2025 Swaay.Health LIVE brought community, strategy, and a surprise win for the Hedy & Hopp crew. In this episode, Jenny and Senior Account Manager Shelby unpack their favorite moments from the conference, including standout sessions and Shelby’s Rising Star award (!) win. They dig into two sessions that stood out: how the American Board of Radiology used formal listening to reshape its certification process, and how Nebraska Medicine partnered with Unlock Health to rethink recruitment as a brand strategy. Jenny and Shelby also chat through who this conference is best suited for.
2025 Swaay.Health LIVE Speakers Mentioned:
Shereese Maynard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hitreeset/
Dan Dunlop: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dandunlop/
David Laszakovits: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laszakovits/
Laura Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-roberts-1644614/
Frank Lococo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/franklococo/
Katie Beach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiemaybeach/
Connect with Shelby:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelby-wanne/
Connect with Jenny:
Email: jenny@hedyandhopp.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennybristow/
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Jenny: Hi friends! Welcome to today’s episode of We Are, Marketing Happy, a healthcare marketing podcast. My name is Jenny Bristow and I am the host and the CEO at Hedy & Hopp. Hedy & Hopp is a full-service, fully healthcare marketing agency, and we’re very proud to be the producers of this weekly podcast. Today, I’m very excited to have with us our very own Shelby.
Our Shelby is a senior account manager here at Hedy & Hopp, and we’re going to dive in and talk a little bit about Swaay 2025. Shelby and I were super jazzed to go to Swaay the Swaay conference this year. It’s our first time. It’s been on our list for a few years, so we’re very excited to be able to attend this year.
And we wanted to record a recap of the conference. So any of you that maybe have had it on your radar will get a better idea of the pros and cons and what to expect if you’re hoping to add it to your calendar of events for 2026. So welcome, Shelby.
Shelby: Thank you, thank you. Always happy to be here.
Jenny: So I’m excited to start off with the reason that we finally pulled the trigger to go to the conference. Again, Swaay has been on our list of conferences we’ve wanted to go to, but traditionally we’ve prioritized just like two conferences a year. As everybody who’s ever attended a conference, as an agency or a vendor, you know what a big lift it is, to be able to attend the prep that it takes.
So we’ve been very kind of conservative about adding conferences to our calendar, but I got a really fun call from our good friend Colin, over at Swaay and Colin told me that somebody was going to be winning an award this year. So I had the pleasure of asking Shelby to go to Swaay with me under the guise that we were just going to check it out.
And, Shelby, you are so awesome. You said. Okay, let’s go. You had no idea why we were going. And I asked you to go two weeks ahead of time, and you were like, sure, why not?
Shelby: Exactly. Yeah. I had questions. I’m like, okay, this is last minute. This okay. Yeah. I’m down. I’m down to go check it out.
Like Jenny said, I knew that this had been kind of on our list for a while to see, so I was very excited to go check it out, see what content we could take back to the team and, and the community. Was not expecting, an award to be a part of the mix. And anyway.
So Shelby and I flew from the Midwest to San Diego. It was held on Coronado Island, an absolute gorgeous venue. And the very first session of the event was the opening keynote and the awards. So I first want to give a little shout-out to Swaay. They do a couple of really cool things the beginning of every conference, they first do a land acknowledgment of acknowledging the indigenous people that lived on the land where the conference is being held.
It’s just a really beautiful moment to recognize the history, of whatever geography the event is held at. And they also did a patient keynote. So every year they have a person who actually experienced healthcare through the lens of a patient, opened the event as a reminder of why we all show up to do the work we do every day.
And this year it was Shereese Maynard from NostraData Medical. Shereese, she did an amazing job. It was absolutely beautiful. Sharing her own personal experience, being in the health care world unexpectedly, and kind of sharing her reprioritization of a work, life. And again, just the affirmation of the important work that we all do 100%.
Shelby: And it was really interesting to hear about her experience in her patient journey, kind of starting when Covid, the height of Covid, and how that completely shifted her experience in healthcare. And so all of the tools that we’re looking into that we are implementing on our websites, on our apps, the long-term impact of that on a patient, that dealt with it in Covid and then even now. So it was really, really impactful.
Jenny: And I think one of the great takeaways that really sunk in with me as she talked about how it was a reminder that, you know, as marketers and people involved in healthcare, we understand how to navigate the system better than anyone, right? We are the ones who help hold the keys to those patient access points.
So it really is truly a gift that we’re able to leverage that insight and knowledge to help, you know, the everyday patient better access care. So then it got to the awards, and it was adorable. I actually secretly recorded them announcing you, and I think the cutest moment was whenever they had a slide up doing a quote, my quote of you, when it specifically said almost 40 employees in 12 states, she brings joy to everything she does.
Your face. I could see the wheels turning. You were like,um I know that’s stat.
