If you work in health IT, you know that the annual HIMSS conference is the biggest annual industry event whether you are headed to Las Vegas next week or not. The number of emails, blog posts, social media posts, and articles providing guidance and recommendations on HIMSS18 continues to grow with just a few more days before it all begins.

With so much info out there, I decided to pull together a few more resources that might help in your final preparation:

Here’s the good news! You don’t have to attend to benefit from all that’s happening there. HIMSS TV will be launched for the first time ever. There will be live coverage from the conference. You can also follow on Twitter using #HIMSS18 or specific hashtags for your area of interest.

Whether you are attending in person or following the happenings from a distance, the “Official HIMSS18 hashtag guide” will help you focus in on your areas of interest. And of course you’ll want to follow all the social media ambassadors.

Check out “HIMSS – are you ready?” from StarBridge Advisors to see our principals’ top picks for this year – mine are #WomenInHIT, #HITventure and #Connect2Health.

If you are still trying to pick your education sessions, the topical guides provided by HealthITNews as “Don’t Miss Education Sessions” may be helpful to review.

HealthSystemCIO.com has a special HIMSS18 Preview aimed at CIOs and health IT leaders you’ll want to check out.

Are you an introvert? If being around 45,000+ people for several days and being expected to network gives you pause, “The Introvert’s Guide to Networking at HIMSS 18 “ from Healthcare IT Leaders might be helpful.

There are many events aimed at women and developing your career. Check out my blog post, “HIMSS18 for Her: Highlighting the Key Opportunities for Women“, published by HealthSystemCIO.com for an overview. According to HIMSS, nearly 40% of preconference and general education speakers are women this year.

The career fair on Wednesday is something to consider checking out if you are early in your HIT career, looking for a change, or just want to get some tips from the experts. HIMSS manager for professional development, Maggie Van Vossen, describes it in her blog.

I’m looking forward to a great conference with plenty to learn, new people to meet, and colleagues to catch up with. It will be fun to share some of my experience and insight at my education session, “Advice for the Aspiring Female Executive” during the Wednesday career fair. I am also participating on a few other panels Monday and Tuesday.

I will be attending HIMSS18 along with my StarBridge Advisors colleagues, David Muntz and Russ Rudish, and several of our advisors. Please let me know if you are interested in meeting with us while there.

One final piece of advice to both men and women – comfortable shoes are a necessity if you don’t want to be hobbling on to the plane at the end of the week.