fully vaccinated two weeks a after their second dose in a two dose series of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, and then two weeks after single dose such as Johnson and Johnson. The guidance also applies to the c Ovid 19 vaccines authorized by the within drug administration for emergency use, as well as then those authorized by World Health Organization.

And if an attendee exhibitor speaker, him staff member does not meet these requirements, they're not consider fully vaccinated and they will not be given a badge and they will not be allowed access to areas of conference like the exhibition, education sessions and networking to demonstrate proof of full vaccination.

We're currently working on all those processes and procedures right now, but you will need that for right of entry as I mentioned, and we're evaluating right now, validation solutions. With the focus on keeping things simple for the attendee and meeting their comfort level, making it accessible, but also privacy, preserving technology.

We're really top of mind on that for the importance of maintaining what people think is was really important to them. Their PHI data, for example, I. We will provide attendees, exhibitors, speakers, and exhibitor staff for their guidance. You'll see something come out in the next few weeks on accepted proof and validation solutions, but in effect, we will be providing options, multiple options for people that meet their comfort level on how we, um, can work with them to validate their vaccination.

Yeah, I the.

It wasn't done by the health system. It was done by the health department, and so I got that little done. It's almost, it feels like my birth certificate, like, don't lose this. This is the only validation that you have gotten the vaccine as a IT professional. I wish we had gotten a little further than this.

Some sort of digital, I'm sure you guys will into digital. Yes. Yes, we will. You'll see more information coming out on that in the next two to three weeks, most likely. Yes. So how is this conference going to be different? I, I assume you're gonna do virtual and. Physical onsite. So how's this conference look and tell us a little bit about the virtual experience as well.

Well, honestly, I guess I would answer the question a little bit different. I would say what won't be different this year, truly we're going to have more space in a typical year. We're very tight on space as been a conference. You've seen how it can be, you know, pretty, a lot of people in in, and we keep growing and growing and growing and we've been running outta spaces.

So we've been working very hard with the various cities that we go to. To contract more space. So we've been working with the city of Las Vegas for several years on expansion plans for adjacent convention center space to the Venetian sands. The, the main hub of our, our conference in Las Vegas. We're going to be utilizing three buildings in, in Las Vegas.

So the win right next to the sans Venetian space has more than doubled their convention space. There's a brand new building, I don't know if you're familiar with it, called Caesar's Form. It's directly adjacent to the Sands Convention Center, and it really, actually, it's a brand new building. We're one of the first shows to use it, and it sits right behind here.

It was a big empty parking lot there that no one realized that was there. We're going to be building a connector bridge to get you from that conference center over to the Sands Exhibit Hall and into that building. So we're going to what we're calling a campus approach, which will provide extra space, which couldn't be more timely.

When you think about a year where we wanna offer attendees as many options as possible to feel like when they participate, whether it be an education network or visiting the exhibit floor. That they will see more space for social distancing. Um, we're gonna have much high, much wider aisles on our exhibit floor.

For example, the exhibit floor boots you will see, will not be as close to each other. They will be distanced more. Uh, we will have options in education for room in education rooms for folks to sit in more of a distance area if that's what they're most comfortable with. So having more space and moving to this campus approach, I think is really, couldn't be more timely than it is for us this year.

We're also looking at enhancements to our content conference. We're always looking at what are the hot topics, the buzz things, and we wanna, of course, always remain highly relevant. So we have enhanced coverage around hot topics such as five G, digital therapeutics, really important supply chain, really important this year.

And then digital health transformation across many topics like telehealth, for example, or disease management across populations. And then of course, as we started to mention and speak about our health and safety protocols, as we're rolling those out, we are of the mindset that are, that we wanna take a safety first approach for everyone at conference.

That's our first priority. Will the booths be different? I mean, as I'm walking through there, are there certain guidelines that the, the exhibitors are. Yes, we have provided all of the exhibitors with health and safety protocols, things they need to be doing around cleaning. And in some cases will plexiglass be required, some will have plexiglass, just the design of their boot having PPE available.

