1,000+ Individuals Attend MD Expo Houston
MD Expo, the conference for Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) professionals, continues to grow each year. The first MD Expo of 2019 was the largest one ever with more than 1,000 people in attendance and over 100 exhibitors.
MD Publishing President John Krieg was in awe of the turnout at MD Expo Houston. (MD Publishing is the parent company of TechNation magazine and hosts MD Expo twice annually.)
“When we initially considered Houston as an MD Expo location, we had an idea how big it would be. We knew it was a health care mecca, but not in our wildest expectations did we think we would smash all our previous attendance records,” Krieg said. “Over 650 attendees and 1,200 total is the new benchmark for our conferences. We still drew from over 40 states, but the local and regional influx is what took us to a new level. We are grateful for the rave reviews from both exhibitors and hospitals … We can’t wait to get back to Texas!
“Going into the Houston MD Expo we knew attendance would be good due to the sheer number of hospital systems in the region, but the final attendance, with over 1,000 participants, far exceeded our expectations,” MD Publishing Vice President Kristin Leavoy said. “The attendee and exhibitor support of this event has helped catapult MD Expo to a whole new level and caliber of educational conference!”
Exhibitors and attendees praised MD Expo for the opportunities and support it provides the HTM community.
“That was hands down the best conference I’ve attended, even though with my crazy schedule I missed out on a lot. You all were organized, attendees were incredible and I walked away with more knowledge and understanding of the industry than any other conference I’ve ever attended,” said Amanda Jenkins, Director of Support Services at Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas.
“MD Expo brings the Healthcare Technology Management community and ecosystem together. It provides an invaluable opportunity to connect, share, train and stay up-to-speed with the latest innovation and trends. As a leading HTM solution provider, MD Expo is a unique and welcoming environment to network and engage with the entire community,” Accruent Vice President of Product Marketing Michele Cobb said.
Garrett Seeley, an educator and attendee at MD Expo Houston, could not surpress a smile when talking about the conference.
“First of all, the location is fantastic,” Seeley, a Texas resident said. “I really like how everything was conveniently located. The people who are at the conference make the conference worth attending because they are interactive. They share their experiences and that adds value. It’s the concept of the meeting after the meeting where you able to learn from the experiences of others.”
Medigate’s Mark Jurczak attended MD Expo for the first time and was blown away by the quality of the attendees that flooded the exhibit hall.
“I am very impressed,” Jurczak said. “The right people are here for who we need to see. It seems like everyone we bump into is in our space, in our realm.”
“It’s a real value with the networking,” he added.
Lindsay Frkovich-Nelson, oneSOURCE vice president of sales and marketing, echoed Jurczak.
“My first MD Expo experience was last year in Nashville. This was the third time oneSOURCE has had a presence at the event and our team finds it to be an incredibly valuable opportunity for us to support and connect with the Biomed community – one of the main groups our platform benefits,” Frkovich-Nelson said. “It was just as busy as Nashville. As an exhibitor, we felt that we were really able to take it to the next level this year. It is a bit more intimate than other prominent industry conferences which we find enables us to dive deeper into making personal connections and networking.
She said that the Reverse Expo and Leadership Summit were excellent events.
“There was a healthy mix of students, teachers, technicians and executives. One of the major highlights for us was the Reverse Expo. It’s phenomenal and one of the best events I’ve personally ever attended. At oneSOURCE we understand the impact of one-on-one interaction and face time with clients so having this unique environment with key decision-makers is so powerful,” Frkovich-Nelson said.
Tom Kockler, a sales executive with Technical Life Care, was thrilled with the decision to exhibit at MD Expo.
“I’m most impressed with the overall attendance and with the attendees staying in the exhibit hall,” Kockler said. “The people who came by (our booth) were interested in our products and there were even a lot of decision makers.”
Networking events like the Welcome Reception sponsored by Select Biomedical and MedWrench were popular among attendees and exhibitors. The Happy Hour sponsored by aiv was also a big hit. The exhibit hall lunches sponsored by Ultimate Biomedical Solutions and Accurent also provided venues for quality interaction between HTM professionals.
Kockler said the networking events were a huge benefit.
“We were talking about it last night at supper about how pleased we are with attendance,” he said. “We took in the Happy Hour and the Welcome Reception and both were very well attended and very good.”
Seeley agreed.
“The networking is my favorite part and every other aspect – the education and the exhibit hall – supports networking and because we are a small field networking is important,” Seeley explained.
Jurczak was also pleased to see a good showing for the keynote address Medigate sponsored on Saturday morning.
“This satisfies people’s thirst for knowledge. For a Saturday event, I thought the turnout was great. I was pleasantly surprised for a such a huge turnout,” Jurczak said.
Phyllis White from Harris Health System in Houston said she had a great conference experience.
“I thought it was a very positive experience,” White said. “I was able to network with colleagues and it opened my eyes to what is going on across the nation. You can read about it, but it’s even better to talk in person. It gives you motivation to move forward on an idea.”
The Final Night Party sponsored by Sodexo provided the ultimate conclusion to a great conference with delicious food and drink as well as even more networking opportunities.
Frkovich-Nelson recommends MD Expo to anyone in the HTM industry thinking of attending a conference.
“I would highly encourage a HTM/clinical engineering professional to attend. It’s a distinguished annual gathering that allows you to network with the biomed community and stay on the pulse of trends, emerging technologies, methods and more,” she said.
The next MD Expo will be held this October in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information, visit MDExpoShow.com.