Shelby: It was like I’ve said that stat, I know that stat. What’s going on? I’m like putting two and two together. Wait. So it was so sweet. It was completely unexpected.
Jenny: It was really wonderful to see you honored alongside all of your peers. It was a very, very well deserved award.So Shelby was named, the Rising Star Healthcare Marketer for Agency for 2025. So you had to be in the industry for three years or less, which you’ve been in the professional world for more than that, but specifically focusing on healthcare. You’re about two and a half years, and so you barely made the cut off. But, perfect timing to acknowledge and honor your contributions to the clients that you work with every day.
Shelby: Yeah, it was, as you said, very unexpected. Very, very special, to be honored in that way by the community. And, yeah, just reinforce all of the hard work and care that goes into every day. But Swaay is so lovely and in the way that they foster community, I would say very similarly to how we kind of that Hedy & Hopp talk about our community, both internally and with our clients.
And so it was just super special to be acknowledged by them. And yeah, be able to just continue growing alongside this awesome team and the great clients I get to work with. So felt very, very honored. In that moment and even since then, it was super special.
Jenny: Love it. Well, let’s talk about a couple of our favorite sessions.
So one of our favorite things to do when we go to conferences, of course, is to meet healthcare marketers. But our second favorite thng to do is attend sessions, because we are very dedicated to continuing learning and growing as individuals. And I love seeing the different ways that people aggregate and present information at these conferences.
Some of the things I noticed at Swaay, big picture takeaway is that there were a lot of panels, some lectures, and then some unconference. They really tried to make it more of a community feel and vibe with the sessions versus being lectured at the entire time, which I will say is not always bad. Sometimes being lectured at if you’re learning good content is absolutely fabulous.
I you know, I’ve learned a lot in lectures, or sessions that are primarily presentation style, but that’s one big takeaway. But there are two sessions in particular that I know we wanted to chat about today. The first was a session called Designing a Formal Listening Process to Support Decision Making and Marketing. And there were two individuals.
There was Dan Dunlop, he’s the principal at Jennings Health, and he spoke alongside David. Sorry, I’m going to butcher your last name. David Laszakovits, he is the director of communications and external affairs of the American Board of Radiology, and it was really fascinating because they the entire presentation was around how the American Board of Radiology realized that they were slowly coming out of touch with the radiologists that were in the field, and their certification requirements were no longer producing the kind of radiologists that they thought was necessary to meet today’s demand.
So they instead of just rolling out a new testing and certification process, they went on a listening tour to really get input from a large number of people on the board and radiologists practicing in the field, and it drastically changed their testing methodology way more than they expected that it would. But I felt it was a really good reminder that, regardless of how much you think you know about a situation, listening and being prepared to pivot with positivity, whenever you get some real feedback is always really positive.
Shelby: Definitely. And they kind of walked us through the whole process that they took, which was a lot of different steps from one-on-one interviews. The surveys and written submissions from folks. They really took their time digging in, and I love they talked about how a lot of their one-on-one interview sessions they did. They did not just one with the individual, but they did multiple because they realized you’re not really getting the full picture just from one meeting.
And so it definitely showed how much they were pivoting with positivity and being flexible throughout the process to get what they needed to make that informed decision. So hats off to them. I know they’re still in kind of the process of a phase two of some additional stuff that they’re working on, so that one was really, really interesting.
Jenny: Yeah, I totally agree. They did a very, very good job with it. The second session that we wanted to highlight, was my personal favorite. It was called Cultivating Growth: How Nebraska Medicine Created a Brand to Attract and Retain Top Healthcare Talent. And this was, the moderator was Laura Roberts, who’s the chief client officer at Unlock Health and featuring Nebraska medicine.
They had both Frank. Lococo, who’s the VP of marketing and communications, and Katie Breach, who’s the VP of people operations. And they talked about how they were putting together basically a marketing campaign to be able to drive inbound candidate applications. So viewing recruiting through the lens of marketing, and this is something that Hedy & Hopp we do extensively with our clients.
Because usually one of the biggest hurdles to providing care, is making sure you have the staff to, you know, work those shifts. So, working on creating recruiting hubs, candidate application and, you know, nurturing campaigns, paid media programs, etc. we do every day. So to hear it through the lens of Unlock in Nebraska Med for me was really wonderful.
I thought they did a great job, and I love that they had both right from the marketing side and Katie from the HR side, kind of presenting the differing but complementary opinions of why it worked to collaborate.
Shelby: Definitely. And they talked, you know, kind of extensive, extensively about how important that partnership was, that it was essential that there was buy-in from both sides, that they were all in together.
This was going to take resources from both of their teams, both of their sides of the house. And so they really kind of went all in together, which was really, really special to see the great results that they’ve been seeing so far. But I think that just rings true across so many of the projects that we do with our clients is being able to really partner with those other internal groups and departments that are going to be experiencing the impact of those campaigns.
