By John Wallace
“The first day was explosive. I ran out of material to give out. This is a great conference,” Maull Biomedical President and CEO Steve Maull said about the recent MD Expo held in Seattle.
MD Expo – the growing must-attend conference for HTM professionals – continues to attract the top businesses, educators and biomeds from throughout the United States. MD Expo Seattle also drew internationally with individuals from Europe, Asia and Canada in attendance.
It was the first visit to the Pacific Northwest for MD Expo, which is directed by MD Publishing and linked with the company’s TechNation magazine, and it most likely will not be the last. Support from the Washington State Biomedical Association and the Oregon Biomedical Association provided a strong base as more than 600 people stopped by the event’s registration desk to pick up credentials.
HealthMed360 President Robert Dakessian said he was impressed with the conference. He attended previous MD Expo events with a different company but had a new perspective this year.
“MD Expo is a place where you can, in real time, get to know the landscape of the industry with the latest and greatest offerings from vendors within the industry,” Dakessian said.
He said the Welcome Reception, sponsored by Select Biomedical and MedWrench, presented a great opportunity to connect with acquaintances after five years away from the HTM world.
The Happy Hour, sponsored by AIV, on the second day of the conference was another great opportunity to re-establish connections with colleagues and add new experts to one’s list of contacts.
The top-flight education was a highlight for many attendees with sessions covering a wide range of pertinent topics, including ultrasound, reporting techniques, cybersecurity, leadership, management and more.
Kelly Proctor from DNV-GL Healthcare added to the educational opportunities with his keynote address “Understanding the Physical Environment Standards.” The keynote was made possible thanks to a sponsorship from Sodexo.
The action in the exhibit hall continued on day two of MD Expo with more valuable interactions and a second consecutive day of raffle prize drawings, including one sponsored by Asimily.
RPI President Ira Lapides, a frequent exhibitor at MD Expo, gave the Seattle conference a positive review.
“The first day was awesome. We had great traffic Saturday and meaningful conversations with customers and potential clients,” Lapides said shortly before the exhibit hall opened on day two of the conference. “It was as good as we’ve ever had. We like the exhibit hall, the hotel, the location and the MD Expo staff has been excellent also.”
Several other companies exhibiting at MD Expo Seattle also reported excellent quality and quantity when asked about exhibit hall traffic.
“The conference has been awesome,” Edna Johnson from Fluke Biomedical said. “Traffic has been great. We had some really good leads with some decision makers.”
“We have had a lot of good leads, a lot of serious prospects,” Vivek Sundaram from Glassbeam said. “We should continue to [exhibit] every year. There are definitely good quality attendees with decision makers and directors.”
The MD Expo Party at Tavern Hall capped off another successful conference with delicious food and an open bar. Attendees and exhibitors networked and shared their thoughts on hot topics and the future of HTM.
MD Publishing will continue to offer conferences for HTM professionals in 2019 with the annual ICE conference slated for February 17-19 in Clearwater, Florida. The spring version of the MD Expo will be held April 10-13 in Houston, Texas. Perioperative professionals are invited to attend the OR Today Live Surgical Conference in Las Vegas on August 18-20.