Health With a Capital H
10 Highlights From the National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media
August 12, 2011
Contributed by Alexandra Bornkessel
“Let’s be unbelievable,” said Ileana Quintas, CEO of IQ Solutions, as she talked informally with a group of conference attendees. “It’s about the mission, the people—doing good work and making an impact,” she continued as she issued the inspiring challenge—be unbelievable.
But how do we as a field be unbelievable? We can start by “Listening for Change,” which was the theme of the 2011 National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing, and Media.
In the spirit of listening for change, here are 10 highlights from the event, which drew over 1,000 attendees:
- Hospitals as a source of health are under transformation.
- Data can be fun, interesting, creative, and innovative. Get familiar with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Community Health Data Initiative.
- There’s a new way to talk about social determinants of health. Speaking of how we talk, storytelling may just be the next big thing…
- Speaking of the next big thing, mobile is here. 35 percent of Americans own smartphones, and Android leads the market. What’s your mobile strategy?
- Projects and programs can scale. For example, Womenshealth.gov took its Best Bones Forever! dance contest national!
- This discussion gets some much needed air time: What challenges and opportunities do state health departments face when it comes to social media? Along these lines, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shares its Public Health Social Media Directory.
- Also new from SAMHSA, the Text 4 Treatment initiative lets people find nearby treatment by simply texting their zip code. This is all part of the agency’s effort to show that behavioral health is essential to health.
- The big three—obesity, tobacco and dietary patterns—were hot topics throughout the event. One success story shared was how Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is going beyond the TV show and into the workplace. How? By applying design thinking to public health.
- The economic situation is taking its toll. Budgets are short. Resources are strained. People are stretched. How are we going to infuse hope and inspiration into a field that faces so many barriers?
- Enter Social enterprise: Businesses that serve more than a bottom line, as a possible solution. Revolution Foods, an organization highlighted during the closing plenary, served as a case in point.
These are just 10 of the highlights gleaned from three days full of exciting insights and ideas for improving public health. The conference was rich with both content and people and served as a catalyst for change.
So—let’s be unbelievable together.
Did you attend the conference? What was a highlight for you?
Comments
* In the session on storytelling the presenters emphasized the importance of talking "in the audience" voice. "What is our story and why would anyone listen?"
*In a session examining "Putting Prevention to Work" HHS grants the recommendation was "focus on one compelling fact that offers a solution."
*In a session by IDEO Design Lab the big idea was to learn from "sacrificial projects"... these are projects that don't require great amounts of money and time to implement..., so you don't get so big an investment that you can't let go of them. These are projects that can be implemented fast, with minimum resources, which you can learn from and let go of easily.
*In a session on electronic gaming I learned that cost isn't a direct correlation with success of a game. It is ok to develop and produce a low budget game if it meets a need for your project. It might succeed and add significantly to you project. The example was www.pillsvscandy.org which uses simple game playing to educate parents and kids about how much many medications look like candy.
*In "Designing for Change" the recommendation was that we need to draw more heavily on design thinking when we want to create change and the recommendation was a book by Warren Berger called "Glimmer" which I'll be getting soon.
The overall theme of the conference was "Listening for Change" and the message that carried throughout was that all to often we focus too much on talking and not nearly enough on listening to what our audience is trying to tell or ask us.
Ray--Thanks for your comment and your compliment! I agree that there are a number of challenges in terms of organizations adopting social media--and valid ones at that. It definitely "depends" as they say on what an organization or person wants to achieve when it comes to the use of social media. What I've found, is that understanding helps drive effective use. And for many (including myself), understanding often starts with personal use. So, I applaud you being a change agent in your own organization/community in working to understand social media and how it can be applied best to improve public health.
Hopefully--we'll be able to connect in person at one of these public health events. Thanks for sharing the post with others!
Best, Alex
Thanks Alex for your summary that I could pass along to my colleagues!
I think social media will a big part of how health reform will improve the publics' health, but is still at a fairly early stage without strong evidence of promoting change, and not strongly supported by organizations that cannot monitize it's value. Your blog is a concrete example of how leading ideas and practices can be shared widely and in a timely manner.
Thanks Alex for summarizing in a format I could share with colleagues.
I think social media will a big part of how health reform will improve the publics' health, but is still at a fairly early stage of development and not strongly supported within organizations that cannot monitize it yet.
Highlighting case studies of effective uses in supporting change needs supporting evidence, so your examples from the conference is a concrete example of timely learning from the cutting edge.
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