The HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition is the country’s leading healthcare information and technology conference. It’s held in a different location every year. With speakers, education sessions, and events, as well as the trade show, attendees stay busy every moment of its five-day run. In 2023 HIMSS will take place from April 17 to 23 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, IL.
Why Exhibit At the HIMSS Conference?
The HIMSS Conference is a massive global health conference that attracts tens of thousands of attendees and over 1,000 exhibitors every year. In 2022 the event brought together more than 28,000 attendees from 115 countries, along with over 1,000 exhibitors. It’s packed with people and opportunities for attendees and exhibitors alike.
HIMSS is the country’s biggest and most prestigious health information technology conference. As such, it’s well-attended by professionals in the healthcare industry sector. Attendees include:
- Clinicians
- Executives and senior management
- IT professionals
- Government officials
- Analysts
- Innovators
- Investors
That’s along with the market suppliers who exhibit! Attendees come from all over the world to learn and connect, making HIMSS Global one to add to the calendar.
A wide range of businesses can take advantage of the exhibitor opportunities on offer at HIMSS23. It’s a great place to forge new business relationships, and strengthen existing ones. Network with industry peers, feel out the competition, source new leads or find investors, launch a new product, or raise your brand visibility.
Hybrid in 2022
In 2022 the HIMSS Conference went hybrid, with attendees having the option to attend in person or virtually. The HIMMS digital content program included keynotes, briefings, networking, and education sessions, all made available online, on-demand.
The HIMSS Event Content Line-Up
The HIMSS annual event typically features hundreds of education sessions, special programs, and networking events, keeping attendees busy all week long. In 2023 topics will include everything from digital health transformation to cybersecurity to AI, telehealth, and more.
Content programs generally on offer at the HIMSS Conference include:
- Executive experiences
- Clinician roundtables
- International summits
- Investment and entrepreneurship
- Keynote speakers
- Preconference symposia and forums
- Specialty education tracks
- “Views from the top” sessions
Networking events include an awards gala, receptions, and a career expo. There are investment and entrepreneur activities too. These include product and brand launches, demonstrations, and thought-leadership sessions. They are targeted to investors, venture capitalists, private equity firms, and industry analysts.
Education
HIMSS Global offers continuing education credits in over a dozen different professional certifications in healthcare information and management, including CME, CNE, and PDU. In addition, attendees can gain certifications that are unique to HIMSS, including CAHIMSSM, CPHIMSSM, and CPDHTSSM.
Speakers
At HIMSS, keynote addresses are all about innovation, motivation, and inspiration. The roster at the 2023 event is sure to keep everyone talking! Every year, the speaker roster includes inspirational and educational presenters offering insights and perspectives on a wide range of topics.
The 2022 HIMSS keynote lineup included:
- Angela Duckworth, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Character LAB
- Jen Johnson, MBA, former F-16 fighter pilot
- John Mackey, Co-Founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market
- James Murphy, Founder and Chairman of Afterburner
- Scott Pelley, award-winning 60 Minutes correspondent
- Ben Sherwood, former co-chair of Disney Media Networks
- Twenty-eight-time gold medalist Michael Phelps closing out the conference with an inspiring and insightful presentation on mental health and overcoming his own personal challenges
What Should Your Booth Focus On at HIMSS?
In 2022 the HIMSS Conference attracted a total of 1,003 exhibiting companies, occupying 8 different specialty pavilions. Exhibitors came from 115 different countries and included 46 start-ups and 246 first-time exhibitors.
Companies who exhibited at HIMSS22 averaged 175 leads each, demonstrating the huge potential for both seasoned exhibitors and first-timers.
When thinking about booth design, consider the industry you’re exhibiting to, your target audience, and the kinds of industry professionals you’ll meet. At the annual HIMSS event, this typically means executives, IT professionals, and a modest percentage of clinicians. In 2022 the breakdown of professional titles went as follows:
- Information management systems: 27%
- General and financial management: 16%
- C-Suite: 15% – In this category, just over 50% were CEOs, VPs, CIOs, and other leaders.
- Clinical management: 6%
- Consultant: 3%
- Government employees: 2%
- Academics: 1%
To appeal to this crowd, your trade show exhibit should be uncluttered and professional. Focus on providing preliminary information that’s simple, clear, and easy to understand, and be ready to provide more detail for those who request it.
Add an Extra Level
It’s crucial to get clear on what you’ll be using your space for. Ideally, you would have a public space for product demonstrations and a smaller area for private discussion. Double-decker exhibits are now common at this annual conference due to the extra space they provide. This lets you reserve the top floor as a private discussion area. Then the ground floor is free for your sales team to give product demos and interact with visitors.
The second level ensures you don’t waste the vertical height in your exhibit footprint. Branding messages above eye-level are useful because the top third of the space is less heavily populated than the space at ground level. It’s visible from further away too. By using that vertical space, you get the chance to attract the attention of people from anywhere in the exhibit hall.
Take Advantage of Lighting
The HIMSS Global Health Conference is a massive event, with tens of thousands of attendees. It can be hard to stand out from the crowd when that crowd is a vast ocean of people and booths and their attendant signage. Effective use of lighting can help you get the edge. Use spot lighting to highlight your exhibit and help people see you from a distance. Once they’re in your booth, edge lighting and backlighting can help make product displays and branded messages more impactful.
Consider a Specialty Exhibit Area
When you’re planning your booth design, bear in mind that there are specialty exhibit areas in the exhibit hall. In 2022, for instance, there were several specialty pavilions that exhibitors could choose from. These are reserved for exhibits that run along a particular theme, like:
- Patient Engagement 365
- Cybersecurity Command Center
- Innovative Live and Start Up Zone
- Interoperability ShowcaseTM
- Professional Development Campus
These pavilions offer turnkey exhibition options and come with some extra benefits. Exhibitors in these locations can book a 20-minute thought leadership/speaking slot and have extra branding opportunities too.
You may decide it’s prudent to exhibit in one of these specialty pavilions. If so, consider updating the information you provide in your booth—and perhaps the booth itself—to reflect that niche. This doesn’t need to be an expensive prospect. It might be as simple as printing up a modified version of an existing brochure and having a few new panels or banners made for the booth.
In 2022 around one-quarter of HIMSS exhibitors were first-timers, so if you decide to exhibit at this event for the first time, you’ll be in good company!
Don’t Miss Your Opportunity at HIMSS 2023!
Exhibiting at the HMISS Global Conference in Chicago, IL will put you in touch with nearly 30,000 attendees from all over the world in 2023. With that kind of potential to make new contacts and find leads, your business could do amazing things.
When you attend such a big event, it makes sense to work with a trade show company that has venue experience and local contacts and that can help you get the most out of your exhibit experience. Contact the expert team at ProExhibits today!