CHPRMS 53rd Annual Conference: Connected By Purpose

Check in at our Registration Booth next to the elevators on the Mezzanine Level, and then head over to the Carolina Ballroom for breakfast before our Keynote Session.

Healthcare marketers are increasingly accountable for trust, growth, and retention-yet they rarely control the full
experience that actually creates them. Patients don't experience brands through campaigns alone; they experience access delays, unclear next steps, fragmented communication, and inconsistent handoffs across teams.So what can marketers realistically influence?


This session explores how healthcare organizations can build trust in a fragmented environment by focusing on the moments that matter most-how patients enter the system, understand their journey, and decide whether to stay. Drawing on perspectives from oncology marketing, digital platforms, and service line strategy, panelists will examine
where trust breaks and what it takes to rebuild it through clearer expectations, faster access, and more coordinated
experiences.


Using NASCAR and other high-engagement industries as a point of contrast-not a blueprint-the discussion will highlight what translates to healthcare and where the comparison breaks down.Attendees will leave with a practical,
four-part playbook they can apply immediately:

• Map one patient journey to identify friction, confusion, and drop-off points
• Shift messaging from "what we do" to "what happens next" to build clarity and confidence
• Measure friction (e.g.,referral leakage, call abandonment, time to appointment), not just campaign performancePartner with operational leaders to fix one high-impact barrier to access or coordinationThis session is designed for healthcare marketers and leaders looking to move beyond campaigns and take a more active role in shaping the experiences that drive trust, retention, and growth.

Enjoy water, coffee and a snack with sponsors

Patients and families in diverse communities are posting about their care in real time, often revealing expectations and
concerns not captured in surveys or scores. Learn how digital ethnography helps Roper St. Francis use cultural insight and
community listening to build trust, understand emerging themes, and apply insights to brand strategy, service planning,
and experience improvement.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Learn how listening to the lived experiences of your community can help hone strategy2)
- Understand how digital ethnography can be applied to uncover gaps, inform decision-making3) Find out how digital
ethnography strengthens patient acquisition and retention

Healthcare organizations across the country are facing a workforce crisis-staff shortages, burnout, and increasing difficulty
recruiting and retaining qualified team members. While many solutions continue to focus on compensation, staffing models,
and short-term fixes, these approaches alone are not solving the problem.The more important question is not just why
organizations can't find people - but why people are not choosing to stay.This session challenges the traditional narrative
around workforce shortages and offers a different perspective: healthcare organizations don't just have a staffing
problem-they have a culture problem.Today's healthcare workforce is making decisions based not only on pay and
workload, but on how they feel at work. Do they feel supported? Valued? Connected to purpose? When those elements are
missing, organizations struggle with disengagement, burnout, and turnover-regardless of other incentives.Audrey Cassell
and Dan Dunlop will explore how culture has become a defining factor in recruitment and retention, and how organizations
that intentionally build and live their culture gain a significant competitive advantage. Drawing from real-world experience
at Mountain Valley, they will share how a culture centered on purpose, service, and human connection can strengthen
engagement, improve retention, and enhance organizational reputation.The session will also examine the connection
between culture and brand. In today's environment, prospective employees are evaluating organizations based on both
their internal culture and external reputation. When those are aligned, organizations attract mission-driven talent and build
stronger, more stable teams. When they are not, trust erodes and workforce challenges persist.Attendees will leave with a
clear understanding that workforce challenges are not just operational-they are cultural-and with practical strategies to
build an environment where people choose to join, choose to stay, and are able to do their best work.

Even the best-intentioned healthcare marketers fall into traps that undermine trust, confuse audiences, and stall results.
Blending agency perspective and client-side truth, Christian Barnett unpacks the "seven deadly sins" of healthcare
marketing and challenges attendees to reimagine what effective, human-centered marketing looks like in a post-truth,
high-pressure landscape. Expect uncomfortable truths, actionable strategies, and a call to move from performance to
purpose.

Enjoy water, coffee and a snack with sponsors

This session is designed to cover the many ways that AEO provides a strategic opportunity across PR, SEO, web, paid media and social by shifting your goal from channel-specific performance to building overall brand authority, visibility and trust in the places AI and audiences currently discover answers.Connected by Purpose is a wonderful theme for this work to fall within because AEO is the search tool that ties together all forms of communications - strengthening authority signals, refreshing key pages, aligning your PR themes and owned content, tightening technical SEO and making content easier for AI systems to understand and cite.

