Can I promote my product or service here?
Y es, you can promote your product or service here, whether you are an individual or an organization, whether you are a consultant, practitioner, administrator, educator, researcher, author, speaker or whether you manufacture healthcare or healthcare related products or whether you deliver healthcare services. In fact, an essential part of the Conference's mandate is to provide individuals and organizations with a space where they can inform healthcare professionals about the products they create and the services they deliver.
You can promote your product or service in a number of ways:
The first is to take out a Presentation page. This will allow you to present your product or service including what it is, what it does, how it came to be, what makes it unique, different or essential, ... A Presentation page is not an advertisement in disguise... it is an educational piece designed to do just that... inform and educate Conference visitors and participants who, for the most part and in most instances, will not 'already' be familiar with your product or service.
Specifically, a Presentation page offers you the unique opportunity to:
- describe your product or service
- describe how it works / what it does
- list its benefits and features
- post illustrations
- post photos
- post a video
- publish case studies
- publish charts, figures, tables
Building on your presentation page, the next step to further engage Conference visitors and participants and fully showcase your product or service is to take out a Product or Service page. Product and Service pages are designed to allow you to 'promote' (as opposed to 'inform') your product or service with a view to prompting Conference visitors and participants to position your product and service in the minds of Conference visitors and participatns as as part of their list of resources so that your product and service is memorable and is easy to find when the need arises.
What kinds of products or services can I promote here?
A simpler way of answering this question would be to describe the types of products or services which would probably NOT benefit from being promoted on the Conference site. Those would be products and services with a very limited or narrow application, in other words, products or services which are designed for and only used by a very specific group of healthcare professionals operating in only one sector or discipline ( for example surgical instruments, wound care products, oxygen tanks, etc.) On the other hand, if advances in the design of these products are revolutioninzing the delivery of care then a presentation to describe these changes would be approprate and encouraged, keeping in mind that the Conference is designed to share, advance and leverage healthcare knowledge across sectors, disciplines and philosophies.
Products and services which can be used by a range, or cross-section of healthcare professionals, across sectors, and disiplines are best suited for the Conference visitors and participants who come from a wide and diverse spectrum of healthcare sectors and disciplines. Promoting on the Conference is an ideal opportunity to 'tap into' new and wider healthcare professional audiences.
Can I advertise here?
T he Conference does not offer traditional website advertising (meaning banner and tower ads which typically link directly to the advertiser's website). The reason is simple. Traditional advertising simply isn't as effective as it may have been 'once upon a time' and advertisers themselves admit to this. And more importantly we believe that this form of advertising is irritating, distracting and in many cases diminishes the value of presenters' work. Therefore we see little value in offering traditional advertising opportunities ie. banner and tower ads, which types of ads reportedly generate mediocre results more often than not. What we do know, on the other hand, is that Conference visitors and participants are eager to learn not only about interesting work currently underway in other sectors and disciplines but also the products and services that 'come out' of this work. And so we favor product and service information and communication 'in lieu of ' traditional advertising.
In short ... The Conference does NOT offer tower and banner ad space; what the Conference offers, instead, is custom designed promotion oriented webspace in the form of Product and Service pages.
How many people come here?
"We tend to overvalue the things we can measure, and undervalue the things we cannot" - John Hayes, CMO - American Express (taken from Charlene Li's book titled "Open Leadership")
The question of metrics, specifically: "How many people visit the Conference?" comes up daily. The short answer is - thousands. November 2010, for example, we received over 630,000 page requests.
We mention last count because our attention is focussed on building a Conference site which showcases substantive, innovative and meaningful work worldwide, and one which puts the spotlight on the people behind the work. We're interested in steady, sustained growth (which we are gratified to see happening) because we are building something which is much bigger than any of us and one which we hope will be testament and living legacy to remarkable professionals working in healthcare.
We also believe that in this digital world most sites have been reduced to 'number of hits', and that number of hits has become synonymous with engagement. We make a very clear distinction between the two. The Conference visitors and participants are an interested and engaged audience who value what the Conference offers and who see it as a place to raise the impact of their work and place to find other professionals involved in meaningful work which may have applicability for them professionally and personally.
That said, the question "How many visitors..." obscures much more important, qualitative questions including:
- Who comes here?
- How often?
- And, why?
Whereas many sites are frequented by 'tire-kickers' and 'window-shoppers' the people who visit the Conference are repeat visitors, engaged healthcare professionals who come to the Conference regularly to keep informed about what is happening in healthcare AND take away transferable knowledge, as well as, expand their list of resources.
What are the presentations about?
