From ViVE and CHIME with Dr. Jayne 3/27/23

This week I’m in Nashville to experience the combined event that is CHIME and ViVE. I didn’t attend ViVE last year, but I heard stories about it, although Miami might have provided a different vibe than Nashville. 

Speaking of, it’s been some time since I’ve visited. Nashville has undergone some dramatic transformation in the last decade. The downtown Broadway-adjacent areas are chock full of party buses, pedal pubs, and bachelorette parties, at least on a Saturday night. Fortunately, I had a local guide for the evening, and after tapas downtown, we were able to avoid the tourist traps in favor of more interesting neighborhoods with plenty of local color.

It’s amazing to see all the new construction being interspersed with cute bungalows and historic features. It seems to work better in some areas than others, although the real estate prices are pretty high for things that are going to be torn down anyway. Germantown was a neighborhood that caught my eye and we’ll have to plan for extra time there on my next trip. Saturday night was also a quest for the best Old Fashioned cocktail, with the barrel-aged version at the Black Rabbit winning hands down.

Sunday kicked off with registration at the Music City Center. It was a low-key process with no lines. Swag was fairly standard, with a conference bag, water bottle, and mints, with an optional hat. Among the goodies in the bag was a reusable drinking straw from Lirio. I’m a huge fan of reusable straws at home, but I’ve never used them when traveling. If I decide to do so, the little carry bag is a plus.

Then it was back across the street to check in with the CHIME side of the conference, which was even more laid back. I was able to connect with a colleague over breakfast and also make some new friends, so that was a plus. Today was a day for CHIME Foundation members to host focus groups, and there was quite a bit of traffic for the offerings. My first experience with the focus groups was last fall. I found them to be a valuable way to hear about some of the challenges that other organizations are facing and how they’re dealing with addressing them. After hearing some of the stories told in the groups, you feel like you’re not alone.

I attended a couple of focus groups today, and although they were great for networking, the sessions themselves were a bit of a mixed bag as far as content. The attendee evaluation sheets are supposed to include stated goals for the focus groups. One group I attended didn’t seem to have stated goals and the presenter nearly lost control of the group. The discussion veered way off topic, but that conversation still delivered some learning. Namely, that if you get a bunch of CIOs, CTOs, and CMIOs in a room, you never know quite what you’re going to get.

Another group that I attended used an audience polling tool, not only to gather information, but to make sure the participants were engaged. I liked that strategy. Because of the way the polls were constructed, it was clear that they had spent time pre-session to determine what they were trying to achieve with it and how to get the information they wanted. The way the meeting rooms were positioned brought in lot of street noise that was occasionally distracting.

I managed to get out in the afternoon to enjoy the sunshine. I enjoy looking at historic buildings and downtown Nashville doesn’t disappoint. Plenty of buildings have interesting details and there are lots of historic markers around town that I didn’t see when I was out last night.

There are plenty of sassy shoes and boots out on the streets of Nashville, but I wasn’t able to capture pictures without seeming like a creeper. I didn’t have a wing woman with me at the time to act like she was posing for me while I surreptitiously captured a pic of the shoes in question. If you didn’t bring your own boots, there are several boot shops close to the convention center, so there is still time to pick up a souvenir. From there, it was back to the room to do a spot of email, and then on to the CHIME welcome reception.

The reception was hopping, although there was a bit of a check-in process for those of us who didn’t have the right symbol on our badges to indicate that we were CHIME members rather than just ViVE attendees looking to score some appetizers. The crowd was a veritable Who’s Who of healthcare IT, but it was so dark I couldn’t be on the lookout for shoes. The accessory of choice was apparently the light=up cowboy hat that came in black, blue, pink, white, or yellow. One attendee was even spotted wearing one of each color, which seemed excessive, but hey, when in Nashville, you do you.

The lights came on at 7 p.m.and they started moving people out, which coincided with the start of the ViVE opening reception proper. The event was packed. I ended up peeling off for a dinner date, but from the reports I received, I didn’t miss anything earth shaking. If you were there and have something different to report, please let me know.

Because I’m often blogging on the road, I travel with two devices to ensure that there are no questions about inappropriate use of my employer’s resources. My trusty Surface Pro 4 has served me well for more than six years. It has  been nice to carry as my secondary device because it’s not only small, but has great resolution and all the features and functions of a laptop. It also has the Surface Pen, which is great for my drawing-intensive hobby.

Unfortunately, my Surface has started having some battery issues and runs a little hot. I decided to look at options for a replacement. If it gave up the ghost on a trip it wouldn’t be the end of the world since everything I do is backed up to a cloud solution, but when I have free time, I usually don’t think about spending it to shop for hardware. I got a popup on my device today about considering a trade in, and decided to walk through the process just for giggles. My trusty pal has served me well, but apparently it’s worth less than a tank of gas as a trade in. I’ll hang onto it until it fully dies because the value of having a backup device in case of emergency is worth much more than 40 bucks.

If you were replacing an aging Surface Pro, what would you buy? Leave a comment or email me.

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