The Art of Making a Room Feel Human with Mike Mosquito and Maureen Nylin

0:00Maureen Nylin: So what I'm going to do is be a little bit of an instigator and say that technology isn't as much of the differentiator any longer. What it really comes down to is people are buying from people that they like and they trust because technology is moving faster. Anybody can create it at this point.

0:25Mike Mosquito: Welcome back to the Health Tech Marketing Show. I'm Adam Chirina, CEO of Health Launchpad, the pipeline growth company for B2B healthcare. This is part two of our series, The Intimacy Shift. In part one, Megan Antonelli from Health Impact walked us through how she builds the room. She starts with the problem that buyers are trying to solve, curating the right people around it and holding the vendors to a standard where teaching beats pitching every time. It is the strategist's view of why intimate events work. Today, we're going to flip to what happens once people are actually in that room. My guests are Mike Mosquito and Maureen Nylin.

1:14Mike Mosquito: They're the duo behind the Bod Buzz podcast, and they've become the people event organizers call when they want a room to feel less like a trade show and more like a reunion. This episode is called The Art of Making a Room Feel Human. And we get into why buyers are craving intimacy over transactions. They're going to go into the real art of facilitation and how they take a single night's energy and can turn it into 50 ,000 LinkedIn impressions. If you haven't already, go back and catch part one with Megan Antonelli. It sets up everything we talk about today. And if you like what you're hearing, please subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

2:03Mike Mosquito: Thank you to Healthcare Now Radio for putting this show in front of the healthcare marketing community. And especially a big shout out to Roberta and Carol, who keep the trains running at Healthcare Now Radio. Let's get into it and meet Mike and Maureen. Mike and Maureen, I am so pleased to have you on the show. I think I've known about you guys and followed your podcast for a while, but I remember having a wonderful chat with you both at the last chime and getting to know you both. And I've wanted to have you on the show for a while. And I think we're going to be talking about one of the issues, which I think is one of the hottest issues in healthcare technology marketing.

2:46Mike Mosquito: And it's what's happening in the event space and how more intimate, smaller events are making such a difference. Now, before we get into it, I want to hear your stories. You guys are so unique in this industry. So please chime in. If you want to go ladies first, I don't know. We'll be sure.

3:07Maureen Nylin: All right. Well, again, Adam, thank you so much for having us on here. I was telling you previously, and I want all of the listeners to hear, it's just such an honor to be a part of your podcast because you also are someone that I follow and listen to. So how exciting it is just to be in your presence today. But I am Maureen Nyleen. I'm actually a registered nurse by background. and Mike and I met at Chime CIO Bootcamp a few years ago. I think it's been maybe four or five. I've started to lose track of time.

3:39Mike Mosquito: You're blowing them up now.

3:40Maureen Nylin: Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I didn't necessarily plan on going into the IT space, but found myself there and really found a love for it and knew that the clinician's voice is just a very impactful voice that needs to be present in the room, especially when decisions are being made. And so I just haven't been able to leave it. And then, of course, finding Mike, I found a whole other side to health care that I had no idea existed. And we've been having a blast ever since.

4:09Mike Mosquito: Definitely. And I'm Mike Mosquito. I am the guy that Maureen keeps out of trouble. And it has been a pleasure. Adam, again, thank you again. Again, I reiterate what Maureen was saying. It's a pleasure to be on your show. You and I have been around each other around this industry for quite some time now. And it's always a pleasure to see you right next to us as we're on the show floor of podcasting. So it's great to be here on the show with you. Again, myself, I am a technologist, former executive across several industries, an advisor consultant, but now we're using our other sets of tools in different ways.

4:40Mike Mosquito: And it's been a pleasure to be able to find that in such a wonderful lady being Maureen, where we actually get to make this magic together happen. So it's nice. Very nice. So let's talk a little bit about the premise of this particular episode. There's a clear shift happening in health tech. So the large events are still important, but there's a huge growth and particular growth in importance of these smaller, curated, community-driven events. But not all of them are as good as each other. There are some where real relationships get built and people can point back to deals that were made and long-term relationships, business partnerships are cemented and point back to those events.