P resentations are on a wide range of topics from childhood obesity to depression in later life, from mental health to geriatric care, from traditional to alternative methodologies and therapies. Presentations look at work under way, methodologies under development as well as the application of academic research and the development of new products and services.
Whatever the sector or discipline you are working in, if you are doing interesting, unusual or unique work, or if it is interesting and applicable to other healthcare settings ... you need to present here so that healthcare professionals around the corner and around the world can learn all about what it is that you do.
We look for presentations on innovative, critical and significant work in healthcare, whether in the planning stages or underway; work which has made, is making, or is expected to make a significant contribution to clinical practice, system administration, education, research or planning, in all sectors of healthcare and for all populations. The same holds true for products and services.
Why do people come here?
H ealthcare professionals (clinicians, administrators, academics, architects, economists, educators, policy makers, government, researchers, industry, etc.) from all disciplines, across all healthcare sectors, consultants, organizations and businesses come to the Conference to learn about innovative and significant work underway in healthcare which may be applicable to them professionally or personally. Coming to the Conference enables them to not only learn about work underway across sectors, disciplines and philosophies but also, and as importantly, to learn about products and services currently available or under development.
What is Whois?
W hois? is the Conference's worldwide registry of healthcare professionals and contains the names of presenters alongside those of registered participants. Each Whois? entry includes contextual background information on each entrant such as: skills, knowledge, and expertise (as provided by the entrant).
Why is the address '.ca'?
T he .ca (as opposed to .com) domain was chosen for a couple of reasons:. Firstly, .com is typically used for 'commercial ' sites and the Conference was not created as a commercial site (although financial self-sufficiency is a key goal). In fact, the Conference is rooted in a social entrepreneurship buiness model. It functions as a public service platform by making healthcare knowledge accessible, widely available and free. Yet it is financially viable by offering specialized commercial services to enable the functioning of the public service platform. Secondly, the Conference originated in Canada, a country which has actively supported a publicly funded health care system for decades, and so the .ca domain extension appeared a more natural choice consistent with its self-proclaimed public-service mandate. It is an internationally focused healthcare conference rooted in Canada.
Do I need to register?
R egistration is optional. All presentation materials including written presentations, documents in pdf form, videos, slide presentations and shows, audio tracks, photo albums, workbooks, blogs, as well as all Exhibitor pages, are viewable by all Conference site visitors - free-of-charge... No login required !
Conference visitors who wish to be kept informed of new presentations, upcoming presentations and events, will be able to do so by registering and providing an e-mail address. Registered participants, in turn, receive monthly emails highlighting key presenters for that specific month..
The registration process is simple and straightforward. Click on register and proceed from there OR send us an e-mail asking us to register you as a participant and indicating whether you would like your name and bio to be entered in Whois? (or not). We ask that you provide us with a bio / profile and portrait photo of yourself, to be published under your Whois? entry (bio not to exceed 400 words, please).
Who are the 'people that matter'?
T he 'people that matter' as we refer to them from time to time and place to place on the Conference site are people whose interest in a presenters work is more than casual. The fact is that the internet is populated with 'surfers' who jump from site to site, often times without even spending a few moments to read any part of the site's content. We refer to these people as 'tire-kickers' and 'window-shoppers'. While their numbers add to site metrics they are not part of an engaged audience. Therefore we do not seek or encourage this kind of visit.
On the other hand, healthcare professionals around the world number in the millions and many if not most of them have a serious interest in what Conference presenters have to say. They are ... serious and engaged visitors.
How long has the Conference been around?
T The Conference is designed by healthcare professionsals for healthcare professionals. The first presentations were published in early 2007 after the Conference co-founders had invested two years researching and developing the site concept and from there building the actual Conference site. From 2007 on, presentations have been made on a regular basis averaging of 1 to 2 a week.
Who is behind the Conference?
T he primary co-founder is Gloria Lattanzio who currently hold the position of CEO (Chief Executive Organizer) a position in which she is responsible and oversees all aspects of the Conference.
Gloria brings to the Conference over 30 years of experience in healthcare. She has a rich, varied and extensive background in clinical work, administration, strategy and policy. Gloria has lead many successful initiatives ranging from small innovative programs, to large scale complex projects resulting in transformative health system redesign.
Gloria's co-founder, Claude la France, who has extensive experience in business including business design, startup, finance, currently holds the title of CVO (Chief Visionary Officer) and as such focuses the bulk of his creative energy on where the Conference is and needs to go.
What is 'Login2Win'?
O n occasion the Conference holds a monthly draw. All registered Conference visitors who login at least once during that month will have their names automatically entered in the monthly draw. Typically the draw showcases a book, product or services featured on the site by one of the presenters. For more information on the Draw Rules and Regulations please click here.
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