This document provides a 5-step plan for gaining publicity at the HIMSS 2013 conference: 1) Get started early by drafting news releases, fact sheets, and product brochures by December/January to pitch to reporters. 2) Describe what you will announce - a new product or an expert to interview on trends. 3) Prepare a knowledgeable C-level executive to discuss topics of interest to reporters. 4) Distribute a news release on a wire service like BusinessWire to reach publications. 5) Obtain the HIMSS media list and contact reporters individually in January/February to schedule interviews.

1. HIMSS 2013
MEDIA RELATIONS
PLANNING
January 2013 5 Steps to Gain Publicity at HIMSS
Make the most of your investment as a HIMSS 13
exhibitor by taking these basic steps to obtain news
coverage at the conference. This expert report
t
covers company positioning, news release writing &
distribution and media contact tips.

2. WestsidePR.com HIMSS Publicity Guide
Obtaining News Coverage at HIMSS
1. Get Started Early.
HIMSS 13 begins on Sunday March 3. Ideally, all of your company’s news releases, fact sheets and
product brochures should be drafted by December and finalized in January. If you are planning a new
product launch, but don’t have all the details on the product, at least get a three-paragraph overview
of the product that you can use to pitch reporters in January.
More than 100 reporters, editors and bloggers are expected to attend HIMSS 13. The top reporters for
the biggest trade publications (e.g. Health Data Management, Healthcare IT News) will start filling their
schedules in January and many will be completely booked-up by February 1. To interest a key editor in
your company or product, you will need a first-class pitch and well written fact sheets to support your
idea.
Not launching a new product at HIMSS? Consider offering reporters a briefing by your
CEO, CFO or CMO on an a new technology or an industry trend.
2. Describe Your Offer: New Product or Expert Interview.
In addition to policy announcements (e.g. an HHS official announces new Medicare rules), reporters
will be filing two types of stories at HIMSS: new product announcements and trend articles.
If you have a new product that you want to announce at HIMSS, plan on distributing the news release
the week before HIMSS (see below).
What if you have a new product that looks promising but still in beta testing and not ready for
consumer market? Should you announce it as a new product at HIMSS?
There is no simple answer. If you present a product as market-ready but in reality has numerous
glitches, you will be putting your company’s credibility at risk. On the other hand, staking a claim to a
leading edge technology could attract investors or corporate partners.
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3. WestsidePR.com HIMSS Publicity Guide
Reporters covering the healthcare IT beat are tech savvy and have seen “vaporware” before. However,
most will have only will only have 5-10 to view an exhibitor’s demonstration and they will assume the
company’s senior executives are accurately describing the product.
3. Prepare Your C-Level Expert.
If you are not debuting a new product at HIMSS, it may still be possible to get mentioned in conference
media coverage if you have a C-level executive who is an expert on a topic of interest.
Who qualifies as an expert? A company could present a CTO who recently worded for the federal
government, or a CMO who was previously associated with an academic medical center.
Being an executive from a small company is not necessarily a handicap. Most reporters talk frequently
with experts from Cerner, HP and other large vendors. They want to hear from smaller, entrepreneurial
companies that may have new technologies or new approaches to common problems.
Reporters are snobs about executive titles. Unfortunately, most will not interview a sales
and marketing VP – even if he has detailed knowledge of the industry. Leary of receiving
a product “sales pitch,” they want to interview CEOs, CFOs and CMOs.
Your media interview invitation (delivered via email or phone) should start with the topic your expert
can discuss (e.g. meaningful use, BYOD policies, and encryption) and include a one-two sentence
description of his background.
Make sure your C-level expert is prepared with in-depth knowledge and industry statistics. As Joe
Goedert, the news editor of Health Data Management, noted in a blog post about HIMSS interviews,
“We already know you are having a great year, that your product is the best and your competitors
stink. We want real insight from folks in the trenches about industry trends.”
Customers, particularly those from large medical groups and hospitals can make excellent experts.
