Today is the HIMSS conference kick off. I spent my morning learning and my afternoon doing laps (of the 1 million sq ft of show floor). I took 30 companies off my 100 company hit list and have the sore feet to show for it.
The bus drop off
The lobby off the side door
The main lobby from the 3rd floor and along the length of the conference wing. Yes the dots are people.
I interviewed companies in patient education, practice management and distributed information exchanges. We may have some content partners who are also very eager to partner with us based on our efforts. I had a good talk with the creators of Iguana, the HL7 integration application firm in Ottawa we have recommended on past projects. They are really from New Zealand. Not being technical we exchanged pleasantries and discussed the needs for our technical teams to reconnect.
I also discussed the clinical informatics degree programs with several US universities who offer them as masters and PhD programs. These programs are critical to our future credibility in this market.
Totally unrelated, but there are a lot of nurses here. I have moved up a generation as only the older ones start conversation or want a staring contest. I am flattered and saddened at the same time. Heather doesn't have to worry about a thing though, as she knows I am the lucky one in our marriage.
Anyway, today, I attended a couple of receptions. At lunch, I met more Canadians. DFAIT was trying to have successful firms brief the rest of us. Being Canadians, they shared nothing of value with fellow Canadians they view as competition.
Before dinner, we met up again at the CHITTA event we sponsored in part. There were 600 in attendance. We all hoped real customers would leave the convention center, walk across a busy freeway, and come meet and be worked over by foreigners. Just kidding. Some did. But really I met more Canadians, including a health informatics company working in Calgary with their health region. I reconnected with a series of Edmonton folks I had not seen in months. We discussed the pending provincial election, what everyone was doing so far from home and what the good things to experience in town are.
I left that reception early to walk a mile to another hotel next to the opposite end of the conference centre to meet a driver to have dinner with some of the folks from yesterday's fair. It was a good meal. We were clearly being worked over by the law firm that organized the venture fair we attended Sunday. We have more follow up with a few of the parties around the table.
The restaurant we went to was fabulous - Chathams Place. Small portions, great dishes. I had a killer beef carpattio to start, followed by the grouper in a light egg batter with asparagus. Yum. The company was also great. Interesting people doing interesting things.
From dinner, I was driven back to the hotel where it is a balmy 20C outside. I could chew the air though. It is so humid that a fog forms in early evening that lasts to mid morning.
There is also enough wild swamp around that street lights are not very dense. Hotels seem to rise out of a forest, like some Aztec ruin on a Disney trip. I thought about walking back to the hotel from the conference yesterday, but on the bus ride back, I thought I saw something moving in the water filled ditch. Since there are no sidewalks, I thought it prudent I bus it the three blocks.
Well, it is after midnight here now. I have to attend the new members breakfast in 6 hours. Better get some sleep.
Here are a few shots (though they do little to convey the sense of scale):
A 3rd of the East conference Centre wing which is 4 stories tall at the short part of the roof (I am in the West Wing, which is smaller).
The bus drop offThe lobby off the side door
The main lobby from the 3rd floor and along the length of the conference wing. Yes the dots are people.
I interviewed companies in patient education, practice management and distributed information exchanges. We may have some content partners who are also very eager to partner with us based on our efforts. I had a good talk with the creators of Iguana, the HL7 integration application firm in Ottawa we have recommended on past projects. They are really from New Zealand. Not being technical we exchanged pleasantries and discussed the needs for our technical teams to reconnect.
I also discussed the clinical informatics degree programs with several US universities who offer them as masters and PhD programs. These programs are critical to our future credibility in this market.
Totally unrelated, but there are a lot of nurses here. I have moved up a generation as only the older ones start conversation or want a staring contest. I am flattered and saddened at the same time. Heather doesn't have to worry about a thing though, as she knows I am the lucky one in our marriage.
Anyway, today, I attended a couple of receptions. At lunch, I met more Canadians. DFAIT was trying to have successful firms brief the rest of us. Being Canadians, they shared nothing of value with fellow Canadians they view as competition.
Before dinner, we met up again at the CHITTA event we sponsored in part. There were 600 in attendance. We all hoped real customers would leave the convention center, walk across a busy freeway, and come meet and be worked over by foreigners. Just kidding. Some did. But really I met more Canadians, including a health informatics company working in Calgary with their health region. I reconnected with a series of Edmonton folks I had not seen in months. We discussed the pending provincial election, what everyone was doing so far from home and what the good things to experience in town are.
I left that reception early to walk a mile to another hotel next to the opposite end of the conference centre to meet a driver to have dinner with some of the folks from yesterday's fair. It was a good meal. We were clearly being worked over by the law firm that organized the venture fair we attended Sunday. We have more follow up with a few of the parties around the table.
The restaurant we went to was fabulous - Chathams Place. Small portions, great dishes. I had a killer beef carpattio to start, followed by the grouper in a light egg batter with asparagus. Yum. The company was also great. Interesting people doing interesting things.
From dinner, I was driven back to the hotel where it is a balmy 20C outside. I could chew the air though. It is so humid that a fog forms in early evening that lasts to mid morning.
There is also enough wild swamp around that street lights are not very dense. Hotels seem to rise out of a forest, like some Aztec ruin on a Disney trip. I thought about walking back to the hotel from the conference yesterday, but on the bus ride back, I thought I saw something moving in the water filled ditch. Since there are no sidewalks, I thought it prudent I bus it the three blocks.
Well, it is after midnight here now. I have to attend the new members breakfast in 6 hours. Better get some sleep.
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