Hello!
This message goes out to all those who have registered to attend IHA’s 13th Annual Health Literacy Conference: “Operational Solutions to Low Health Literacy: At the Intersection of the Affordable Care Act and Health Literacy.” I hope you’re as excited as we are about this year’s conference. Here are a few notes to help you make the most of your conference experience. Please note, Action Items are in bold red type.
Questions? Reply to this email or call me at the number below. Ready? Let’s go!
BEFORE THE CONFERENCE
Conference Materials
Please follow this link to download your conference materials. This page includes speaker presentations, the attendee list (as of April 22), poster presentation list, and more. Remember, if you want to follow along with speaker presentations while you’re at the conference, you need to download and print them out (unless you pre-ordered a binder when you registered) or load them onto your laptop or tablet.
To see the download material, you must login using the same email address you used to register for the conference and the 8 digit registration ID contained within your conference registration confirmation. That registration confirmation would have been emailed to you shortly after completing the conference registration process. Forgot your password? Follow this link to retrieve it and then click on the “forgot” tab at the bottom of the page.
Bulletin Board
Want to reach out to your colleagues? Set up a meet-up time? Share a room or a ride? Post your note on the Attendee Bulletin Board. We encourage you to take a peek at this site often prior to the conference, and use it to reach out to your fellow attendees. New this year!
Like us! Follow us!
We sure hope you like us as much as we like you, so we cordially invite you to become a part of our social media efforts. If you’ve not done so already (thanks so much if you have!), please Like us on Facebook here and here, Follow us on Twitter, and Connect with us on LinkedIn.
Hotel Rooms
As of this writing, although the cutoff date for discounted rooms has passed, there are still rooms available. If you’ve yet to reserve your room, click here and book it now for the discounted rate of $125/night!
Preconference Sessions
Coming in Tuesday night, or early Wednesday morning? If you’ve not done so already, consider adding on a preconference session. Take a look at our agenda, and if it works for your schedule, and you want to earn a few more continuing education credits, sign up now!
One session we strongly encourage you to attend if you’re with us on Wednesday is the Live, National Interactive Social Media Event to discuss Stories and Lessons from the Intersection of the Affordable Care Act and Health Literacy. Lunch will be provided courtesy of the Hotel Irvine. But what we REALLY want is for you to share your story about health literacy and the Affordable Care Act. Did you help enroll folks during the open enrollment period? What health literacy challenges did you encounter? Successes? Failures? We want to hear about, and learn from, any and all of your experiences. Please click here and provide us with your story ahead of time.We’re especially interested in getting a few video stories. And literally, this means having someone hold a smart phone on you as you tell your story in a few minutes. No high production values needed, just you talking to your colleagues about your experience. Then upload the video file to our IHA Filecamp.com page, here. There’s no need to log in or anything else. Just visit the link and drag the file into the browser window. Technical questions? Contact our helpful, cheerful IT Director, Mario Melia, mmelia@iha4health-copy.mystagingwebsite.com or call him at (562) 690-4001, x226. He’ll be happy to walk you through it!
AT THE CONFERENCE
Registration
Our conference registration desk opens early, on Tuesday night, May 6, at 4 pm in front of Salon C-D-E at the Hotel Irvine, and then again on Wednesday morning at 6 am. When you register, you’ll be handed your badge (required for entrance to all conference events), an agenda, and an evaluation form. If you pre-purchased a binder with your conference materials, that will be available, too. (A limited number of printed out binders with all materials will be available for purchase for $20 onsite.)
Book Shipping
If you’ve joined us at the conference before, you know that we shamelessly reward you for attending with a nifty tote bag at the end of the conference, stuffed with a copy of each of the 7 books in our “What To Do For Health” series. We also provide each attendee with a copy of the seminal book written by the Doaks, Teaching Patients With Low Literacy Skills, and a bunch of other goodies. As valuable as this is, it can be a bit heavy and bulky. For those who wish, for the low, low price of only $5, we’ll take care of shipping the books back home to you after the conference, anywhere in the lower 48. (Canadian and overseas prices a bit higher.) Stop by our Book Ship station near the Registration Desk anytime during the conference to take advantage of this (but we suggest you do it as early as you can). Want to ship your binder, too? No problem, just add an extra $2 and consider it done.
