In 2012 my wife and I traveled to Chicago and took in a Cubs game at Wrigley. As a lifelong baseball fan from Boston, being able to sit in the stands of that museum of a ballpark and immerse myself in the electric atmosphere of that field was something I will never forget. It’s a feeling that is impossible to grasp by sitting on a couch, watching the game on television.
As I travel back to Chicago on October 1st for the SMASH conference, I notice that I have some of those same feelings. While the written word is wonderful and teleconferencing allows us the opportunity to converse with people real time, being in the convention center is an entirely different feel. There is a rush of motivation to bring both yourself and your organization to the next level.
SMASH (Senior Care, Marketing, Sales Summit Headquarters) brings strategic marketing and sales professionals from both for-profit and non-profit senior care organizations together in an exchange of thoughts and visions of regarding the industry.
While some conferences focus on how many people they can bring in the doors, SMASH forgoes quantity for quality. By keeping the conference small, SMASH ensures that participants have direct access to some of the best and brightest minds in marketing and sales.
At this conference of market influencers and industry experts, Creating Results is honored to have been asked to facilitate two expert roundtables:
- The first is on lifestyle marketing; what messages are hitting the mark, what is missing and are you trying to dictate a lifestyle to your consumers or are you listening to what they are telling you they like to do and what they are looking for you to provide?
- The second roundtable focuses on income streams and payer mixes. Who is driving housing changes on campus, finance or marketing? Who are the decision makers and are decisions being made to compliment what your consumers are telling you about your primary marketing area?
Melissa Caravella, a vice president at Creating Results’, and I greatly value the roundtables because they are open conversations with market visionaries. This is not a session where an organization is educating a provider on the best way to move forward; it is an opportunity to learn from one another and see how others might be solving some of the same situations that are impacting your organization.
While we’re not going to be pushing any recommendations during these discussions, it is likely some of the conversation will touch on topics we advanced during a recent webinar – “Leading with Lifestyle.”
If you are going to be heading to SMASH, give me a call at 508-294-6480, would love to take a few minutes to catch up with you in Chicago.