Foothold Expo 2017: Expo TEN

June 22, 2017 marked Foothold Technology’s tenth annual user’s conference–EXPO TEN. Foothold clients from across the country headed to NYU’s Kimmel Center in lower Manhattan for a day rich with thought, learning, networking, and even a few games. Foothold experts and partners presented on a wide range of issues relevant to today’s human services providers. Attendees received tips about new AWARDS functionality in sessions like “Leveraging AWARDS Builders to Build Your Own Outcomes” and “Waiting List: How to Use AWARDS to Streamline Access to Your Programming” and previewed upcoming AWARDS functionality in sessions such as “Peer Into the AWARDS Crystal Ball: Development Roundtable” We also covered classic, helpful topics through sessions like “Becoming an AWARDS Encyclopedia: Certification” and “Countdown to an Invoice: BillingBuilder”.

Outside of the nuts and bolts of AWARDS, attendees learned about trends in the industry and how best to confront the endless changes providers see on an almost daily basis. This was especially true in the session “Healthcare in a New Era: How the Changing Landscape Impacts the Provider Community.” As one attendee put it, “I learned a lot about what is going on in the healthcare community and what my agency can do to stay ahead of the curve. It was great to hear how AWARDS can assist us with the ongoing changes.” Attendees also learned how to strengthen agency operations and maintain cyber security in a session called “Data Privacy & Security – It’s a Team Effort” and received some important tips on how staff can avoid burnout in “Breathe Out or Burnout: Lessons in Self-Care for Nonprofit Workers.” You can view slides from all our sessions here.

Our Keynote Speaker David Simon, creator of The Wire, Show Me a Hero, and Treme, among other shows, provided a blunt and thought-provoking talk on the current state of the world as it pertains to many of the individuals receiving services and supports from our client agencies. He called for providers to use the stories they witness on a daily basis as a weapon against institutional corruption. We love the reaction we received from one attendee about how David Simon’s speech resonated with her work when she shared, “Telling client stories respectfully is so important to combat stereotypes. Foothold is a very customer oriented company that cares about its clients.”

Perhaps one of the most important benefits of attending Expo is the opportunity to network with peers. We heard some great conversations in sessions, and we loved seeing attendees having some fun during our Lunchtime Trivia. Folks also had the opportunity to learn about our exhibitors, a select group of companies whose products and/or services are complimentary to those of Foothold and AWARDS. This year’s exhibitors included Accreditation Guru, Annese, Complete Compliance Solutions, GreyCastle Security, and Healthix. And for the third year in a row, we announced the winners of our Impact Prize, which awards clients who are using AWARDS to support out of the box thinking.

We were pleased to see so many new and familiar faces at EXPO TEN. Were you or one of your colleagues at EXPO? Be sure to check out our photo album on Facebook and tag yourself and your colleagues. Many thanks to all who helped make it a true success. We look forward to seeing everyone at future Foothold events.