5:21Mike Mosquito: but there are also a lot of others that are really not that great. They may just feel like a scaled-down version of a traditional trade show. Now, you've both got a rare perspective because, first of all, you've both been on the buyer side, right? I mean, you've both been missions and have IT executives. So you've been on the receiving end of being sold to. and so I'm really curious to get your perspective on that but you're also in what you do with the buzz podcast and all the other things that you do is you're the instigators in these things I mean people bring you in to really make these events sing and they're right to do I'm sure if we do if we were to have an event like that I'd want you guys to come in and do this so let's start with the first one, which is from the perspective of the buyers, why is this trend happening?

6:17Mike Mosquito: What is it about these intimate events that's of value to them? I'll give you a perspective here, Adam. You're 100 % correct. The larger ones are still going on, but the intimate events are building a relationship first. You get to learn about someone in those very close-knit intimate engagements where you're looking at, you're sitting next to this person for a day and a half. You're getting to learn about them personally, their kids' names, what they like to do, off hours. So you're really getting engaged with them at a very personal level first, before you're just walking across a trade show, looking at a badge, looking for a title, shoving your hand in their face and offering them a steak dinner that night, which is very impersonal.

6:59Mike Mosquito: And so I think the influence took off because the CIOs, CXOs of the healthcare space found a way for them to be educated because they need to be educated and there's never enough education around the technology that's coming out. So they found a way to do that in short form in very intimate settings and being able to do that, whether it's future care spaces, health impacts, what's happening with Bluebird leaders, our events, our buzzed after dark events, our collaborative events with our partners. These are bringing folks together in a very intimate space for them to learn about each other and build a relationship first because you're not sending emails anymore introducing yourself.

7:38Mike Mosquito: That just doesn't happen. And so now it's about how do I get to know you before I have the opportunity to sell to you? I think that's the attraction to a lot of these interviews.

7:49Maureen Nylin: Yeah, I want to piggyback off of something you said, Mike. It reminded me of just being at a recent large trade show. I'm not going to say who. but you find that as a woman, you have a very different experience. And when you see someone approach you and the very first thing that they do is look down at your badge in order to make a judgment call as to whether or not you're worthy of their time. There's two things in a woman that happens. First of all, that female instinct kicks in and says, oh, I'm worthy. You don't need to look. And the second one is my eyes are up here, guys. And so I think that it's just such a good point of we almost dehumanize the experience of being a person first.

8:39Maureen Nylin: And to what Mike was saying, it all comes back to you've got to create that relationship with the person. And that makes such a significant difference in terms of buying. So what I'm going to do is be a little bit of an instigator and say that technology isn't as much of the differentiator any longer. What it really comes down to is people are buying from people that they like and they trust because technology is moving faster. Anybody can create it at this point, Adam. We found that there's wild success stories in pockets all over healthcare, where people who are inspired to invite change into an organization are using codecs or Claude in order to be able to move the meter.

9:26Maureen Nylin: And that's, it's fantastic. But when you think about that, that's really where it comes back to of, we've got to have these really powerful relationships.

9:35Mike Mosquito: I so agree with you. You know, I spent a couple of decades of my life in professional services working for an agency. Some people might say the word professional with agencies is a bit new. I would take that personally. And then I moved into, in the agency space, as in any other aspect of professional services, the relationship that you have with your clients is absolutely critical. It's as important as the product of whatever it is that your professional services firm is doing. When I moved into software, I thought, well, you know what, all that time that I learned how to develop relationships and to build trust is just not going to be that relevant in software because it's much more transactional.

10:15Mike Mosquito: Boy, did I find out that that was wrong. And, you know, it's almost, in many regards, it's almost more important. And I realized why it's that, you know, you're selling to an organization, but at the end of the day, you're actually selling to a person who is putting their career on the line by picking you. And so if it goes wrong, it's personal.

10:38Maureen Nylin: And so

10:39Mike Mosquito: So to your point, that trust and that relationship underpins that. All right. Let's talk about what seems to be your combined superpower, which is you've become the person which event organizers want to have in the room. So tell us a little bit, but tell us a little bit about that. What is it that you do and how do you define your role when you're at these events? Sometimes it's a defined force, Adam. I'll be honest with you. Sometimes we're requested to do certain things that they've seen us do elsewhere. I'll get case in point. We're going to be at Epic's UGM again this year with Nordic. Last year, we were their host for their big party that happens at night.