Be a Star!
During the conference, you’ll see a video crew prowling about, led by our very good friend, the intrepid Helen Osborne. Helen will be conducting some on the spot, person-on-the-street interviews with conference attendees. We’d love to have you share your thoughts about the IHA Health Literacy Conference, what you’re learning about, and how you plan on applying it to your work when the conference is done. Watch for her and don’t be shy! (You may also want to check out and sign up for another collaboration with Helen and IHA, Health Literacy Highlights, featuring short snippets of her podcast interviews with the movers and shakers in our health literacy community.)
Internet Café
Can’t stand to not check your email at least 12 times a day? We’ve got you covered! Our Internet Café (actually, just a table with laptops and chairs) is there with 10 – count ‘em, 10! – stations for you to browse to your heart’s content…or until the person waiting in line behind you taps you politely on the shoulder. No charge!
Continuing Education
If you signed up for continuing education credits when you registered, be sure you sign in on the attendance sheets each day. These sheets are located at the registration table in front of the General Session room (Salon C-D-E). Want credits but didn’t remember to sign up before the conference? No problemo. Just visit the friendly folks at the Registration Table for more info. (The only caveat here is, if you didn’t sign up ahead of time, you won’t get your certificate onsite; it’ll be mailed to you within 2 weeks after the conference.)
Lunches
Yes, we provide breakfast and lunch on both Thursday and Friday (and lunch on Wednesday as well, sponsored by our friends at the Hotel Irvine). A note regarding dietary restrictions: The Hotel Irvine can accommodate some special dietary requirements, including vegetarian and gluten-free. You were asked about these during your registration process, so if you selected a special meal then, you’re all set. If you need one of these special meals and did not select it at registration, you must let us know no later than Friday, May 2 at noon Pacific time. After that, availability will be extremely limited.
Thursday is our Networking Luncheon. Friday is our Awards Luncheon. Tables at the Networking Luncheon will be marked with states/regions from which all our attendees come. We will also have a few tables for those who prefer to self-select an interest group (no Big Brother control issues here!). Please sit at a table of your choice and take this opportunity to network with and meet colleagues from your own backyard / area of interest.
Opening Night Reception/Poster Session
One of our personal favorites! After a long day of learning on Thursday, join us in the Garden Pavilion at the Hotel Irvine (a nice, short stroll around the side of the hotel, past the pool) for a nibble, a libation, and more than 50 incredible posters. This is an excellent opportunity to check out some of the great work being done by your colleagues, and to ask them questions and hear about their efforts, face-to-face. In response to your comments in past Evaluation Forms, we’ve clustered this work into some semblance of order, to enhance your discovery experience. Also, in case you can’t make it to the session, or just don’t get to all the posters on Thursday night, we move the posters over to the general session room, so you can continue to browse them on Friday.
Exhibitors
We’d like to encourage you to stop by and visit our exhibitors at their tables. These folks have great information to share with you, and they are supporters of our conference, so please show your support and appreciation by stopping by to say hello.
END OF CONFERENCE
Tote Bags/Evaluation Forms/CE Certificates
At the end of the conference on Friday, May 11 (around 3:30 pm or so), our remarkably efficient IHA Health Literacy Conference Team members will be lined up, ready to hand out your Tote Bag o’ Goodies and continuing education certificates for those who signed up ahead of time. The price for this? Your completed Evaluation Form. Such a deal! Directions on which table to go to will be provided at the conference.
In addition to all this, of course, we have a roster of some of the finest speakers in the field, just waiting to share their knowledge and experience with you. We truly hope this conference is a great experience for you. Please be sure to share your opinions in your Evaluation Form.
Other questions? Call or email me, or ask anyone at the conference with the little red “Staff” ribbon under their name tag. They’re just waiting to help you!
Thanks for joining us. We really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to be here and learn more about health literacy.
See you next week!
Michael