As I hear recaps of the HLTH 2021 conference in Boston last week and see colleagues posting about the upcoming CHIME Fall Forum, I admit I have a little bit of FOMO (fear of missing out). The HLTH conference was never on my radar given my work and moving schedule though it was nearby. I had looked forward to attending the CHIME Fall Forum in San Diego this coming week and seeing colleagues in person after all this time with only virtual events. But for several reasons, I won’t be attending.

John Lynn with Healthcare IT Today and Bill Russell with Today in Health IT provided highlights of the HLTH conference for those of us not attending. I expect Bill will do the same during the CHIME Fall Forum between daily recaps and live interviews while there.

There will be the usual excellent keynote speakers and track sessions with members presenting at CHIME. One of the highlights I am sorry to be missing will be Wednesday’s pre-forum session – “CHIME’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Retreat”. It will include speakers on “Unpacking Identity and Bias” and a panel session with CHIME members titled “Sharing DE&I Successes, Challenges and Next Steps”.  As a member of the CHIME DE&I committee, I value the connections made and candid conversations we’ve had in the planning of these sessions. We are continually learning from one another on this journey. It was after watching/listening to the DE&I session at the virtual CHIME Fall Forum a year ago that I decided to join this committee and help with this important work finding yet another way to get involved and give back.

Virtual events have been abundant and gotten better over the past 20 months as organizers adapted to the tools and speakers got used to monitoring online chats and Q&A vs interacting with live audiences. I can say from experience that recording a presentation in advance is nothing like the audience interaction when speaking live. Whether live or recorded in advance, I’ve enjoyed doing panels where we were able to interact as panelists. On the plus side, as an attendee, virtual events have been an easy way to keep up and stay current while providing the flexibility to join for specific sessions while working around a busy schedule.

While serving as interim CIO at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) from March until a few weeks ago, I also participated in the virtual Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) CIO forums and monthly hot topic sessions learning from this specialized group of CIO colleagues. It was extremely valuable during my time at BCH, and I appreciate them including me as an interim CIO.

As we get back to safe in-person events, the much-missed networking will most likely be the best part for many people. The networking is part of my FOMO for sure! To all my CHIME colleagues, consider this my virtual handshake (or hug for some of you). Thank you for all you’ve done to serve your organizations, your patients, your community, and our industry during this unprecedented time. Hope to see you in person soon!