11:20Mike Mosquito: They'd seen what we've done at several of those shows. Our buzzed after dark events have taken off. The healthcare executives show up. They don't have to wear their badge. They're not going to be accosted with statements of work or POs while they're at our parties. And so they wanted that feel of media and fun to come together at their event. So we show up in our outfits, but also there to take the voice and sound bites. Same thing happens when we're out there last year. We did the Chime event. We were the day four closing act, as we call it, for the game, where Maureen and I are able to control the crowd from the stage and she's actually in the crowd.

12:01Mike Mosquito: And so we're giving you an experience, right? It's not just a talking head on stage. talking about a topic that some, maybe a third of the people we care about, we're interacting with you to one, bring the information that should be shared with you. The speakers that are going to be talking to you, we're bringing that to life. We're bringing energy to that so that this just isn't another talking hit and you forget about that content before you get to the next session. I wasn't at your event at Chime, but I saw the pictures afterwards and I saw the videos and people were just buzzing about it. Just getting to the specifics of like what is it that you were doing what was that whole section of the chime event about yeah that was so much time yeah i was maureen you were in the crowd what was your

12:48Maureen Nylin: experience then i'll tell them from the stage oh i was just clowning around down in the crowd there trying to find the next victim of whomever might have not been paying attention we were just having such a great time, Adam. You know, at the end of the day, you want people to be able to find the value in what was presented. Because let's face it, those vendors have spent a lot of money, and they want to know that that time and that those dollars were well spent. And so hearing from the voice of the provider was really important, I think, for the vendors to know that they had created that meaningful experience for them and that their money had been directed to the right areas.

13:32Maureen Nylin: Yeah. Yeah.

13:33Mike Mosquito: So again, as I wasn't there, what were you doing? Were you basically talking as a provider or were you getting... So I'll give you the Chimers. From the Chimers perspective, we were moderating a game of healthcare. So they'd gone to sessions all day. Our job was to bring that back home around an educational topic. So we're on stage. There are questions asked. Those questions were pertinent to you attending the sessions earlier in the week. And then you won prizes based on getting the correct answer. Maureen's passing out gift cards and money. And there's just a lot buzzing around on that stage.

14:06Mike Mosquito: But our job is to recap that week. I've seen our recaps online if we leave a show. And so we really, we recap live on stage when we were closing out that Chime session. We'll fast forward to this year at HIMSS. This year, we were asked to keynote the executive forum. And so that's where all the CIOs come in early. They're at their breakout. And so we were asked to put two hospitals on stage with us with direct interaction with these CIOs and chief medical officers and talk about mic drop, high value target topics for them. But they were also pertinent to the people in the room. So our job is not to, we don't candy coat.

14:47Mike Mosquito: We don't soft shoot. it. We both have worked in healthcare long enough to know that if you're not breaking something, you're not fixing something. There's a lot of stuff broken. Now it's time to fix it. So we use that mic time to call out those solution providers that are solving problems. And we use the voice of the healthcare provider as a proof point background to support that. It feels to me like you're, if I was to say, well, what is it that Maureen and Mike do? He said, I think they're like the best late night talk show hosts where they are entertaining and knowledgeable in their own way.

15:22Mike Mosquito: So you want to hear them talk, but what they're really good at is getting other people up on stage and drawing them out in a way that they feel like they're giving their best and that they're sharing their insights and that everybody who's watching it has fun experiencing it, but actually takes away something of substance from it. And believe me, I mean, that's an art. That's really difficult to do well. So I can see why you're in demand. We have fun doing it too, Adam.

15:56Maureen Nylin: Yes. I think Mike and I just, we can be so funny just when it's the two of us. I mean, we think we're funny. I don't know if anybody else would find us funny, but We certainly just have a blast together. And I think that translates when we invite someone in to that space because we want them to have as much fun as we're having. And it's such a compliment to hear you say that, Adam. And it's a compliment that we've received from our guests as well when they say, wow, we just had the best experience with you. And that's what we want to create. We want it to be about them. It's really not about us.

