Experience Economy: How To Create Healthcare Events the HLTH Way (Richard Scarfo)

[00:00:03] Dear listeners, welcome to Faces of Digital Health, a podcast about digital health and how healthcare systems around the world adopt technology with me, Tjasa Zajc. One of the best ways to get updated on the latest trends in the digital health space

[00:00:24] and to get new meaningful connections is by visiting large conferences. There's plenty going on across the world. And in the US, health is an event that's making a dent in the industry.

[00:00:40] When you go to health, you'll be able to see a literal forest on one of the stages or take a selfie with a unicorn mascot or get perks like health branded pinc nail polish at the entrance of the convention center in Las Vegas.

[00:00:59] In the last few years, health has become the most flashy, visible and must go digital health event in the US. In this discussion, you will hear the president of health, Richard Scarfo, talk about their approach to making events memorable, why is health taking Experience Economy as a guiding

[00:01:19] principle in the investment in the scene at health, tips for networking at events and why is health coming to Europe in June 2024. Enjoy the show and also check out our newsletter which you can find at fodh.substack.com that's fodh.substack.com.

[00:01:42] It's published roughly once a month and always offers an in-depth insight in a specific topic. Now let's dive in today's discussion. Rich, hi and thank you so much for joining me to discuss health care a little bit, to discuss innovation and to discuss health.

[00:02:14] When I was preparing for this interview and asking around Henry who is the head of health UK and Netherlands said, Rich is super passionate about health care and I want to check that information. So why are you passionate about health care?

[00:02:31] My experience started in technology and then I moved into health care. The thing that I saw in health care was the personal side of how it touches every single person. I was able to bring the technology side into that and that's why I really enjoy being at

[00:02:46] health because it brings both things together. What do you see is changing? For example, ten years ago there wasn't that much focus, at least not in my view on all the new little things like mobile apps, innovations, wearables.

[00:03:04] It started developing slowly and today the space, despite the fact that the investments have been falling for the last two years, the space is getting very vibrant in many senses. Yeah, I think the space has been vibrant.

[00:03:19] We've had some challenges coming through it but I think that the biggest change in health care which is a good thing is seeing that it's putting the individual in the center of things, the person who's actually receiving the health care and that is something

[00:03:32] that we've been trying to place more of a focus on. So in that sense you want the latest innovations, the easiest way to access health care, the most innovative solutions, things that make it very efficient and easy for individuals to access health care and also remain healthy.

[00:03:48] What's the vision and mission of health? I don't know if you know the vision and mission statement by heart. Our view at health is that we want to bring together all of the decision makers and the thought leaders in health care that can affect change.

[00:04:04] And we focus on two things, health, our event coming up well in 24 now, focuses on the future of health care. So it also touches all aspects of the health care ecosystem. So in that sense you see a lot more innovation, startups, the VCs, you'll see companies

[00:04:22] that are new to market in health care, more consumer companies and we really are focusing on how we can bring people and companies together to affect change in health care. Vive, on the other hand, is a little different in that it focuses on really the business

[00:04:37] side of health care. So that's where things are right now, what's happening on hospital systems with payers and with executives that are part of that ecosystem. How can you differentiate the two audiences? Because there's a lot of the overlap in the companies that are providing solutions

[00:04:56] in the people that basically take part in these discussions. And if we look at health care innovation and health care as a whole, the innovation space is just one small part and those working in this space might very quickly feel that

[00:05:09] they're in a bubble and at events it can happen that basically there's this impression of impressiveness of how great everything is. And basically all the real people, the actual end users, the patients are missing. So how do you bridge that gap? It's an important piece.

[00:05:28] I think the first thing to remember is that health and Vive are marketplace events. So of course companies will come with their best impressions. What we've started to do over the last couple of years to bring in really important

[00:05:41] voices that have previously been missing or at other events aren't really the focus. We've launched our patients at health and patients at Vive so we bring patients in a very different way. Not to put a few of them on stage, we'll have them in focus groups with vendors.

[00:05:57] We have a patient genius bar. We have programming that is run through our impact lounge with patients on stage. And we really set up a lot of networking for the companies and the attendees with the patients.

[00:06:10] We also do a series of podcasts and interviews with them that run throughout the year so we're continuing to bring the messaging and the topics that were discussed at health keeping them going throughout the year.

[00:06:21] We've also are launching or just launched nurses at health and nurses at Vive. So that's another important segment that though they're not the patient, it's a very important voice that's been missing from major healthcare events. So we have just launched that in partnership with some major organizations

[00:06:37] and we're seeing a lot of support around that. And the other thing that we look at especially at health through our health equity impact program is voices and individuals that normally don't make it to events like health.

