“I have a lot of meetings set for HIMSS, but I’m not totally booked,” Nancy said, a bit sheepishly.
“That’s fine,” I said. “I’m sure you’ll run into folks here and there and have some good conversations.”
“Whew. I’m glad you understand. In some of my past jobs, if you didn’t have a meeting every 30 minutes from the time the exhibit hall opened to the time it closed, and even beyond that, you were in real trouble,” she said.
Interestingly, it used to be the same way on the editorial side, with our publisher expecting (actually demanding) that writers meet with vendors (aka, prospective advertisers) every 30 minutes from morning until night. I can specifically remember being berated in a conference room before the show for questioning the wisdom of this policy.
And we all know the results of that policy: everyone running around HIMSS — from the exhibit hall to the press room and back again — like chickens with their heads cut off (a rather unpleasant image now that I think about it). And so when I was in a position to decide how we’d approach the show, I took things down about 10 notches.
What is Kate doing at the show? To be honest, I don’t exactly know — not from an hour-to-hour perspective, and I don’t really want to know. Kate is professional enough to take the mandate of “get the most bang you can out of this show for the T&E buck we’re investing in it” and go from there. I’m guessing she’ll be catching some sessions (either featuring folks she’s spoken to or wants to speak to) or grabbing coffee with people who fit the same description. She’ll, in short, be strengthening existing relationships and forging new ones.
On the sales side, Nancy will focus on personally thanking the sponsors who’ve supported us in the past and those who continue to do so. She’ll also have some meetings with new folks who are interested in what we do and want to know more in the rare one-on-one sit-down environment HIMSS offers.
For my part, I’ve got a few meetings here and there, and I’ve got some time to just hang around the press room where I always see lots of familiar faces and have many great conversations.
The point is that our goals for the show are modest, and not only does that make them more attainable, but it makes us appear much more professional as we go about them. We all know the sight of the harried attendee:
- “I’m late for my next meeting!”
- “I thought we were going to meet in the press room, but maybe they wanted to meet at their booth. And what is their booth number anyway? Oh my God, it’s on the other side of the conference center!”
- “Who set up this next meeting? Was it the person I’m taking to? Inside PR? Outside PR?”
- “Who just texted me? I don’t recognize that number?”
- “I didn’t get to eat yet today, and I’m feeling light-headed.”
That person, you see, does not inspire confidence. “I don’t think I’ll hitch my wagon to his star,” a prospective interviewee or customer might think.
And so, if I can give any HIMSS advice after reaching my 11th, it’s that you can accomplish much at the show if you just take it a little bit easy and calm down. Enjoy it, enjoy actually seeing the great people in this industry we have a privilege to work with. Enjoy being out of your daily commute and your usual routine and have a good time. Let serendipity play a role as you run into so-and-so only because you made a wrong turn on your way to the food court and, if you’re smart, take a few minutes to chat. Hopefully your schedule will allow it.
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