16:36Maureen Nylin: And to be able to be a great storyteller really means that you aren't telling your story. You're allowing others to see themselves in what you're saying. And that is the differentiator.

16:49Mike Mosquito: But how did you how did this come about? Is this like a beautiful accident? I'm just kind of curious. that what's the origin story. I'll be honest with you. I will be honest with you, Adam. So our experience of getting to this point, that's a great way to put it. A beautiful accident. She was a bully, I'll be honest with you. She's a nurse. Don't let her sweetness fool you. But we were acting up and we spent some quality time together where Chime puts us together as new colleagues meeting. And I happened to, during our fun evening together, I happened to spend some time with Jess Maureen, she and I talking.

17:21Mike Mosquito: And over the course of these hours, we were, You know, you meet somebody like, man, how have we known each other before? She's able to complete my sentences. Our cadence of talking is very easy. We've had a couple of situations where we were put on stage where the teleprompter wasn't in the right place. I know what her eye cut over to me means. These things started coming together. And what we found is we don't not scripting our podcast have worked out so well that when it goes to stage, it just transcends the audience of being able to engage in the conversation. So that beautiful accident was just us talking and understanding, gosh, we really can make people feel disarmed because we said live.

18:05Mike Mosquito: We're the first podcast to say to go live in front of a camera and push that out to the world across the pond. and that has been a beautiful blessing because there's no five second delay. And so you've got to trust the other person with the other mind. This episode is brought to you by Health Launchpad, the pipeline growth company for B2B healthcare. If there's one thing you'll hear over and over on this show, it's that healthcare buyers make decisions based on trust and relationships, not on features and pricing. That's not a soft skill. That's a go-to-market strategy. At Health Launchpad, we help B2B healthcare companies translate that reality into a real pipeline engine.

18:53Mike Mosquito: We can help you sharpen your position and build content and campaigns that build credibility and help your team show up as the trusted voice in the room, whether that's virtual or in person. If you're rethinking how your marketing builds real relationships at scale, let's talk. You can find out more about us at healthlaunchpad.com. Let's get back to the conversation with Mike and Maury. You guys get to go to a lot of different events. So without naming names, what do event organizers get wrong?

19:30Maureen Nylin: Oh, that is such a good question. Oh, I love this. Go ahead, Mike. I've seen your tongue.

19:37Mike Mosquito: One is assuming every topic that they put in front of everybody, everyone's going to attend. They need to think more about their topics. The second is not giving enough time for people to break and collaborate together. If you're going back to back to back to back and not treating people like adults, that they're going to come back to the session, you're going to lose them anyway. So it's better for you to give time for the relationship building, better time for, you know, to unwind a little bit and relax a little bit and not be the executive at a healthcare system or the provider of technology and give them time to collaborate and talk.

20:13Mike Mosquito: That's why our small intimate sessions, there are breaks. I'll be at one next week. I'll be with a host of people that you know around the industry. But we are purposely given time to go sit by the pool or be on the lawn and just talk. What's worked for you?

20:28Maureen Nylin: Yeah, I think you can smell the cash or at least the cash grab that's trying to happen. And you feel like a commodity at some of these events. And much to what Mike is saying, when you don't give people that time and space to reflect on even what was just presented and have time to discuss it, then what value have you created? Again, I think that there's much to feeling like that whole badge experience, that I'm not my badge. I'm not my role. I'm a human being first. Let's have some fun together. Let's learn together. How can we collaborate together? Because it's not just about what's happening in the room at that moment.

21:13Maureen Nylin: Adam, I want people to be able to walk away and have someone to call or have someone to, you know, be able to have a framework of future events on, you know, that worked well at your organization. How can I also get that to work at my organization when I've got maybe, you know, different patients or I've got different culture, I've got whatever it is that's different. And that's what we need more of in health care. You know, we tend to be very siloed in our thinking and we look at vendors maybe more as vendors and less as partners, but we're all in this together. We've got to find a way to create our voices and a harmony that's going to move the meter forward.

21:56Maureen Nylin: Otherwise, we're going to get what we've always got. And here we are.

