Associations are notoriously slow to change, especially when it comes to their meetings and events. Traditions run deep, volunteer leaders rotate often, and “the way we’ve always done it” and the “when we’s” can feel like insurmountable obstacles. But our stakeholders have changed—and so have their expectations.
There’s a Mark Victor Hansen quote I rely on whenever conversations around event design get contentious:
“If you do things the same way you’ve always done them, you’ll get the same outcomes you’ve always gotten. In order to change your outcomes, you’ve got to do things differently.”
So in 2025, the Midwest Healthcare Engineering Conference (MWHCEC) did exactly that.
MWHCEC is a joint collaboration between the Michigan Society for Healthcare Engineering, the Indiana Society of Healthcare Engineers, the TriState Society of Healthcare Engineers, the Southern Illinois Chapter of Healthcare Engineering, the Central Illinois Chapter of Healthcare Engineers, and the Healthcare Engineers Society of Northern Illinois (HESNI). Our staff includes myself as Director of Meetings, Emily Wrinkle as Meetings Manager and Abby Self as Marketing manager - a small but mighty team!
And this year, together, we decided to stop settling for “good” and start designing for what’s possible. Here is how we worked through a transformational year.
1. Change Was Non-Negotiable
The healthcare engineering profession has evolved rapidly—technology, regulations, staffing, and professional demands are shifting at a rapid pace. Attendees no longer come to conferences simply for CEUs, they need structured networking and solutions.
We realized that conferences from years past were no longer meeting our stakeholder needs. Our attendees were craving a more meaningful experience and our Exhibitors wanted better engagement. If we wanted different results, we needed different approaches.
2. What We Changed—And Why It Mattered
We looked with intention at all the aspects of our attendees conference journey and identified key areas for improvement, beginning with the conference schedule.
● Program Design: Continuing Education is important to our members, so it was important to balance the hours of education with thoughtful networking and engagement with exhibitors. We updated the schedule to begin with a shorter preconference on Sunday followed by an off-site welcome reception designed for a low stakes networking opportunity - resulting in a 350% increase in attendance. Our sponsor was extremely pleased and attendees hung around long past the end time.
● Exhibit Hall Experience: We all know that our exhibitors provide much needed financial support for our events, keeping attendee costs low and sharing the tools/solutions our stakeholders need to be successful. So we knew we needed to maximize their impact in 2025. With the support of our committee, we opened the hall a day early with a Happy Hour in the hall - kicked off with a ribbon cutting by our key volunteers. Instead of just dropping a bar and some snacks in the hall, we designed a member lounge with a headshot station and made sure to staff the lounge with volunteers to welcome first time attendees - even handing out little bee stickers to all our newbies! And did I mention we were in a new Hall? After 5+ years in the same location we had moved - so we also had to communicate that change - through lots of emails and some extra wayfinding.
● Registration & Customer Service Updates: It was time to upgrade the registration experience for our attendees. We implemented on demand badge printing which made last minute registrations and attendee swaps much easier to handle for a more seamless attendee experience. We also added some sparkle to the boring reminders we are required to have at general sessions by creating videos for our safety plan and an app tutorial, elevating the professionalism of the event and taking the pressure off the Board President to read all that information. Speaking of apps, we soft launched a more formal CEU check-in process via the app, to assist our attendees in more accurately tracking their session attendance. This is not yet a requirement for their professional credits, but we know that transcripts are helpful in their designation renewal processes.
● Attendee Engagement Enhancements: Our stakeholders journey (and impression of the event) begins well before they arrive onsite, so we wanted to make sure all our participants felt prepared - whether that was a speaker, exhibitor or attendee. Emily ran informational webinars for speakers and exhibitors to better prepare them for a successful conference. She tapped into our committed volunteers to co-facilitate some of these conversations. She then held a new attendee informational session - over 20% of our stakeholders are first timers! From fun Newbie stickers to revamped trade show prize drawings that took the rigging out of the winners, attendee engagement was the key to our success.
3. How We Built Buy-In (and Confidence) Around Change
Changing an established conference doesn’t happen by accident—and it definitely doesn’t happen alone. We approached this transformation with empathy and collaboration. We ensured that the Programming Committee diversely represented Volunteer leaders from each state chapter to bring invaluable perspective. This included both Healthcare Engineers and Exhibitors so that our major stakeholders were equally represented. We then created subcommittees that we called - Champions. These champions more closely focused on different aspects of the event - from exhibits to attendee engagement. From many years of volunteer management, we know one thing for sure: people support what they help create, so our Champions were integral to our success.
Here’s how we gained alignment:
● We listened—really listened—to frustrations and opportunities. This went beyond data deep dives from surveys, we used our time on committee and Board calls as ad-hoc focus groups.
● We presented options, not ultimatums. We were designing an event for them, not us, so the ideas needed to resonate with them and make sense.
● We shared the “why” behind every recommendation. And spoiler alert, it was not - because we can.
● We communicated early, often, and clearly. From preconference webinars to detailed know before you go emails and targeted stakeholder newsletters, we reiterated that changes were coming!
● We collaborated. Expanding the partner chapters this year helped us to spread the excitement and showcase the event to an even broader audience.
We made sure every stakeholder felt part of the process rather than subject to it.
4. The Results—And Why Doing Things Differently Was Worth It
The results of the 2025 transformation spoke for themselves. There was definitely a renewed energy at the Indiana Convention Center this year. We are still parsing out the evaluations, but this year’s conference brought together over 540 attendees, 35 students and 116 booths.
But beyond the metrics, something more important happened:
● The conference rediscovered its momentum - “MWHCEC continues to tweak and improve its opportunities for bringing suppliers, architects, and healthcare systems together. There is a good reason this show grows and improves every year!
● Attendees commented on the fresh energy - “ This is the best Healthcare Facilities-focused conference in the Midwest: great education, networking, and products at the tradeshow. I've always come back to my organization with new ideas.”
● Exhibitors noticed better conversations - “We love this show and appreciate that you are looking for more ways to engage the attendees. I do believe the reception at the show floor, Monday evening, was much more beneficial than in the past at a remote location. We also liked being a prize sponsor and did participate in a “theme booth” which did draw interest from our customers and other booth exhibitors.”
● Staff and volunteers felt more aligned. Our reimagined committee with a new scope deeper than just choosing programming resulted in true conference champions. These event evangelizers helped create meaningful attendee experiences and shared their excitement on social media.
● Lessons were definitely learned. Not everything was an overwhelming success, but it takes some low risk testing to find out what is worth focusing on in the future.
Our members saw firsthand that shaking up tradition doesn’t mean losing identity—it means strengthening it. In 2025, MWHCEC chose courage. And the ripple effects will carry forward for years to come.