[00:06:50] So we make it possible for people from organizations that are serving underrepresented populations or underserved communities or those without access to healthcare. So we bring them into the event in a way that I think is very unique to healthcare events and it's become a really important thread

[00:07:09] through our content, through our messaging and also through our attendee makeup and how it's evolved over the past couple of years through these programs. So how do you actually do that? How do you increase accessibility to the event given that it takes travel, the ticket is expensive.

[00:07:28] So how do you basically do that? When we first launched the health equity program, what we realized is a lot of the speakers that we wanted at the event could not afford to be there. They couldn't even afford the travel. So through our sponsorships of these programs,

[00:07:41] we provide travel scholarships. We also have speak compumps that obviously would not pay to come to the event since there's part of the event. But it's really the scholarship program that we have launched that allows access.

[00:07:54] A lot of our companies also that we work with that are sponsors at the event or just really interested in these topics, will make it possible for people to be at the event as well. So they will provide travel or passes to the event.

[00:08:07] So it's really increased over the last couple of years. Our health foundation now is taking that whole approach and formalizing it. So we now have application process for scholarships through our health equity program, through our equity program at Vive, through nurses at health and nurses at Vive,

[00:08:24] and then also patients. Can you explain a little bit more about what the health foundation is? When was it founded? The health foundation was founded about the same time as Health 2018. We stood it up officially and publicly in 2019 when we acquired an initiative called C-Sweetener.

[00:08:43] And that is our digital mentorship platform for women navigating the C-Sweetener in healthcare. And the mentors are male and female, but we have seen great success in that. And the health foundation really focuses on access, inclusion and diversity within healthcare. We try to have initiatives that we launch

[00:09:04] under the foundation where we'll have programs for founders, for startups that have little access to funding. So we try to promote that. We have our TechWidi program, which is the ethical use of technology in healthcare. And that really, we're seeing a lot of the communities

[00:09:22] affected by that are underserved populations. We also have within that all of our impact programs sit under the foundation. So the impact programs take place at both events. So I would say the foundation does a couple of things. We support other organizations financially

[00:09:38] that align with the topics that we're focused on. We have key initiatives within the foundation that are run through sponsorship and through funding from companies that we have in our portfolio through the events. And then at the events, we have impact programs

[00:09:53] that cover all the topics I mentioned. And then we do another thing, which we call our affinity meetups. They really focus on different populations at the event that may not always get the networking opportunities that they would like. So we have Black at Five, Pride at Five,

[00:10:11] AAPI at Five, and then next year we'll have the same at Health as well. Which part of Health is your favorite? Of all the things that you're doing, what's your favorite thing and why? I think my favorite part of Health would be the startup area.

[00:10:28] And we have hundreds of companies exhibiting with really some of the newest and brightest ideas. Our philosophy is that startups are the access to innovation, the access point to innovation. What's the least favorite? When it's over and they start tearing everything down.

[00:10:44] You work on something for a year and it takes two days to go away. But we hope that the impact from the event lasts far beyond that. Do you recycle any of the materials that you use? Yes, so there are different programs that take place in different cities.

[00:11:00] So it depends on where you are. Las Vegas has a program and they work with the general contractors of the events. So not only do we recycle as much as we can, there are new approaches that use things that are reusable now and recyclable through the actual vendors.

[00:11:15] We're also doing something a little bit different than we used to do and we're creating properties for each event that we actually reuse. So in the past they would go up, be torn down and go away and now we're reusing them. Also a lot has gone digital.

[00:11:28] So you see a lot of traditional types of things that might have been print in the past that are now digital. We've also stopped using a printed program so it's all digital now as well and that's another thing that we're trying to

[00:11:41] make a little bit of an impact with. Yeah. The biggest differentiator, I think, in health as an event is also how much effort and how much investments there are in the whole experience that attendees have. So the stages have their own themes

[00:12:04] and it's not just that you would put something in the background, you create a forest for the stage. So going back, like where did that idea come from? Who said we're gonna spend a lot of money to make this place look like a fantasy land?

[00:12:24] We look at it as an investment. So there are a few things behind this. Our founder had previous events that were very experiential and for a purpose. There were industries, and healthcare was one of them, that had events that really were trying to do a couple of things.

[00:12:38] Get senior executives in C-suite to attend, have a meaningful impact while people are there and create an experience that once, that really makes people want to come back. With all of that in mind, what we look at health is it is unapologetically an experiential event

[00:12:58] and that is because we're bringing together the brightest companies and we have to get the senior executives in C-suite. If you produce a traditional trade show, they tend not to want to go to those environments. So for us, it's very important to have them there.

[00:13:14] That really is our core audience. So not only do we do it to make sure that everybody's enjoying their time there, but we do it to facilitate networking, creativity, new ideas, things like that. So it is something that is different about health.

[00:13:30] We also have a creative team that everything at health is designed by a small team within our company. So we don't outsource anything. So we do a lot of it internally, all of our video, all of our graphics and our stages we're very proud of

[00:13:44] because what we try to do is we record everything on site and we try to use that content throughout the year, again to have some impact and those that couldn't make the event can have some access to that as well. So how do you approach cost reduction?