22:01Mike Mosquito: So you mentioned earlier on about UGM coming out. And I think I heard a little story about your After Dark event, which just kind of blew everybody away, which is hard to do in an event like that at UGM. What's the story? What happened? So we were asked to come in. Steve and Gwen over there made contact with us. I've worked with Steve for 20 years. We were at McKesson together. it. And so he made the call over like, we want these guys to do. I've seen what they've done before. Let's get them up here. So we get into engaging and curating. How do we attach to a great event that they already have?

22:38Mike Mosquito: We're just the appetizer and the dessert that we're going to book in, but it's happening in the middle. And we start pre-promotion. So part of our event is the pre-promotion fund that we saw before getting the buzz around, hey, are you going? You should be there. Make sure you're registering early so that you're getting people ready for that night because there's lots of parties going on, but are you at the party? Are you the place where you're going to get to be with most of your colleagues and have the most fun over a two to three hour period? Well, during this event last year, it rained like they were pouring buckets, five gallon buckets on everyone from heaven.

23:14Mike Mosquito: Oh no. And so Maureen and I decided to do pre-promotion on site with the wind blowing around us as this storm was coming in. and just started dropping, dropping sound bites and video bites. She wasn't happy about her hair, but we owned it.

23:31Maureen Nylin: Adam, he did not say the most important part, and that is he didn't want to do this. I said, oh my gosh, there is nothing better than having a backdrop of looking at a hurricane coming full force at you. And Mike's like, but you're going to get wet. You're going to mess up your hair. And I'm like, oh, but it's going to be worth the shot. So, yes, that did happen. And we had, what, maybe 15 seconds before that rain started pummeling down. Oh, it was.

24:00Mike Mosquito: Adam, I will send you the picture and possibly the video clip. I know I still have it. I'd love to see the rain coming up behind us as we're still shooting. And she wasn't done talking.

24:15Mike Mosquito: That's priceless. I love it. So it really was about promoting this event. And if it's rain or shine, we're in this beautiful building tonight. Our job is to get folks to the event. And so we basically prepare, look, we're here. This is what it looks like on the veranda. This is what it looks like in the building. So we just did shoot in the moment and drop them on LinkedIn so everyone could see exactly what was happening at the event. So don't be scared. Have your Uber drop you off in the covered area. You'll be inside the rest of the night. The food, drinks, and your colleagues were all here.

24:44Mike Mosquito: And we blew it out. It was a great event. So the storm and everything was going on at UGM. You were just basically, you were out there. So people who are sitting through a presentation might be scrolling through LinkedIn on their phone or see LinkedIn. And they're popping up. Brilliant. That's fantastic. You guys are amazing marketers. That's really amazing.

25:06Maureen Nylin: We had such a, you know, Nordic did such a nice event. They really, they know how to throw a great party, but there's nothing that is a little bit more. of a feeling of satisfaction than knowing that you've also contributed to shutting down other parties as well. And so we did have a little bit of fun with that, just knowing that we had helped bring attention to the event that they had put. Gosh, that's, it's not an easy lift, Adam, you know, that is a significant amount of time and planning that has to go into it. And they want to have people there. There's nothing worse than planning a party for, you know, six to nine months and then having the weather come in and take people away.

25:49Maureen Nylin: So just so happy that we were able to continue to bring those people in or inspire them to get in that Uber. And, Mike, they also were offered an Uber home too. So there was no reason for them not to bring themselves out, rain or shine, and let's do it again.

26:07Mike Mosquito: One of the things I think you both built our reputation to be especially good at is facilitation. So you mentioned earlier, right, you get these people on stage. What's the art to that? What's the art to, because this is, this is something that's useful to anybody who like said, Hey, you're going to moderate a panel. Because boy, we've all been to a lot of panels where you think. Right. I think the part to that, Adam, is Maureen and I staying in our lane. We know each other's strengths. If there's more of a clinical spin to that panel, you're going to hear Maureen's clinical side show up. I'm going to fade to bat.

26:38Mike Mosquito: If it's technical, I'm going to take a little bit more of Lee. And Maureen has a technical background as well. So we actually feed off of each other in that way. And that way the audience gets more of an authentic pull than push content. So you're both on the, if there's a panel, you're both moderating together. We've moderated together quite often. And those are the fun ones right there where you get both of us. We did, our first CI was Terry Couch last year in Miami. It was a live feed for the U.S. and the U.K. at the same time. And Terry's a nurse herself, but she's also the chief information digital officer at Sharp now, right?

