Speaking at gener8tor’s Healthcare Conference; Reflections from Birmingham
All smiles here! Excited to take stage ;)
Buzzing energy. Digital-tap business cards. Investor pitches. Unmistakable passion. A startup showcase. And of course, plenty of logo-branded t-shirts.
Nothing like a room filled with startup founders, VCs and corporate leaders coming together to ideate and collaborate about solving our country’s greatest healthcare challenges. Just one goal of last week’s gener8tor Healthcare Conference that I had the pleasure of attending.
Despite having supported gener8tor in past years across a broad range of projects, I had never actually attended any of their conferences – and now, I feel like I really get it. The energy is contagious, people inspiring, founders impressive, and the overall event is seamlessly executed. Kudos, gener8tor team!
Grateful for the opportunity to lead a workshop about all things PR – the difference between marketing, the importance of creating headline-catching stories and leveraging your voice, and the parallels of pitching investors and media.
Whether it was the genuine interest and engagement from folks or the real-life solutions presented to address challenges like clinician and nurse burnout, patient accessibility, antiquated electronic health systems or patient diagnosing – I walked away from the event with a sense of energy and hope.
I had also never been to Birmingham and was genuinely intrigued and interested to see what the city had to offer (and even stayed one extra day and night to explore!). My main takeaway and gut feeling is that the innovation ecosystem is quite strong. The healthtech scene is of course flourishing, hence the plethora of impressive startups, and with organizations and resources like Prosper, Innovate Alabama, and Innovation Depot (among others) there’s a real sense of collaboration and collective teamwork.
Other quick takeaways:
Sloss Tech knows how to put on a conference! From the hip hop hype songs to the grand Lyric Theater venue backdrop to the incredible session from Frances Haugen (the Facebook Whistleblower), there were plenty of interesting people to meet and thoughtful topics to digest;
For whatever reason, I get the sense that the people in Birmingham have interesting stories to tell – like Jim Reed, an author and local bookstore owner who I had the pleasure of meeting just a few minutes before he was closing his store, The Museum of Fond Memories; and
Yes, the food is as yummy as everyone says it is! 🤤
Thanks for a fantastic 48 hours, Birmingham. Until next time!
