Live from NAMSS2020

This week NAMSS held its first-ever virtual conference. Like many of you, one of the reasons that I love to attend NAMSS is to see friends and colleagues that I only see at NAMSS-related conferences. And I did miss seeing you! But NAMSS did a terrific job of putting together a great conference with opportunities for networking remotely that enriched my week and made me feel more connected. I’m so glad for the opportunities that I had this week to interact with old – and new – colleagues and friends.

As a vendor with NAMSS, I spent some time in the Exhibit Hall and had a great time greeting visitors to the VerityStream exhibit. Thanks to all of you who came by to chat – and also to those of you who sent messages. It was a fantastic way to connect.

The education this week has been wonderful – a great variety of topics and speakers. I did a session with Mark Smith, MD on Tuesday on Standardization of Medical Staff Organization Functions and it was a bit of a new experience. Mark and I recorded our presentation in advance and then were present at the end of the session for live questions (thanks, Amy Lyons, for fielding the questions). The only downside of this approach was that I had to listen to myself speak (I don’t think that many people like to hear themselves speak) – but this approach made the presentation stress-free since we didn’t have to worry about last-minute technology snafus. And I’m sure that we have all had some experiences with technology issues as most of us have spent many months working remotely and communicating via Teams, Webex, Zoom or other mechanisms.

I think that one of the things that we have learned through our recent experiences is that we can adapt and learn new ways of doing things! And NAMSS adapted and put on a first-class virtual conference. I’ve learned that I don’t always have to be present at a customer site in order to provide consulting services. Many of you have learned that credentialing can be done totally electronically at remote locations – and that you can hold virtual meetings, communicate with physician and other leaders and basically get the work of the medical staff organization accomplished without getting in your car and traveling to an office. All while acting as tutors/teachers for your children and other activities that you never thought you would be doing. I think that we have gotten more tolerant of the sound of barking dogs, trash collectors (you’ll hear them at my house on Friday mornings without fail), and other disruptions that we all experience from time to time.

One of these days I will bring out my business clothes, high heels (haven’t worn them for months!) and get back on a plane and see some of you in your work environment or a conference. And I’m so looking forward to that day! In the meantime, I plan to continue to enjoy wearing my casual clothes and “seeing” you via the camera on my laptop.

Congratulations to NAMSS and their leaders for a great virtual conference!