2023 Missouri Association for Healthcare Public Relations and Marketing Forum

Wednesday, Sept. 27: Crisis Communications Pre-Conference

Pre-conference sessions are designed to bring together hospital public relations and emergency preparedness staff to learn and collaborate on crisis communications. A reduced registration is available for Wednesday pre-conference sessions. Pre-conference attendees also will receive a recording of the Communicating with Diverse Audiences session.

12:30 p.m. — Registration

1 p.m. — Welcome and Introductions

1:15 p.m. — What Does and Doesn’t Change During a Crisis

In the year since the mass shooting at Saint Francis Hospital on June 1, 2022, a lot has changed within their organization — but at the same time, a lot hasn’t. This presentation will provide an overview of the tragedy itself, lessons learned throughout the incident, and insight into how an organization’s culture can (and arguably should) impact crisis response and communications.

Objectives

• understand the lessons learned from one health system’s experience of an on-campus mass shooting tragedy
• understand the role organizational culture plays in a health system’s internal and external communications during a crisis

Lauren A. Landwerlin
Vice President of Strategy, Marketing and Communications
Saint Francis Health System
Tulsa, Okla.

2:15 p.m. — Energy Break — Sponsored by Mostly Serious

2:45 p.m. — Crisis Communications Workshop

During this workshop, participants will conduct a tabletop exercise with multiple inputs requiring the modification of community messaging and actions while combatting misinformation and disinformation. The exercise includes preparing senior leaders to address the media and the community, and will conclude with a simulated hotwash exercise.

Objectives

• learn how to combat disinformation and misinformation
• craft concise and thoughtful messages and understand message frequency

Rebecca Feaster
President, Founder & Principal
Feaster and Associates
Hertford, N.C.

4:30 p.m. — Closing/Adjournment

4:45 p.m. — Networking Social

Thursday, Sept. 28: Conference

7:30 a.m. — Registration/Breakfast

8:15 a.m. — Welcome/Opening

8:30 a.m. — Communicating with Diverse Audiences

We live in a multigenerational/multicultural society, and the interpersonal challenges we face in the community from diverse populations are increasing. This discussion focuses on recognizing the generational and multicultural issues we navigate every day, and on understanding the values and approaches of different generations and cultures. When we understand and embrace our differences, we can better achieve collaboration in the workplace and within our communities.

Objectives

• embrace the demographic changes occurring in your community
• recognize how to best create natural stakeholders to assist with diverse communities

Rebecca Feaster
President, Founder & Principal
Feaster and Associates
Hertford, N.C.

9:30 a.m. — Energy Break — Sponsored by Mostly Serious

9:45 a.m. — Social Media Panel

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for social media. In this panel presentation, three social media experts from Missouri hospitals of different sizes with varying patient demographics each will give a brief presentation on what social media tools and strategies resonate with their respective communities. Their presentations will be followed by a social media Q&A session and open group discussion.

Panelists

Paige Heitman, MA
Director of Marketing
Phelps Health
Rolla, Mo.

Ryan Heldenbrand
Marketing Web Content Developer
Mosaic Life Care
St. Joseph, Mo.

Janell Patton, CAVS
Community Relations Manager, Marketing and Planning
Cox Monett and Cox Barton County

11:15 a.m. — Reels and TikTok and More, Oh My!

Posting video to the internet sure sounds easy, right?

It’s not.

This interactive presentation will review and instruct on the current best practices, everyday obstacles and what not to do with the ever-changing video tools of social media, including Reels and TikTok.

Objectives

• learn which traditional social media tactics and strategies cross over to video tools like Reels and TikTok
• discover the tools and tactics that separate Reels and TikTok from the old favorite social media platforms

Gus Wagner
President/Owner
The Rocket Group
Jefferson City, Mo.

12:30 p.m. — MAHPRM Show-Me Awards Luncheon

Join us as we showcase the best marketing and PR work from the past year! The Show-Me Excellence Awards recognize the hard work and outstanding results from Missouri hospitals’ marketing and PR teams. Awards will be presented for 23 categories.

2 p.m. — Benchmarking Roundtables

Every hospital is different, but many hospitals face the same challenges. This session will allow attendees the opportunity to network with their peers, and discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by their teams. Attendees will be grouped with like-sized hospital peers and will be prompted with items for discussion. Throughout this session, attendees will build valuable professional relationships and walk away with new perspectives to take back to their organizations.

