e-Patient Connections 2009 is a new event in an already-crowded fall season on the healthcare conference circuit. I had already attended Medicine 2.0 in Toronto, Health 2.0 in San Francisco and Connected Health in Boston. So not only did I wonder "Who needs another conference," I wondered seriously about taking more time away from my office at TimeTrade Appointment Systems.
But I decided this one is different: it's a marketing conference (about marketing to patients), and being a marketer and a patient, I decided this would be a place to share my views of how healthcare is changing - patient engagement - in a different context, so I accepted.
Everyone's time slot was half my usual, and it's a puzzle trying to figure out what to say to a new audience. (That's no problem for speakers who say the same thing to everyone including their dry cleaner, but I have this fixation with saying something this audience might find useful.) (I like to get invited back, so it's a good thing when the audience finds value.)
I decided to present my thoughts in the context of one of my favorite topics: authenticity.
(These are just slides - no audio.)
By the way, thanks to Slideboom.com for having the only slide-sharing service I know of that properly handles my complex animations. They're good. I don't know why people keep using services that don't work right.
A fantastic presentation, Dave... I had the privilege of seeing this at ePatient Connections. Extremely uplifting, informative, thoughtful, inspiring... thank you!
ReplyDeleteHey, Krystle, great to see you again! (We did meet at the conference, right?)
ReplyDeleteEveryone, please check out Krystle's site, HealthCentral. Good stuff.
lol... I wish! You were swamped after your presentation and unfortunately I couldn't stay for Day 2 -- tho I think you met my colleague, Diane Bayer, who also spoke! I'm sure we'll meet for real at an event soon!
ReplyDeleteHi Dave!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to personally thank you for talking to me before my presentation on Monday. This is Diane by the way from Health Central as mentioned by Krystle. I was the patient who has MS and talked about my son who has autism.
I thought that your presentation was the very best that day. My favorite quote of yours was "You're time is going to come." It sounds scary but so true. Everyone in that room will...at some point...become a patient.
Was sitting there and wishing you could have talked longer. Your story is absolutely amazing and I have so much respect for you for what you have accomplished in your own life and for what you have done to empower patients.
I am definitely an e-Patient Dave fan!
Great presentation Dave,
ReplyDeleteWish I could have seen it live. Any chance it was taped? It would be nice to see it on youtube.
I am active on patientslikeme.com and I must say it has been a God send. Amazing how fast new information is shared - especially since so many people are frustrated with poor care for poorly understood conditions.
News from the research community over a link to a retrovirus and another treatment option currently under investation at Stanford has spread like wildfire and it has given hope to millions of sufferers.
Keep up the good work!
Julie T.
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteI was at epatcon2009 and saw your presentation though I didn't get a chance to meet you before you left. I'm so glad you are advocating on behalf of online health communities and telling audiences about the empowerment, collective wisdom and support they provide to patients and their caregivers.
I want to thank you for making a special point to tell the audience how underfunded online support communities are and how many struggle to survive. As an online health community manager myself, fundraising (even as a 501(c)(3) charity) has always been a struggle. I know part of it is that those facing health challenges - the members of the communities- are often not the ones in the best position to financial support the communities; and those who do have the means don't understand their true value. I think the conversation about funding online communities is an important one; thanks for opening the door on that dialogue. That one message alone was so important to share.
Lynda, apologies for the delay in releasing this comment - this week was a flood!
ReplyDeleteWhat's your online community?
No prob! Kids With Food Allergies, www.kidswithfoodallergies.org. Our roots date back to 1998 - history is here: http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/history.html. The reason why I mention that is when we launched as a 501(c)(3) in 2005 with our own Web site, we started growing so quickly and had so little funding that we were faced to closing the community to those who paid for a membership, or closing our doors altogether. We chose the former, which slowed down our growth, but also gave us some essential funding to keep our doors open.
ReplyDelete