As a public health care practitioner, consider taking a short retreat to attend a public health conference. Aside from spending time interacting with fellow colleagues, medical and public health conferences provide even more exciting opportunities than you may have anticipated. These conferences are designed to immerse attendees in discussions designed to pique interest and curiosity. They are also an opportunity for you to learn new things to maximize your practice’s exposure and improve your patient’s health care experience.
Public Health Conferences Foster Expert Opinions
Medical conferences foster participation in panel discussions and one-on-one interviews. You can provide your own expert opinion about a topic you find interesting and relate your personal experiences about how to deal with the types of challenges you faced. Conferences encourage attendees to share opinions and experiences that could prove beneficial for a private practice or a facility.
Provide Clear Direction
There are times when learning the newest and latest about a given medical topic is helpful. Seminars that include the basics of office procedures, legal and insurance coverage guidelines, and practitioner/community relationships are more likely to give you the direction you need when considering options. They can explain how your practice could better serve your community in the future. For example, your practice may be having difficulty executing the necessary transitions to comply with new laws and regulations in your country. The right medical conference can provide helpful advice on a particular topic.
Learn about new technology
Technology is taking over the world and public health is not left out. Both in the session rooms and in the expo hall you can find all of the latest and greatest technology in public health and product advancements for your field. You can fill up that conference tote bag with all the samples and information that you can, then sort through it when you get home to take advantage of the special offers that will be of use to your office. Many times, you’ll find discounts or free trials of new products that might be beneficial to your office productivity or in treating your patients/community more effectively.
Networking Opportunities
Public Health conferences were created so peers could exchange ideas and knowledge with one another on a more personal level. Many professionals have found that these conferences open up wonderful opportunities for them to gain valuable connections. They can receive community advice on how to effectively market their services and mission statements via blogs, emails, and social networks.
Attending a health conference can leave a positive impact on your public health career for many years to come. Not only can you find many networking opportunities, but you can also achieve certain business objectives while learning with peers who have similar interests.
The most important thing to have as a public health professional is an open mind. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to learn new things and find additional networking resources for your public health practice.
Tips for Networking At a Public Health Conference
Networking is one of the best reasons to attend a public health conference. One big mistake people may make is to try to meet everyone they can, especially the most important people at the conference. You may have more success with making good contacts if you plan ahead and have a strategy for networking. Some tips are:
- Plan to make five to 10 important contacts rather than hope for a hundred. When the conference is over, you will have a list of people with whom you have begun a relationship. Know your goal before the conference starts. You may be looking for a job, trying to get new customers, or meet others in your field. Once you know your goal, you will be better organized and focused.
- Try to do more listening than talking. While it is important to make a good impression or presentation, it is at least just as important to listen to others, especially those you want to impress. Do some research online about the presenters at the conference or any other people you would like to meet. Most people are impressed if you know something about their business, achievements, and history. You may also consider emailing the people you want to meet before the conference. They will most probably email you back and you will have taken one step towards an introduction.
- Make a schedule of events and plan in advance which presentations or panels you want to attend. According to the timings of events, you can make appointments with people you want to meet. Be sure to dress for the occasion and bring business cards. If you do not have business cards, have some made. Keep them simple with name, address, phone, email, and occupation.
- If you are a student or newly graduated, you may be hesitant to go to a conference and try to connect with the bigwigs. However, most professionals recommend getting over this hesitation early. Even if you do not have a lot to offer, you will get an idea of how things are done. If you start early, you may be in the lead among your peers and competitors.
Attending a public health conference will help you meet others in your field who may come from around the country or around the world. You will definitely increase your contacts and may even increase your skill sets.