[00:13:59] Are you in the face where you actually don't need that yet? The reason I'm asking is because there's this term called the experience economy. It's 25 years old and it basically is defined by psychologists that what people value most is experiences. So not things but experiences

[00:14:21] and it's a very kind of evident when you are at health that's basically the thing. But as I said, many people that are trying to organize something would see that as the first cost that somehow needs to go.

[00:14:37] I would say if you go back to what I mentioned we look at it as an investment. So we're very cost conscious. It may not seem that way but we work very closely with our vendors from year to year to make sure that they can maintain our account

[00:14:51] to keep our costs down. We look for different ways of doing things creatively. There are a lot of times when we'll come up with an amazing idea and then we'll look at the price tag and think maybe not but we find a better way to do it.

[00:15:02] So for us, it's really innovation around creating those ideas. We've seen an increase in the number of senior executives and C-suite attending both health and vibe and for us, the whole point of the event is to bring people together. So if we're not getting the right thought leaders

[00:15:20] and executives to the event together with the right companies then really we haven't succeeded. So part of that is people look at health as a very creative environment and an experiential environment. So I think it's something that we will continue with.

[00:15:35] We are very aware that we're in an industry where cost is an issue, healthcare. So we try not to make it extravagant. Try. We try. But the thing about Las Vegas is it does bring part of the personality to the event that we don't have to build in.

[00:15:49] You know, you do get beautiful venues that you can have evening events at. So there's not a lot you have to do to make it an exciting evening. You go to most convention centers and you have to start from a blank canvas.

[00:16:01] So there's different ways to look at it. I want to say this for just another second because when you go to an amusement park for the first time, it's amazing. And then when you go again, it's less amazing. How do you think about continuous improvement

[00:16:19] because people are spoiled? And when they see the same thing twice, they might not be impressed that they want to have something amazing. So what we try to do each year is we've moved facilities. So that is one piece of it. It gives a different environment.

[00:16:35] So we have to recreate the whole event in a different setting. So that helps. We have our creative team that works on visuals. So we have a completely different visual approach to each event. And then we look at our experiential things at the event.

[00:16:49] So we have things that we create for the attendees, whether it's areas like food truck areas for food or evening events or things on the floor that are more experiential. Or pink nail branded polish in the year of Barbie. We did several colors this year.

[00:17:06] I know, I just took the pink one. Yes. So again, we have an operations team, a creative team and then our full staff come together and we ideate around how the event will look, what the themes will be, what the visuals will look like

[00:17:19] and then how we use the space. So we spend a lot of time going to a facility and walking the space and taking a lot of video and pictures and create a digital walkthrough. And then we create the event digitally before we get there in person.

[00:17:36] So we look at it from the perspective of the attendee walking through the facility, not just on a rendering. How do you measure success beyond the number of people that attend the events each year? I think the number of people is less important than the percentage of C-suite.

[00:17:55] So we have seen that go up consistently year to year. We know it's been a rough year or two for the industry and we've seen growth in our events through that. And I think that points to the fact that our events offer value

[00:18:11] and networking opportunities and access to companies that aren't available at many other events or maybe any other events. So for us it really is the quality of our audience and the organizations that they're representing. What would your advice be to people going there

[00:18:30] for the first time in terms of what the best use of time is, how to best prepare, how to make the most out of it? I think you said the key word is prepare. So health is a massive event in terms of the opportunities.

[00:18:45] We have different facilitated networking activities. So our Health Connect, our hosted buyer program and our funding founders, very important for the audiences that belong in those. For the others we have our event app and you can see who's coming to the event

[00:19:03] and reach out to them prior to the event. What we do find is that any networking area that we set up is completely full, the entire event. So individuals that don't plan ahead and set meetings up find it a bit more challenging to get the meetings they'd like.

[00:19:16] And really looking at the program and seeing where you want to spend your time. The other sessions you can watch after the event because it's all recorded and offered to the attendees. And then the last piece of that is if you are coming for the first time,

[00:19:30] understand the types of companies that are there, the topics that we're covering and make sure that you're making the best use of your time at the event through all the things that we offer to. Any tips on how to get people that are hard to get?

[00:19:43] Like usually the people that are on stage. It's a challenge, but with any executive level event they're most in demand. We have started to do small meetups in different areas after session conversations. So that's one opportunity. But I think with that group it's just very hard.

[00:20:02] Our connect apps are utilized to access everyone at the event and they're included. So we do have, most of them have teams that set up meetings for them throughout the event. So if you're on the media side it's a little easier.

