Get Some Bang for Your Buck!

PACSman: One of the best things that our flailing economy has done is to cause both companies and individuals to think twice before spending money. Most companies now have travel restrictions in place requiring nothing short of a papal dispensation before a sales rep can leave home (either that or a 95% chance of closure). Some execs are even trading in their blue suits since amazingly fewer blue suits are now needed to close deals. Buyers are becoming much more price sensitive and would rather have an extra $10-15K off a deal than a decent post-contract signing meal and seeing 5 people who add no value to a sale whatsoever.

Unfortunately these changes are having a ripple down effect on trade shows, with the Medical Records Institutes TEPR (Towards the Electronic Patient Record) show the latest victim. TEPR closed up shop this year after a disappointing turnout, having just over 700 people show up for a show that was promoted as drawing over 2000. So how does this bode for other shows like the RSNA which drew just over 59,000 last year (although only 28,259 professional registrants) and even SIIM which barely broke 800 registrants (1,400 or so including exhibitors although they initially expected 3000)? That all depends on your perspective.”

RSNA registration in 2008 was down 5%, but the reality was much greater than that. By some estimates attendance was down by as much as 20%. Why the discrepancy? It’s just like attending a sold out basketball game - you go there expecting to see every seat filled, yet there are entire sections that look vacant. The turnstile count is really what matters, not registration numbers, especially since, in the case of RSNA, it costs nothing to attend as an RSNA member, so go ahead and register me and if I can make it, great! If not, well, no great loss. What’s funny is many vendors felt that despite the lower attendance numbers that RSNA ’08 was a much better show than in previous years. I would concur. Why? It’s the old quality versus quantity argument. Those in attendance were there for a reason, not just to kick tires, and came with a specific purpose and agenda in mind. Few people had the luxury of spending five leisurely days on the floor - it was get in, get the information that you need, and go home. Whether decisions were made or not remains to be seen, although it seems like a lot more decisions were made post-RSNA than in previous years because the decision makers were there and they were the ones doing the walking and talking.

Interestingly, HIMSS put out the following press release last week that started out this way: “Despite general economic conditions that might suggest otherwise, early registration for the 2009 Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition (HIMSS09) is running ahead of the 2008 trend, which ended with a record 29,174 attendees. Total registration for the conference, which will be held in Chicago in April, stands at 5 percent over this same period of time last year, with non-exhibitor attendance showing an almost 3 percent increase.” Can you imagine what their attendance would be if HIMSS actually acknowledged that PACS exists in healthcare? I, for one, am still waiting. This year, as in year’s past, fewerthan a handful of 200+ presentations being given at HIMSS address PACS (and only one that is non-commercial). But alas, I digress. Next year guys, OK? Just know I’m not holding my breath….

So what about SIIM? I like the people at SIIM and the organization - after all it is the only PACS-centric organization out there - but is SIIM the right venue for exhibitors? Several vendors are asking the same question in recent months, with FujiFilm Medical Systems pulling out of the show yesterday and others scaling back their presence. This was a huge step for Fuji considering that Fuji was the very first corporate member in SIIM (then called SCAR) when SCAR was first established 20 years ago. You can read through all the niceties in the press release, but the reality is you have to go where you get the most bang for your buck.

The targeted attendee for most larger PACS sales is the health care administrator/C-suite and, to a lesser degree, physicians. Maybe a better approach is to aim for quality not quantity. One organization which claims to pursue such an exalted mission is CHIME, which claims to have 1200 healthcare CIOs from across North America as members, but who really knows.

Companies are starting to ask in much louder voices - are there better ways than trade shows - then just going to the same shows and doing what we always have? The answer is an unqualified yes…I’m working with several vendors on ways that they can get the message to their audience without spending the GNP of Tonga doing it either. It’s called marketing 101.

So is all the economic news bad? Not at all. It is causing people to reevaluate what they are doing, how they are doing it, and what needs to be done to get the message through. If it were only that simple in life….