In this session, Cory Robertson will explore the profound impact of storytelling in the healthcare sector. At the heart of
effective content strategy is the timeless truth that people care about people, and compelling stories resonate deeply on an
emotional level. Cory will delve into the art of capturing authentic human experiences, emphasizing that personalized
storytelling can transform the way healthcare messages are received.

Join us for breakfast and a brief update on CHPRMS, our incoming board, and what's next for the organization

What happens when community engagement is treated not as outreach, but as infrastructure?In this keynote, Austen
Williams, MPA, shares a multi-state case study on transforming health and social care technology from a passive directory
into an active care ecosystem. Drawing on more than a decade of cross-sector leadership and community-based
implementation, she explores how values shape systems, how trust shapes adaptation, and how intentional alignment
reduces friction across fragmented landscapes.Through the story of activating The Medi Community Resource Center
across states and sectors, this session examines "the thing behind the thing": the relational and structural conditions that
determine whether tools are merely accessed or fully integrated into community life.Designed for leaders committed to
impact, this keynote reframes community engagement as coordinated design. When dignity is centered, relational capital
is leveraged, and partners align around shared ownership, ecosystems strengthen, and sustainable outcomes
follow.Attendees will leave with a practical framework for determining whether community engagement in their
organizations is assumed or intentionally designed, and how to embed alignment into everyday operations.

Enjoy water, coffee and a snack with sponsors

Healthcare is full of AI pilots-but few ever scale to deliver real, sustained impact. This session challenges the cycle of
endless experimentation and explores what it actually takes to move from pilot to enterprise value.Through real-world
examples-including AI-driven voice, automation, and digital access strategies-this session will show how one health system
moved beyond isolated pilots to achieve measurable improvements in patient access, operational efficiency, and
experience. Attendees will gain practical insights into aligning stakeholders, building the right operational foundation, and
creating the governance needed to scale what works.Designed for healthcare marketing and communications leaders, this
session highlights how to shift from supporting pilots to driving strategies that deliver meaningful, system-wide results.

Enjoy water, coffee and a snack with sponsors

Spend your first 30-minutes in one of three round table discussions regarding Content and Social Media, then spend your next 30 minutes in another. This is a great way to network and share experiences with your peers. Round table topics include: 1. Creating Kicka$$ Content with Andy Lyons (Roper St. Francis Healthcare), 2. Overcoming the SME Challenge with Kirsten Lecky (WG Content), and 3. Clarity is King with Shelley Heinrichs (Aha Media Group).

Luggage hold will be available in the Laurens Room on the Mezzanine Level

AI is exploding and changing the way we work. It makes things easy and complex at the same time. It also risks us from
falling into a sea-of-sameness trap and forgetting what makes us human. Humanity is more important now than ever. This
talk will not be about AI tips, tricks or implementation plans. Your AI brain can take a welcome break. Instead, we'll dive
into why our uniqueness as humans gives us the power to lead from the heart and head, instead of the emotionless data
centers popping up everywhere.

Enjoy water, coffee and a snack with sponsors

The Commitment Compass: Navigate Beyond the ConferenceEvery conference ends the same way, notebooks full, hearts
full, and minds racing with possibility. But then comes the return to "normal life." The inbox fills and the schedule crowds.
The spark fades.In The Commitment Compass: Navigate Beyond the Conference, healthcare leader and keynote speaker
Veronica Sterling helps audiences turn that spark into sustained direction. Drawing from her own story of renovation,
adventure, and loss, Veronica takes attendees on a journey of transformation to inspire their own action towards
growth.Through storytelling, humor, and reflection, she shares how the DIY renovation project of a 1984 Airstream
motorhome became a real-world map for navigating change and commitment for leadership and life. Participants will follow
along with a guided worksheet, building their own "Compass" in real time to identify their True North, strengthen their
capacity, and commit to purposeful next steps.This closing keynote leaves attendees inspired and equipped with a tangible
framework and a renewed sense of clarity and courage to continue the momentum long after the conference ends.Perfect
for any event seeking to end on a note of energy, reflection, and purpose.