3 p.m. — Energy Break — Sponsored by Mostly Serious

3:15 p.m. — Tools of the Trade Rotating Roundtables

Join your peers for some structured networking to discuss “tools of the trade” — what has worked for you, what didn’t and what you’d like to try. Attendees will rotate tables — each marked with a topic (such as social media management, email communication, fundraising, etc.) — and will be given an allotted amount of time to discuss the designated topic. Attendees will leave this session with new ideas and solutions to take back to their teams.

4:15 p.m. — Adjournment

Rebecca Feaster founded Feaster & Associates after working in a variety of strategic communication and consulting positions in the U.S. and internationally. She has facilitated and presented seminars and training around the world, and is known for her high-energy presentations and workshops, with specialization in crisis response; community engagement; cultural awareness; and diversity, equity and inclusion.

before opening her own firm, Feaster served as the City of Rockville, Md.’s public information officer; was a spokesperson for the Virginia State Police; and worked as a management and marketing consultant in Manama, Bahrain, Middle East. While in the Middle East, she was the first American news anchor on Bahrain television and also was a reporter for the Associated Press. She began her career as a U.S. Air Force officer, serving at bases throughout the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Puerto Rico.

Feaster holds a master’s of international public policy degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies; a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Tufts University; a certificate in mediation; and has completed a fellowship on culture, religion and world affairs at Boston University.

Lauren Landwerlin serves as the Vice President of Strategy, Marketing and Communications for Saint Francis Health System in Tulsa, Okla. In this role, she is responsible for the organization’s strategic planning, marketing, public relations, and internal and external communications. Additionally, she has operational responsibility for The Children’s Hospital Foundation at Saint Francis. From 2006 to 2012, she was the system’s physician recruiter and recruited more than 250 providers into the health system. Before her work in recruitment, Landwerlin served as the admissions coordinator and national outreach representative for Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital Eating Disorders Program — the program where she began her career with the health system in 2002.

Landwerlin earned her master’s degree in social work from The University of Oklahoma and a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Loyola University New Orleans. Throughout her career, she has been an active community volunteer and has served on a number of nonprofit boards — primarily focusing her efforts on health care, Catholic causes and the arts. She currently serves on the Board of Governors for Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma, the Gilcrease Museum Board of Trustees, the Board of the Child Abuse Network, and the Parks and Recreation Board for The City of Tulsa. She was appointed to the Tulsa World Community Advisory Board in 2020. In the same year, she was named a Tulsan of the Year by the Tulsa World for her efforts in pandemic-related communications and for organizing a communitywide mask distribution program at a time when masks were not readily available.

Gus Wagner is the President/Owner of The Rocket Group in Jefferson City, Mo. – a 20+-year-old award-winning marketing and communications firm. The Rocket Group specializes in building effective tools across traditional means and new media for clients in business, politics and government.

Wagner is a five-time certified social media strategist, a former Chief of Staff in the Missouri State Senate and a retired national champion amateur hockey coach.

Work produced by Wagner for clients by his companies consistently generates millions of views and engagements on social and traditional media, and it has appeared in Fast Company magazine, Mashable, The Huffington Post, every traditional media outlet in Missouri and on an internet near you.

Courtyard by Marriott Columbia
3301 Lemone Industrial Boulevard
Columbia, MO
573-443-8000

Request MHA Health Institute room rate of $114 + tax
Hotel cutoff date: Friday, Sept. 8, 2023
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The Missouri Hospital Association strongly encourages up-to-date COVID-19 vaccination and adherence to current CDC guidance on in-person gatherings. We will continue to monitor CDC guidelines and conduct meeting protocols accordingly.

Please note that your registration request will be submitted to the organizer for approval. Upon approval, instructional materials will be sent to the email address indicated on the registration form.

If you have special needs addressed by the Americans With Disabilities Act, please contact the Missouri Hospital Association.

MHA Health Institute
P.O. Box 60
Jefferson City, MO 65102
Phone: 573-893-3700
Fax: 573-893-2809

For cancellations received in writing before the established deadline date, the registrant will receive a full refund — minus a $50* processing fee per registrant. After the deadline date, no refunds will be granted. Registrants not in attendance will be responsible for the full registration fee. Substitutions are encouraged. We reserve the right to cancel this program because of insufficient registration.

*Unless otherwise specified in the program details.