[00:20:17] If you're just a general attendee it's a little bit harder. Also many of the individuals that are speaking their companies are present at the event. So sometimes it's easier to go through different channels to get to people within those companies

[00:20:29] and sometimes it can lead to the actual speaker if it's the right type of connection. You've been in this space for over 10 years so you obviously already have a really great network. But if you looked back, how is there anything outside of just trying to meet most people

[00:20:47] that you would say that is a good strategy to basically build one's network? Today there's the connecting app at the event. There's social media, there's LinkedIn but to really create those connections that lead somewhere is still different potentially than just doing things online.

[00:21:07] So how do you look at creating valuable networks based on your personality? The best interactions are the ones with really good ideas or solid content and those have always led to finding more people that would like to connect and then they reach out to you.

[00:21:23] I think there has to be purpose behind social media and purpose behind the content that you put out there. Otherwise it's not really anything that will help you build an important or strategic network. We're gonna wrap up very quickly but maybe just a very quick question.

[00:21:41] Health is coming to Europe in 2024, why? Why? I think Europe will be a very exciting event. It's obviously our first launch outside of the States. We've had a lot, we have a very robust international community that comes to health in the US and to Vive.

[00:21:59] And they come there for a very different reason. They're coming there to really interact in the US marketplace and to make connections that we bring together. What they like is going back to the experience. They'd like the opportunity to be part of a community

[00:22:13] that is excited about its industry, that has a platform that is experiential and most importantly that's bringing together the right sectors of the healthcare industry and the executive level attendees there. So we're bringing that concept to Europe. What's important to know is that we are not picking up

[00:22:32] a US event and dropping it into Europe. What we're doing is we're taking again what makes us unique and we're bringing that to Europe. But our team in Europe is really curating the content, the approach to it, the relationships and the partnerships.

[00:22:46] What's your biggest fear about Health Europe? Ah, I don't know. I like to focus more on the excitement of it. I guess the biggest fear would be people thinking that it's a US event dropping into Europe. Which it is not. It's a US inspired.

[00:23:02] I just remembered one thing. We were talking about business development and networking earlier and one thing that I thought was really interesting among the analysis that I've seen with Generative AI, there are so many startups that have sprung up very quickly with saying that they use Generative AI.

[00:23:20] It's nothing surprising with every new technology there's very quickly everybody's using blockchain, everybody's using AI. But what is important is if you succeed and one of the investors said that basically you can have several advantages. Either it's the tech, it's the team or it's the distribution channels.

[00:23:40] And in healthcare where basically the sales cycles can be really long, especially in public systems, those with the distribution channels are the ones that stand the chance. So I want to just maybe ask you for a very quick opinion about the trends that you see

[00:23:59] in terms of how healthcare is changing and how fast can it even evolve. One of the CEOs that I spoke with at Health said, I just came from a meeting and the CIO said that they want a 10 times ROI

[00:24:15] if you want the product to replace what they already have just because it takes so much effort. And now I'm talking about the hospital sector and it's potentially a bit different there but it takes so much effort to really... It does and that's not really where I focus

[00:24:33] but what I do see are a couple of things. The life cycle of a deal at an event for a startup can sometimes mean the difference between succeeding and failing. So if it takes too long, that's a problem. The larger companies can weather that

[00:24:49] and they're used to it. We meet with many companies that say I met somebody at your event a year ago. We're just finalizing a deal. Sometimes for a startup that's not possible. What I do see at the event is that the hype around certain things

[00:25:02] is very much leveled at an event like health because you have the opportunity to not only pitch something but you have to show them how it can work. You have to explain to them how it will improve healthcare, how it will improve something for an individual

[00:25:18] or how it will improve operations within their systems. I think there's a lot of leveling at events like health. We've seen the digital health investments drop over the past couple of years. That is starting to come back now. Like any other industry,

[00:25:32] healthcare is going through ups and downs but in terms of the success of companies coming to our event, they break into two groups. You have established and you have new to market so they have very different experiences and very different challenges.

[00:25:49] I find it so sad that you are a unicorn one day and then the next day you file for bankruptcy. We have had companies that will be our largest sponsor one year and the next year they're literally gone. That is just the reality.

[00:26:03] But it also shows that you don't need to make that big of a splash. I think there's a responsibility on companies to present appropriately, especially right now with healthcare costs being such an issue. Some of the smallest startups at our events

[00:26:21] in standard kiosks have gotten some of the most attention at the event. So it really does come down to what I like about our event is people find the right sessions, they find the right companies, they find the right technologies

[00:26:34] and then that's what they use as their takeaways from the event. So it's not always how you present, it's what you present. You've been listening to Faces of Digital Health, a proud member of the Health Podcast Network.

[00:26:50] If you enjoyed the show, do leave a rating or a review wherever you get your podcast. Subscribe to the show or follow us on LinkedIn. Additionally, check out our newsletter. You can find it at fodh.substack.com. That's fodh.substack.com. Stay tuned.