Healthcare technology reporters are always looking for experts from provider organizations. An
enthusiastic customer can describe how your company’s products helped him solve an important
problem. Smaller companies, however, may not be able to afford paying for customers travel and
expenses.
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4. WestsidePR.com HIMSS Publicity Guide
4. Distribute Your News Release on a Wire Service.
BusinessWire, a leading national news release distribution service, is offering all HIMSS 13 exhibitors a
free, three-file Online Press Kit. To take advantage of this email the wire service at
tradeshow@businesswire.com. Note that this is a passive, archived list of HIMSS exhibitor documents;
reporters will have to go to BusinessWire and search for your company.
We recommend taking the next step and paying for local/regional distribution of your news release on
BusinessWire. This distribution should cost $400-800, depending upon region, size of file and
attachments (e.g. logo, photo). While cheaper news wire options are available, BusinessWire reaches
more publications and their SEO optimized releases score higher in Google search.
The headline of your news release is critical: many reporters will not read further. Make sure to include
your company name, the product and HIMSS 13.
For example: “MediWidget Launches MDWizard at HIMSS 13, New Software for Medical Groups
Combines Clinical, Financial Applications in Cloud-Based Platform.”
HIMSS provides a news release template here:
PR TIPS & PRESS RELEASE - HIMSS Vendor Center
5. Obtain the HIMSS Media List, Contact Reporters.
HIMSS exhibitors and their PR representatives are entitled to receive a list of “registered” reporters
and editors. To obtain your list, email Virginia Geoghegan, a HIMSS marketing services contact. Note
that some senior reporters choose to remain anonymous and are not listed. You will need to use a
media directory obtain their contact information.
Review the list of registered media and select the reporters most likely to be interested in your
company. It is a waste of time on both sides to contact all 80+ names. For example, reporters at
publications that cover radiology and PACS will not be interested in vendors offering e-prescribing or
supply chain management software.
Put “HIMSS 13 exhibitor” in your email subject line. Your invitation or pitch should be 60-100 words, no
longer. Include a link to your company’s home page. Don’t include any attachments.
Individually contacting dozens of reporters is laborious job, many marketing directors will want to
delegate it to a PR firm or a trusted assistant. Make sure the contact person has been thoroughly
briefed and can answer questions from reporters.
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5. WestsidePR.com HIMSS Publicity Guide
“Explain in 30 seconds what your product does without any marketing buzzwords, and in
plain English that your mom would understand.”
- Joe Goedert, news editor, Health Data Management
What kind of response should you expect? A smaller company should obtain a 10-20% positive
response rate if you start in January. For example, if you contact 30 reporters, four-five should agree to
an interview. Large, publicly held companies and vendors with a genuine “breakthrough” product can
obtain much higher rates.
Individual contact of reporters serves several purposes – even if you land only one or two interviews.
First, pitching gets your company’s name and product in front of reporters – possibly for the first time
this year. Second, schedules and priorities often change at the last minute. If a reporter has an
interview cancelled at the conference, he may decide to visit your company after all.
One key task that is frequently forgotten: post-conference follow-up. Too often marketing executives,
tired and low on budget after the conference, prematurely end their media contact effort. This is short-
sighted. Healthcare reporters have to file stories year-round, 52 weeks of the year.
About ten days after HIMSS has ended, send all the reporters on your contact list a follow-up email
with a message indicating how your product fit into one of the overall trends of the show (e.g. BYOD,
meaningful use, analytics). Include a link to your news release or product information page.
The annual HIMSS conference is a unique opportunity for healthcare technology companies to display
their products and reach new customers. Savvy marketing directors will make their HIMSS media
outreach the first step in a well-planned, year-long PR campaign.
Westside Public Relations is a national provider of marketing services
to healthcare technology companies. Our clients include software vendors,
device makers, hospitals and financial service providers.
For more information contact James Harris, senior partner:
JHarris@WestsidePR.com
O: 310-398-5565
C: 310-780-7107
www.WestsidePR.com
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