Next week I am going to try a personal experiment. I am going to try and follow the HIMSS '09 conference on Twitter. I have a Twitter account and I used the "Find People" feature to find the HIMSS Twitter feed and I subscribed to it. There are over 1300 followers and 750 updates so far, and the conference has yet to start.

I am especially interested in following anything on the HIMSS Social Networking 101, Meet the Bloggers, and HIMSS Virtual Conference sessions.



HIMSS Social Networking 101
Facebook...Twitter...Linkedin...SharePoint...HIMSS Connect! With the numerous, and seemingly ever-growing, social networking sites available to us where does one go online to find HIMSS members? Join us for an in-depth exploration of the sites currently being utilized by HIMSS staff (and members) and learn how each provides their own unique way for you to connect online with your peers.



Meet the Bloggers
You've read their posts, you've commented on their ideas, now is the time to meet face-to-face. Join this uncommon experience and hear from bloggers themselves on what it takes to create, maintain and locate blogs regarding healthcare IT. This moderated roundtable is intended to discuss the responsibilities and dedication required to run a professional blog.



HIMSS Virtual Conference

What happens when you can't get away from work or simply don't have the budget to attend large, national conferences? Does it signal the end of learning, networking and professional development? No! Join us for a demonstration the attendee experience at a HIMSS' Virtual Conference & Expo as well as a discussion of the benefits of virtual conferences, such as: Synchronous online learning and live chat Dynamic, real-time participant movement in and out of exhibit booths and educational sessions Interactive attendee networking opportunities Vendor presentations.



The MLA has been working toward making meetings more virtual and available to those unable to attend. In 2008 the Annual Meeting had Webcast one of the Plenary Sessions, they had 10 Official Bloggers dedicated to blogging the meeting, and some some industrious fast fingered librarians started unofficially Twittering the conference which if my memory is right helped bring about the medlibs Twitter feed.



This year MLA will be trying to reach out to non-attendees again. Some of the developments that I know of are:

MLA 2009 Blog -I am still looking for more people. You know who you are, and you know you can blog. Applications are still being accepted so hurry up fill one out and blog.

MIS Top Technology Trends III Program Session - Has plans to have a virtual presenter, will be Twittering the session, and plans to accept Twittered questions.

MLA 2009 Twittered - You can follow the conference on Twitter using the MLA 2009 Twitter feed. It is an experimental method for us, twitterers will be your peers who happened to like to Twitter.



I am not sure of other plans, perhaps those who are in different areas of programing can share some of their methods to making the conference a little more available to non-attendees.

Labels: Annual Meeting, Hawaii, MLA, Social Software, Technology