Participants spent an unseasonably warm day networking with co-workers, visiting sponsor booths and hearing from a great line-up of speakers during the "Feeding the Beast" MHSCN Fall Conference held Thursday, November 3 at the Como Zoo and Conservatory.

Diana Harvey shared her work experiences at St. Paul Ramsey (now Regions), a PR agency (twice), Planned Parenthood and the U of M School of Public Health. She also related how she became the University president's chief of staff/communications executive and her decision to leave Minnesota to become a communications and marketing professional for Duke University's Global Health Institute.

Dale Cook and Terryn Lawrence discussed the ins and outs of creating and promoting Learn to Live, an online mental health care delivery service. This presentation highlighted how and why online delivery can work for mental health (and other possible diagnoses) -- and what the organization has done to market the service.

Katie Johnson, vice president of marketing and communications at Lake Region Healthcare in Fergus Falls, "walked" conference attendees through a remarkable campaign driving community fitness and fun while leveraging her hospital's brand. In 2014 the "Walk to Waikiki" fitness challenge" inspired more than 200 members of the community to walk a collective 3,829 miles - the distance from Fergus Falls, Minn. to Waikiki, Hawaii. Katie and her team's campaign garnered critical media coverage for the health system and generated so much interest that planning is now underway for Lake Region's third walking fitness challenge to be held in January.    

Scott Nelson, a certified effectiveness coach with Clarity Central provided insights on three zones of human experience: the comfort zone, the risk zone and the panic zone. Understanding these zones, Scott says, is critical in leading organizations and teams through change. From resistance, through exploration and finally commitment, Scott shared critical strategies for leading teams through change.

We would like to thank all of those that attended as well as our sponsors who help make the day possible:

• The Research Edge
• Bolger
• Streamworks
• Coffey Communications
• MediComHealth