I woke up early for day one of HIMSS17 Orlando. After a healthy breakfast, Evan Fitzgerald (Fitz) and I left the Paubox compound and caught a shuttle to the convention center.
As it would turn out, I set a dubious personal record for most selfies taken in a day. Couldn’t help! It was a busy day with lots to do.
Like last year’s HIMSS conference, the size and scope is a bit overwhelming at first. With our jackets brimming with business cards, Fitz and I went into #beastmode and descended upon the conference floor. I think he passed out 25 cards in the first half hour!
There were speeches and breakout sessions everywhere.
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GE Healthcare had an impressive array of booths. They also had friendly people and free coffee. Hard to beat that!
@GEHealthcare thanks for the coffee! Good people working your booths #himss17 pic.twitter.com/DFWfQJl1JR
— Hoala Greevy (@HoalaGreevy) February 20, 2017
The Federal Health Architecture booths were interesting, I’d like to stop by again and learn more.
I made a new connection with Dan Price of CloudMine. Turns out we have mutual friends as well.
I stopped by the CoverMyMeds booth to say hi to a couple friends that work there. Wassup Amelia and Ryan!
HIMSS17 Orlando – Booth Magnets
The name of the game at HIMSS17 is to get people to stop by at your booth. Here were some booths that had clever ways of doing that.
A revenue cycle management company had a drawing for the Coolest Cooler. The woman running the booth, Rustin, demonstrated how it could even make you a margarita. I happily dropped my card in the bowl for a chance to win.
The HP Enterprise booth had by far the best magnet- A swirling cash machine.
After discovering there weren’t many rules to the contest, I optimized my setup. 15 seconds later, I emerged with $238. I believe it’s a HIMSS17 conference record =)
With my winnings, I got to choose one of three charities to give it to. I asked one of the HP women who she’d pick and she mentioned the Ronald McDonald House Charities wasn’t getting much love for the day, so I directed my $238 to them.
I didn’t get the name of the company that was giving away free massages, probably because I was so busy taking pics of their setup. Pretty clever.
HIMSS17 Orlando – Friends I ran into
I had a nice chat with HIMSS legend Nick Steinbach of Dimension Data. Steinbach is a big part of HIMSS NorCal.
Our friends and 500 Startups batch mates Chinmay and Sharad of SimplifiMed were busy working their booth. I’ll catch up with them tomorrow.
@SimplifiMed putting in work! @HIMSS #himss17 pic.twitter.com/btG6ZHhcWk
— Hoala Greevy (@HoalaGreevy) February 20, 2017
I ran into our friends Lan Nguyen and Greg Hunter of ManageUP PRM. Lan was a panelist on a fireside chat we recently hosted. Good people and cool socks!
HCP Social Mixer – HIMSS17 Orlando
As day 1 of HIMSS17 Orlando came to a close, I attended a social mixer held by Health Connect Partners. We attended their HCP Chicago Conference last fall.
It was nice catching up with Chris Cramer of Health Connect Partners. He has an impressive memory of people’s names. He introduced me to TJ Bauer of SMS. TJ and his co-worker Chris Hunt were chill.
Old school salesman Charlie Salah was there, dropping some knowledge on our team. Mahalo Charlie!
Team @PauboxHQ learning from Charlie Salah #himss17 pic.twitter.com/Zf9WVBXr6U
— Hoala Greevy (@HoalaGreevy) February 20, 2017
I brought a couple beverages over to the booth next to HCP, they were stoked. We hope Julie, Allie and Jenny attend our social mixer tonight.
HIMSS17 After Party – Orena
At this point I was approaching delirious. On my feet all day, not much food. We ended up at a cool sports bar called Orena with Lan and Greg of ManageUP.
On the menu was a plate of 50 chicken wings for $44. We of course got the 50 wings.
We ran into Prashant Natarajan, whom I had seen moderate a panel at the Norcal HIMSS Innovation Showcase Conference we attended in January. Turns out it was his birthday, so we bought him a birthday shot. He was passionately enthused.
We finished off the night playing Jenga at Orena. We put a spin on the rules and required each contestant to hold their beverage while playing. Lots of fun!
SEE ALSO: HIMSS 2017 – My Takeaways (Day 3)
SEE ALSO: HIMSS17 Orlando – Our Social Mixer (Day 2)
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SEE ALSO: Eleven Hours in the Air – Our Journey to HIMSS17