So you will find that, yes, the, the boots will definitely have . A little of a different field this year to be a little bit more sensitive and compliant with health and safety and cleanliness in all of the boots and a little bit more distancing within the boots as well. Is there a virtual experience for.

There is, there will. So then if, so, you know, thinking about the layering, so the complexities, right? We've got that. We're take, we're going to a campus approach, more space, brand new building we're gonna be using for the first time this year. As well as then we've got the health and safety protocol. So then you layer on top of that.

The digital content that we'll be rolling out this year, we have a separate team really, that they specialize their expertise in part, they do physical events as well, but their expertise is around planning digital events. So there are Digital Squad, if you will. They're fantastic professionals, and they'll be rolling out on a digital experience since 21 Digital.

Where the programming really will be a unique extension of who's 21. It will not be a replication. It will have some content that you'll see live will be part of the digital environment, maybe 25% or so, but they will be having some of their own unique content as well that really serves really well in a virtual environment.

They will have fantastic keynotes. Some of our keynotes that we will have in the live program will be broadcast. As part of the digital program. And then they'll have some great keynotes that will be not part of the live program, but part of the digital program that will compliment those in the live environment.

And then they'll have several education sessions and dedicated time within their, the digital program to engage with exhibitors. So I'm, I'm going off the script here a little.

What, what's the criteria? Is it relevance? Is it topic based? Is it personality based? How do determine. That's a great question, and right now in, in, we have invitations out for all of our keynote speakers and we're in the process of, for the confirming them, and we hope to be able to, uh, release those in the next week or two.

But it's a pretty rigorous process really each year. Well, we start really with our attendees from the year prior. We ask them, who would you like to see as a keynote speaker or future speaker? So we really do. We mine that list. We look at it and and see if there are any surprises or great ideas there.

And then we talk to some of our volunteers and other members and innovators out in the industry and who are they seeing that are real change makers making a difference, really innovators in the industry. So, and we do a call then kind of to. Some of some of our leaders within the organization and outside the industry and say, who would you recommend we look for?

As you mentioned you, you hit a lot of the key spots. Relevance is really important. Timeliness, is it something that's really hot and timely? For example, we'll be looking to have a. Really great cybersecurity panel at AT conference this year. It's very timely, continues to unfortunately be very timely. So we look at timeliness and then we look at a stare.

What does this speaker really bring to the table? Is it someone that people really will look up to as a leader and want to hear from? And then we also wanna look at a diverse panel from, whether it be from work sites and . Different parts of the industry or demographics, and we always wanna make sure that we, we have a platform that meets all of those, um, needs and requirements.

I'll tell you, regardless of the controversial nature of it, having a president come to HIMSS last year would've been amazing and I think would be phenomenal moving forward. I mean, president Biden has done so much with.

We've had former presidents. I'd love to see the sitting president come and, and really talk about healthcare. I think it would just be a phenomenal starting point for a great conversation. I think. Great point. And we don't disagree. It's something that we work closely with our government relations team, they have great contacts and it's something that we agree completely that we would love and we often do invite, whether it be the sitting president or vice president.

Everyone in Las Vegas, first and foremost, safety first. Right? Our goal would be, I think, to deliver on what our attendees have come to expect from hiss from this event, the HIMS standard of excellence, of really delivering an event that's truly outstanding as high energy and while delivering on all of that, again, keeping folks feeling as safe as possible.

And at the end of the day, really I think what we want attendees to walk away with is to walk away and, and say, wow, that was a great conference and I can't wait until next year. Fantastic. Karen. I know how busy you are. I, I.

And definitely this year getting back together and seeing what you guys have in store is gonna be gonna be really exciting. Looking forward to it. Thank you again. Thank you. My pleasure, bill. Thank you. I really appreciate Karen coming on the show. I, if you're gonna be at HIMS 21, shoot me a note. I have some sponsor commitments throughout the week, but I will likely be doing some interviews and always enjoy the conversations.

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We want to thank our channel sponsors once again who are investing in our mission to develop the next generation of health leaders. VMware Hillrom, Starbridge Advisors, McAfee and Aruba Networks. Thanks for listening. That's all for now.