27:15Mike Mosquito: And so we were able to have fun with Terry on stage and engage her in a very unique way on the clinical and on the technical side and around the operational side of her. that we wanted to introduce the audience to her. Who is Terry? Where'd she come from? What got her to this point? And so that art of facilitation is also giving a storyteller's walkthrough of who you have on stage. Why are they on stage? And what are they going to give you and leave you that you can take back to your organization?

27:48Maureen Nylin: Adam, I will just tell you that what Mike said is true, but I go back to what my grandma told me as a child, that I was just plain nosy. And I think that's probably the key to facilitation is just being now rebranded as curious, which is way more acceptable than nosy. But truly just being curious about the people that you're spending time with and wanting to ask that next question of them, which means that you just have to listen. That's all it really comes down to is just being present in the moment, listening to what they're saying and not being so focused on a script, which is why I love working with Mike because he and I both have the belief that a script is kind of a nice to have, but it can also box you in and it can take away those areas where people would really like you to lean in and ask more questions.

28:50Maureen Nylin: And so having that opportunity to just be yourself and authentic and messy sometimes because we're not perfect. My gosh, Mike and I will do a promo and sometimes I'm on take 60 because the words just don't come off of my tongue the way that they're supposed to. And then I start to give the virus to him and then we get to laughing and it's just, but that's who we are. You know, we're just everyday people that are really curious about the world around us.

29:24Mike Mosquito: So you can't fake authenticity, but if you're trying to get better at this, I think the tip that I've taken away from what you both said is the importance of listening hard. Because I do think that a lot of people, frankly, I used to do, when I did podcasts, I used to be like this. And I've noticed this with other podcasts is what people are actually really listening for is the opportunity to chime in and say what they wanted to say. So they're not really listening to what they're saying. They're listening. They're, you know, they're not hearing. What they're doing is, is they're looking for the opportunity to take over the conversation.

29:59Mike Mosquito: Whereas what you're talking about here is actively listening to the conversation so that you can draw them out more. And also, do you then pivot it over so that you can take what somebody said and then hook it back to you? That's what we do. We carry a chain between the conversations that are going on. That way you follow a natural flow if we're on stage, right? So that we're not just put it because this is the next bullet on a piece of paper. And then people are like, what are you talking about now? When do we pivot to something else? We create that link inside to be able to tell that narrative of a story.

30:34Mike Mosquito: And then we pull the audience along with that. That way the active listening creates a conversation. They forget about the audience. They forget about cameras. And now we're just talking. And that's where magic really happens. when people say, come on the show and we let them know in advance, this is going to be live. And you see the panic take over their face. Tell your mom she can see you on LinkedIn right now. And then they pay. I'm like, no, just pretend like we're sitting in the lounge and we're having a conversation. Talk to us. And I promise you, within a minute, they've forgotten about the cameras.

31:08Mike Mosquito: They've forgotten that they had these things pre-programmed in their head. We know what we're going to take out of a conversation before we get there. We're just going to find a narrative that seems seamless.

31:17Maureen Nylin: I think the other piece of that is often what they're trying to think of are data points, something to strengthen that argument that they're trying to make. But at the end of the day, data isn't what moves people to action. It's the inspiration or the story behind it. And so being able to just allow them to tell that story is way more important than whatever data piece that they feel would strengthen that storyline.

31:45Mike Mosquito: Yes. Absolutely. You guys mentioned LinkedIn Live. Now, LinkedIn Live, I used to do it quite a bit, and I just found that I wasn't getting enough people. But I remember talking to you guys about using LinkedIn Live, and you get just this extraordinary number. Yeah, we didn't know that some of the chief marketing officers of organizations, associations, had been tracking us. So they were tracking us. And so one of the chief marketing officers had asked us to come in and present, not only media, but put some stage time in. And so we did a couple of on stages, but then there was this impromptu where we were asked just to shoot.

