Today we were pleasantly surprised to find that DeMarse Meetings & Events was mentioned in today’s Tampa Bay Business Journal, in an article concerning MediFuture 2024. DeMarse Meetings is very excited to continue our involvement with such an innovative conference. Be sure to stay tuned for more announcements!

Future of MediFuture 2024 is bigger, longer, more ambitious

Alexis Muellner

Editor- Tampa Bay Business Journal

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In its first year, the MediFuture 2023 conference in Tampa was a half-day event focused on disruptive innovation in health care. The goal was to present the concept to the community and ask leadership, “Are you in? Do you think this has potential?” said Rick Homans, CEO at the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp.

“The answer was a resounding yes, from attendance to post-event buzz and the follow-on meetings have all affirmed this is an exciting opportunity for Tampa Bay,” he said.

The point of next year is to take an inward-looking event and turn it outward, and to convert the event into a national conference that becomes a platform to envision what the health care system could be 10 years out, and how to get there.

“And not the little steps that take us from this year to next year, but the big leaps that are transformative, disruptive and innovative that take us from where we are today to where we want to be,” Homans said. That means new business models, relationships, platforms, technologies, conflicts, debates and approaches, he said, the most fundamental being a change in health care focus from providers to consumers.

Homans said the EDC has more than $300,000 in sponsorships locally and has begun seeking national support with “great response” from some of the big national tech players. The goal is $900,000 from sponsors and the remainder from a combination of attendees and exhibitors.

EDC board member and Fowler White Boggs CEO Rhea Law called MediFuture 2024 “the personification” of Tampa Bay’s commitment to embrace a disrupted and transformed health care industry. MediFuture 2024 will focus on the waves of health care revolution “providing significant opportunities for entrepreneurs, existing and newly recruited life science companies, research facilities and universities to work together to form the epicenter of the new health care industry,” she said.

This becomes a national platform where the thought leaders come on stage, Homans said. “We have the national conversation right here at the Tampa Convention Center.”

MediFuture 2024 Partners

• ChappellRoberts: The advertising, marketing and public relations agency has been retained and is “contributing a lot” at a reduced rate, Homans said. It plans a “full-fledged” campaign comprised of print, direct mail and social media

• DeMarse Meetings & Events: Managing every aspect of the event planning in coordination with the other partners.

• ReviveHealth in Nashville: An exclusive health care related public relations firm that works nationally and will position the event and the community to the national media.

• Oliver Wyman Health Innovation Center: Signature partner. The global consulting firm has done a lot of research into what health care will look like in 10 years. It will take the lead on building a conference agenda including speakers, forums, key players and advocacies.