State Associations Continue to Provide Education Virtually

Published in Member Communities on May 26, 2021

State associations used a virtual conference platform during COVID-19 to provide education and CEUs to members.

The unexpected turn of events with COVID-19 put a strain on every aspect of healthcare in 2020 and into 2021. Most state associations focused on durable and home medical equipment (DME/HME) had to cancel their in-person conferences in 2020, which could have cost a lot in lost revenue. Late last summer, the VGM Government Relations team sought out a way to assist the state associations in this time of concern. They wanted to help the associations continue to provide their members with education and CEU courses while also generating some revenue that was lost during COVID-19 due to canceled events. 

Earlier in 2020, VGM Education purchased a virtual conference platform called SABA. The government team worked with the VGM Education team to make the SABA platform available for state associations to use, at little cost.  

The VGM Government Relations team reached out to a handful of the VGM vendor partners asking if they would want to participate in the virtual conferences to help offset the cost for state associations. Realizing that they would be part of a solution to this challenge for the state associations, vendors stepped up to the plate. The support from GCE, Medline, SoClean, VGM & Associates, VGM Forbin, VGM Insurance, VGM Education, Brightree, Philips Respironics, NCART, and U.S. Rehab made it so there was very little cost to the state associations. The only cost that the associations had to absorb was the cost of the CEUs, which was $10 per person. Vendors were also able to have a virtual exhibit booth at each of the nine conferences, including CAMES, TexMEP, ACMESA, HOMES, PAMES, NEMEP, PAMS, MAMES, and Great Lakes. 

The average amount of revenue these conferences generated for the associations was $3,620.61. The average amount of participants for each conference was 130.  

Kelly Ore of CAMES said, “We cannot thank VGM enough for assisting the CAMES organization with hosting our annual event virtually. Having the ability to offer CEU’s in addition to a fantastic list of speakers allowed us to attract a broader audience. I was amazed at how easy the process was, and how much work VGM put in to launch a flawless full-day event. Having the ability to provide input every step of the way was phenomenal and customizing our offerings to be tailored to our attendees increased our overall participation. We are grateful for the support of our organization and that VGM understands and values the importance of state organizations. I would recommend this platform to any state association that is considering a virtual event. We yielded results that exceeded our expectations!”  

And Beth Bowen, Executive Director of ACMESA, FAHCS, ATHOMES, and NEMEP commented, “Our partnership with VGM during the pandemic has been invaluable. They’ve provided so many resources for state associations including a virtual platform with all the bells and whistles. The platform allowed us to connect with our membership and provide them with the best experience possible, next to being in person. We all know that meeting face to face proves to be the most productive, but when that isn’t an option, this platform provided the benefits we needed and allowed us to engage with our membership.” 

VGM Government was excited to be able to find a solution for the state associations during this challenging time, and the SABA platform remains available for use. Please contact VGM Education at 866-227-8171 or visit vgmeducation.com for more information.  

Thank you again to everyone who contributed to making all of the virtual state association conferences a success! 

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