32:26Mike Mosquito: And we were not in our studio. We were not in our podcast booth. And her point was, I just want to see how this goes with you guys just shooting off the cuff from the floor. and before it was all said and done within three hours collectively maureen and i had 50 000 impressions on linkedin that's amazing yeah we sent her the numbers and she went wow that beat expectations so how i'm not getting fit i might be getting 50 it really is about one understandable the algorithm to understanding how you have to feed your customers content and not overfeeding them content where they just shut you out. We don't change vanity metrics.

33:12Mike Mosquito: So you can like and love and that's great. But we want eyes because for us, if we're putting content about solving problems in health care, we want more people to see it. So they'll share, hey, did you see such and such? We don't care that you like it or you subscribe to our channels. We want to see the impressions of people's eyes globally to look at our content. And that's what people are putting us on stage for because our voice is going to transcend a vanity. Like people want to transcend people seeing this content, whether it's for a partner or from a hospital that solved a problem. We want to put that in front of the community.

33:48Mike Mosquito: So that 50 ,000, some of it's live, but I'm guessing that most of it's actually after the fact people watching it. Yes, correct. Our live Adam to that point. So we, HIMSS came to us during the executive summit this year and they said, Hey, we want to do this live with you guys. We've seen your numbers last year was a proof point. So they took over all of our channels, including the HIMSS global channel and pushed us out live. Now, what that meant was we were going to be anywhere and everywhere when lights went on in that room. And so later that day, we have people coming up to us going, Oh my gosh, I just got here.

34:23Mike Mosquito: I saw you guys live. Like you just got here. How did you see it? So like, I was watching while I was flying in. And that right there was what we needed for our day. But people were streaming us because they'd seen the notification. They went online and they hit that link and they were able to see it said 32 ,000 feet while flying into the show. This is prepping your audience before you get there. If you've got content you want to deliver. Amazing. I want to wrap this up though with a question for the for question for the listeners that i think was particularly important so we're getting you know before we know it planning season is going to kick off particularly for the marketers and so what would you how would you advise health tech marketing leaders listening to this to maybe rethink or adjust their event strategy for 2027 i would say for them what look at how How do they invest in smaller events and venues?

35:27Mike Mosquito: One. And then the people you put on stage, be very selected. Find unique voices that are storytellers, true storytellers, not just presenters. Storytellers that will keep the audience engaged. And if you're going to market where there's a technology, a solution, a strategy or advisory services, put a narrative around it that has attachment to a provider. that is a proof point that says, yes, we've done that. We believe in it. We would be a reference for it because I presented Sway. I hate that I miss Sway this year. They do the same thing when I go there. I'm a provider on stage and John and Colin, they stick me up there to mic drop for one reason.

36:10Mike Mosquito: This is what you're, if you're a marketer and you're still doing these things, you're failing. And I will say that without blinking an eye because I'm here to help you. And so if you're still sending emails and hoping you're going to get through an email filter at one of the health systems, you're failing. If you're hoping to sell to someone on a floor of a conference and hoping that leads to a contract within 30 days, you're failing. There's a way to build a relationship now. So these healthcare marketers have to learn how to invest in relationship building more so than ever. Because the new CIOs, they want you to know them and have that expensive Starbucks coffee first before they ever look at getting a statement of work from you.

36:48Maureen Nylin: I even go a little deeper and I go back to that human aspect and I hammer on that one pretty hard simply because I look at technology and it's supposed to be what has brought us closer together. We have access to much more information. We can pull our friends up on Facebook or Instagram or do TikTok videos. And there's all of these ways that we could be bonding. But instead, it feels like we're having technology layering in between us and the authenticity of our relationships has become so superficial. And so having these smaller, more intimate events allows us to practice and reconnect back to ourselves and to one another.

37:36Maureen Nylin: Without that, when you're going to those larger events, not that there's not value, but you can feel very lonely when you have a lot of people around you. And the intimacy of these smaller events really kind of forces people to engage in conversations and maybe start a conversation with someone they don't know where they wouldn't have had to have done that at a large event. But once you open yourself up and then you start conversing, it's just fabulous how things change. And you might be meeting someone that is going to change your life. And certainly that's been the course of our beautiful accident between Mike and I as well.

38:19Maureen Nylin: I go back to it. Had we not sat down and just had a one-on-one conversation, our lives would be so different. And maybe for better or for worse, we don't really know. But I'm very happy that I got a chance to meet him. And again, that's the opportunity we're offered when we go to these smaller events.

