Important Notes
HIMSS17 Reminders for Chapter Leaders
Mark your calendars: February 19 – 23, 2017 in Orlando, FL for the 2017 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition. - Chapter Receptions, Luncheons, and Meetups – 23 chapter receptions/luncheons and 9 chapter meetups at HIMSS17. Check out the conference reception website for details.
- Chapter Presidents Meetup – Wednesday, February 22 from 2:30-3:15 (Chapter presidents and presidents-elect only).
- Chapter Leadership Workshop – Chapter Leader Workshop is open to all Chapter Leaders and will be held on Sunday, February 19 from 2:00-4:30 in Orlando (in-person only). Register here. Sneak peek at the agenda here.
- HIMSS Communities Open House – Chapters have the opportunity to host a table at the HIMSS Communities Open House (pending space availability, so register soon) – Monday, February 20, 5:30-6:30pm, in the Convention Center. Register here. HIMSS17 Theme: "Finding your home at HIMSS." Registration deadline is Feb. 6.
- HIMSS Member Engagement Session – Optimism Your Membership! Wednesday, February 22 from 1:00 – 1:45 at the HIMSS Spot Theater. All welcome!
- Schedule at a Glance will give you an overview of HIMSS17 activities.
- Promote HIMSS17 & Chapter Membership – Please utilize the Chapter Marketing Toolkit to help promote the conference.
- Registration & Housing* – You can still register for HIMSS17 and be sure to book your hotel room soon!
- Discount Code – As a token of our appreciation, we offer all chapter leaders a $100 discount off one regular individual HIMSS17 full registration fee. This discount is non-transferable and only one discount code is allowed per person. To apply the discount you must register online and enter the promotional code 17ACDFCHP.
*Monday, Jan.23 is HIMSS official hotel cut-off date. After this date, HIMSS cannot guarantee rooms will be available. However, HIMSS encourages anyone who still requires a hotel room after Jan. 23 to go to the onPeak website, (the HIMSS Official Housing Company) or call 877.517.3038 for assistance in securing hotel arrangements.
Announcing the 2016 Chapter Award Recipients
[originally published by Angie Gorden, Senior Manager, Strategic Relations on January 19, 2017]
I have the distinct pleasure of overseeing the day-to-day operations of the HIMSS chapter program. There are 55 chapters of HIMSS throughout North America, Puerto Rico, Canada, and India. Chapter leaders are a group of the most brilliant, revolutionary, and passionate volunteers. Every year it is a great challenge to select only three chapters of the year and one chapter leader of the year. Due to the extremely difficult task of narrowing down the selection, we have a rigorous scoring card updated yearly and posted for all chapter leaders to review. The selection process, guided by staff, is fully transparent to our very knowledgeable and experienced Chapters Task Force judges.
Chapter of the Year nominees receive scores based on their chapter engagement, service to members, communication, recruitment, education/professional development, leadership training, advocacy, and innovation. I am very proud of say all the award-winning chapters excelled in all categories.
Small Chapter of the Year: Utah
Medium Chapter of the Year: Central & Southern Ohio
Large Chapter of the Year: Southern California
Chapter Leader of the Year is a very special award. HIMSS is lucky to have over 650 very talented chapter leader volunteers. Their hard work and dedication has made the HIMSS chapter program a success. The Chapter Leader of the Year nomination highlights the tenure of the individual touching on: leadership skills, goals, vision, implementation of new programs/ideas, collaboration, development of other leaders, and overall impact on the chapter.
Chapter Leader of the Year: Connie McGee, Tennessee Chapter of HIMSS, FY15-16 President
I encourage you to share a big congratulations to these hardworking chapters and chapter leader. Their passion towards HIMSS mission has touched thousands of lives. We are so blessed to have these volunteers share their time and talents with us.
Find out more about the Communities Open House at HIMSS17. Register to attend the HIMSS17 Awards Gala
Expanding Chapter Reach through Collaborations
No single organization is the best at everything – especially with limited resources. Chapter leaders have the opportunity to make a significant impact on each chapter and the health IT industry. Consider working with other organizations, which allows chapters to do more with limited resources. HIMSS chapters can be vehicles for connecting membership to local, state and regional stakeholders. Collaborations provide new opportunities to strengthen chapters and their purposes. Think about the big picture and make sure the collaborations circle back to the mission and chapter goals.
Considers connections in both the personal and professional arenas that could foster partnerships. It may take several steps to build these relationships, but take advantage of these opportunities. Making introductions and building connections can have a steady impact on the growth of a chapter.
Also, consider connections with other non-profits, Medical Societies, HIEs, State agencies, Public Health, QIOs, and other HIMSS Non-Profit Partners. If an operational overlap exists with like-minded organizations, use this as a stepping-stone for successfully collaborations. Trust is the cornerstone of a relationship, so practice transparency to avoid frustration and conflict. Consider collaboration that include co-hosting education and networking events, joint Policy Days, cross promote events, work with other associations to find speakers, or offer to present at another organizations meeting. Once areas are identified for collaboration, it is recommended to create an agreement to outline what will be done together, including roles and responsibilities. Leadership needs to be supportive and avoid ego ownership issues. The goal is collaboration for the greater good of the both groups.
It is important to note that HIMSS collaborations must be between non-profit organizations that are like-minded and support the HIMSS mission and vision. For-profit collaborations are not permitted, as this may jeopardize chapters’ 501c6 tax exemption status. Although a for-profit entity cannot become a HIMSS chapter collaborator, they may be able to sponsor your chapter’s events and activity. Chapters can offer for-profit entities a discount to attend chapter events, chapter membership or exhibition opportunities.
If a chapter is considering collaborating with an organization as a co-sponsor, please make sure to fill out the Chapter Collaboration Survey and refer to the collaboration policy. Contact Stephanie Denvir, CAE, senior director of strategic relations or Jessie Bird, manager of strategic relations with questions regarding collaborations.
Written Agreements – Are They Necessary?
Written agreements are put in place for everyone’s protection to make sure that from the start everyone is on the same page on what the exchange of promises are and what the consideration (whether monetary or not) for those promises will be. It is a benefit to all to have the terms in agreement, in case the original people who negotiated the deal will still be with the organizations by the time an unanticipated dispute arises.
The MOU is a document that is best used when the parties want to set forth some terms that will be legally binding even though not all the details of the arrangement are finalized. For example, using this type of agreement is perfect for this kind of situation ‘we’re going to work together to produce some products or services that we haven’t yet clearly defined, but what we do know is that we’re going to split revenues and expenses 50-50 we want to make sure that if there’s a dispute it has to be in the (fill in the blank) State court system and we want to lock each other in for two years.’ In this type of arrangement, the MOU says the details of the product and service aren’t binding yet, but what is binding is that we’ll use a good faith effort to develop and market those products and services, how expenses and revenues will be shared, and if there’s a dispute we mutually agree to a jurisdiction in advance.
Alternatively, a contract spells out all of the binding terms. It sets out the precise deliverables and what it will take for those deliverables to have been deemed delivered. A well-written contract won’t have the vagueness in it that an MOU does. A sample collaboration MOU is available.
Erring on the side of caution, it is a good idea to have collaborations documented. At the end of the day, it is up to the chapter board to determine what they feel comfortable with regarding the need for agreements and MOUs. It is recommended that processes for collaborations and MOUs in the chapter policy document. |
