Back in the old days your pal HM would never say anything to upset to EMS conference runners. After all, how else am I going to get accepted to speak based on the topics clearly of interest in the EMS field? After all, topics of interest are determined by us, the providers, not some board of advertisers, right?
Many years ago I stopped submitting to present at EMS conferences. My content on MCI was encouraging buying less crap and focusing more on tactics, response and deployment. You could say "Well, maybe that just isn't a topic conferences want to hear?"
Fair enough, but then why am I teaching just that at FDIC for the 6th year running?
There is a trend in EMS conferences to try to get more data driven content to their audience and that means a bunch of MDs presenting on this topic and that, all leading back to the show floor and the advertisers they so desperately need to keep their pages paid for. It's a business, I get it.
However, I had a thought as I was getting ready to post that all EMS conferences are bad:
No they're not.
Imagine a conference that opens with manufacturers bringing out their untested gear, new concepts, hair brained ideas and letting you give feedback in real time? What about a conference that comes out at the get go and says "This is about the manufacturers looking to get feedback and give you insight into their new products. Got a question about this widget? The guy who invented it is taking questions at 3."
Dude, I'm in.
When ZOLL hosted Chronicles of EMS Mark and I got to see some prototype stuff you're likely using everyday and they took our feedback. I'm also pretty sure I still can't tell you what it was. Anyhoo...
Let's make THAT the focus of the conference. Don't sell me on CE, sell me on the chance to actually impact the future. I can get CE from Bouthillet for free and it's far more engaging anyway.
-HM
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