38:39Mike Mosquito: It is a blessing. That's a great question. And Maureen, I feel the same way. It was a blessing for me to spend that time with someone I didn't know and get to know her. And now I get blessed by this lady five days a week. or a message of encouragement every morning. That's what I wake up to. And so this is what happens when you actually talk to someone and engage with them, not just on a business level. And I think that the more, if we do that more, I think our industry can transform. We can start healing our patients. We get down to the patient level where we're talking to patients, engaging with them around this technology.

39:10Mike Mosquito: That's not personable. It's still a machine, but the human aspect of it brings us closer to healing, solving and engaging those that really need help in our industry. But I think that without these smaller events, if you're feeling alone, we don't want you to feel alone. That's why we're buzzed after dark events. The pre-event, buzzed after dark that we do at HIMSS and several other events, those pre-events bring those folks that get there a little early. It gives them a place to feel like they're around, like minds and to be able to enjoy themselves before the real show begins and that rat race of trying to meet as many people as you can inside a day and a half.

39:46Mike Mosquito: So that's why I think the success for the buzz and the Buzz After Dark events have been so encouraging for others to show up to, to support. We thank our partners for supporting us along the way because we can't do it without our partners. And they believe in us to give them the best experience. And to bring voices like yours, Adam, you know, you go to bed early, so we're not going to see you at the 11 o 'clock hour at one of our Buzz After Dark events. We've got to keep you up late. I'm going to sleep for two hours by the time you guys are getting ready.

40:12Maureen Nylin: To be fair, Adam, I would prefer to be in bed asleep as well. but Mike's always got a plan. So, yep.

40:21Mike Mosquito: Nope, he's got other ideas. I think this is a great point to leave it. But before we go, how can people follow you, get in touch with you? What can they do? Either one of our LinkedIn channels, Mike Mosquito or Maureen and Eileen on LinkedIn. You've got the buzzpodcast.net. We've got the Buzz Media Network as well that'll lead you to that page. But you can also find us on our channels, Spotify, Apple. we're out there on YouTube. Our channels are out there and our page, our YouTube, our webcast page, it actually takes you to some of our content as well. So we keep that updated to where we're going to be, the events we're going to be attending and then what's coming up next.

41:01Mike Mosquito: And you get to Google them back at the historical events as well. Some of the videos and images and pictures that were taken there too. Well, we'll have all the links down in the show notes. Definitely. Maureen and Mike, I'm so happy to have you on the show and boy, you'd never disappoint. So thank you. Well, thank you very much, Adam.

41:19Maureen Nylin: Thank you so much.

41:21Mike Mosquito: It's been a pleasure getting to be on your show. It's nice to, our community of media podcasters, I love it. It's unlike others, right? Where we share and collaborate. We feel special because we have other podcasters bring us onto their shows too. So it's nice to be able to sit here and share with the world. you're bringing a topic that's very top of mind right now. Like you said, this was just addressed last month at another conference. So I love that you're taking this topic on and putting other voices on to say, here's the why you should. Here are the proof points. It's being proven in front of you.

41:59Mike Mosquito: And so we're so honored to be here on your show. Well, thank you both very much. That wraps up the intimacy shift. And what a way to close it out with Mike and Maureen. I love that conversation. And I took away some really interesting insights. Number one, buyers aren't looking to be another badge scan. They're looking to be known as a person before they're sold to. Takeaway two, the best facilitators aren't following a script. They're actively listening and letting the story lead, not the data. Number three, give people white space. Back-to-back sessions kill relationship building and breaks are the point.

42:47Mike Mosquito: Number four, a great intimate event doesn't stay in the room. Mike and Maureen turned a single event into 50 ,000 LinkedIn impressions by documenting it live. And finally, heading into next year's event planning, invest in fewer better rooms and in the people on stage who can actually tell a story. Put together with Megan's take in part one, the message across this whole series is pretty clear. Smaller, better, more human is winning right now. And if that's useful to your team, share the series with them and make sure you're subscribed for what's next on the Health Tech Marketing Show. I'm Adam Turinus and I'll see you on the next one.

43:38Yeah.