Client Snapshot
The Indiana Pressler Memorial Chapter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) brings together healthcare providers, revenue cycle leaders, and business partners across the state. Their annual conference and legislative update serves a dual purpose: delivering high-quality continuing education while strengthening relationships between providers and vendors in a rapidly evolving healthcare environment.
For this event, they engaged Amy C. Waninger to open the conference with her keynote session, Moving from Panic to Purpose.
The Challenge
Healthcare finance professionals are navigating relentless change — regulatory shifts, reimbursement pressures, technology disruption, staffing shortages, and heightened performance expectations. The conference organizers wanted more than a technically sound presentation. They needed a message that would:
Ground attendees in practical strategies for navigating change
Encourage meaningful connections between providers and vendors
Inspire greater volunteerism and chapter engagement
Set a positive, forward-looking tone for the entire conference
Many attendees were seasoned professionals. Some were vendors seeking stronger relationships. Others were providers looking for clarity and professional growth. The chapter leadership wanted a session that would resonate across roles while remaining actionable and relevant to the realities of healthcare finance.
The Approach
Amy partnered closely with the chapter leadership from the outset. Through structured kickoff and prep conversations, she clarified:
The provider–vendor dynamic within the room
The chapter’s desire to build genuine connection
The broader industry pressures shaping attendees’ daily work
The need for both practical tools and emotional grounding
Rather than deliver a generic change management lecture, she tailored Moving from Panic to Purpose to reflect the healthcare finance context. The session explored models of personal and organizational change while helping participants identify their own responses to uncertainty — including fear, resistance, and overextension.
Participants engaged in guided reflection exercises designed to help them:
Recognize unproductive patterns
Evaluate resilience strategies
Develop a personalized action plan for a current or imminent change
Throughout, Amy anchored complex concepts in real-life analogies and scenarios, ensuring the material was both memorable and immediately usable.
Our Results
The impact was immediate and measurable.
100% of respondents found the session valuable
94% said they want to hear this speaker again
97.1% rated the session relevant
96.1% rated it practical
95.5% rated it engaging
95.5% rated it interactive
Beyond the metrics, the qualitative feedback revealed something deeper: the session resonated at both a professional and personal level.
“Booking Amy was seamless. She was reasonable in negotiations, fair in requests, transparent, and professional throughout. Her message kicked off our conference in a positive way and laid a foundation for success throughout.”
“Amy’s insight on the topics that she presented were very impactful toward our present day actions. For myself personally, I deal with stress at work from time to time. After hearing her speak, I believe that I have gained more than enough knowledge on how to overcome it.”
“Amy is engaging and her message can be executed immediately. She was funny and used imagery and scenarios that make this easy to remember. I took notes!”
Looking Ahead
For association leaders, the role of an opening keynote is strategic. It shapes the tone, energy, and cohesion of everything that follows.
In this case, HFMA Indiana’s leadership sought to combine education with connection. By addressing change head-on — while equipping attendees with tools to respond with purpose rather than panic — the conference began with momentum and shared focus.
When professional associations create space for both technical excellence and human resilience, they strengthen not only individual members, but the entire ecosystem they serve.
Ready to Set the Right Tone for Your Next Conference?
If you’re planning a state or regional association event and want to open with a message that is practical, relevant, and immediately actionable, let’s start the conversation.
Together, we can design an experience that equips your members to navigate change with clarity — and strengthens the connections that keep your chapter thriving.