Right. Like, hopefully we see a lot of volume, and hey, the team is ready and aware of that volume that’s going to be coming through. So super exciting to see the neat stuff that’s going on over there at Nebraska.
Jenny: Yeah, that’s a great point. Shelby. One of the competitor case studies they presented actually was how the team was not ready for the volume.
So the application-to-interview rate was very, very low because they did not appropriately respond to those applications. So it’s a great, great call out there.
One thing I’d love to do is just a call for conversation, something that I feel like I’ve talked about over and over again, that Nebraska medicine did not share in the session. And I have yet to hear a system or hospital talk about this is how everybody’s determining marketing budgets for recruiting in HR. On our side, what we have seen is huge variations in how folks are determining this.
There is not a standard formula. There is not any best practices across the industry that we have been able to decipher for. Some of our largest clients still come to us and say, what have you seen? So that’s one thing I’d love to do. Just a call of content if anybody’s listening, and you’d love to share some industry insights, please give us a shout because we would absolutely love to chat, and talk more about how this could be something that we are more visible with externally within the industry, because I think it really help folks understand what others are spending and how you’re determining appropriate budget levels.
So let’s move on to the final part of the podcast. Let’s talk about pros and cons about Swaay. So like I said, this was our first year going. We go to a couple, a handfu,l maybe of conferences per year. Let’s talk about the pros and cons of Swaay.Health. The first pro that I would love to share is that it is more intimate than other conferences, so that means it has a smaller exhibit hall.
It means there are less people in each session. It means that, during meal times there are less tables and, people to navigate. So that is a pro in my eyes. If you, number one, aren’t a people person, and you don’t get excited about the idea of going to a conference of a thousand people, or perhaps you haven’t gone to one in a long time and you kind of want to ease your way back in.
It’s also a pro if you’re looking to form immediately a sense of community, because the thing you notice immediately is every single table of folks is excited for you to sit down and join them, even if you’ve never met before. They are excited to meet you. They’re excited to chat. One of the things that Colin talked about specifically in the intro is there’s no such thing as competitors at Swaay.
You throw your title out the door, you throw your city already out the door. Everybody’s there for open, honest, and mutually beneficial relationships, and that is a vibe. You feel it throughout the entire event. So that is a huge pro. I’ll also flip it though. If you are trying to go to a, get a lot of value meaning content you want like a four day session with thousands of people, you want to try to meet as many people as possible, and maybe you’re more worried about volume instead of depth Swaay may not be for you.
We’ve been to a lot of conferences that are much, much larger than sway. And so again, I think that is a personal opinion about what you think you will get value out of.
Shelby: 100%. And I think, kind of leaning in a little bit on the pro that you mentioned, Jenny, I think they talked a lot at the beginning of the conference about, you know, giving before you get in kind of the mindset that they try to set in place at Swaay and being vulnerable and being honest, asking the questions that it’s a safe space.
And that definitely came through in our time there. I think, for folks who, yeah, are looking for that kind of community or are maybe newer to the space and are kind of looking to dip their toe into making those connections, asking those questions definitely felt the good vibes and just the openness of everyone that was there.
Jenny: Yeah, absolutely. Another pro I would name, and this was our first year going, but I talked to multiple attendees that echoed this from prior years. It was held on Coronado Island and it was almost a vacation-like setting. It had a beautiful view of the bay where we were eating meals every time. It was very thoughtfully put together to provide just a fabulous, high-end experience.
So that’s something that I say is definitely a pro
Shelby: 100%. And I will say the food was also fabulous.
Jenny: The food was amazing. Shelby. It was amazing.
Shelby: It was so good. Hats off to the team. I know that they put a lot of effort into picking the food choices, and that was lovely. And that can make such a big difference because you want to spend time there eating and chatting with the folks around you.
So it definitely just added to the experience.
Jenny: It did. I’ll say there was very high-quality protein items at each meal. And then also the moment Shelby and our eyes locked after we each took a bite of that chocolate croissant. I’ll never forget that moment. I do too. If I see a person out and about, I’m like, oh man, that one.
It was so good at a conference, I would have thought a conference chocolate croissant would be stuck in our memories. That just goes to show, again, the attention to detail, that they put into every piece of this conference. Very, very, thoughtful, very much making sure that regardless of your dietary restrictions, you were there and there were snacks available at all time and sodas.
I mean, I’ve been to some really expensive conferences, and they only had bagels for breakfast, and then there was no water through the entire facility. Right. So, like, we’ve all been to those events that just, like, aren’t set up to allow you the space to be able to actually focus on the content because you’re too busy, you know, walking across the street to buy a bottle of water or something silly.
So Swaay really put the thought into making sure that you were going to be taken care of, and attendees said other prior conferences were like this as well. That wasn’t just 2025.
So perfect. Well, this was a fabulous recap. Again, Shelby, congratulations on being named the Rising Marketer for 2025. I’m so proud of you and so just thrilled to work alongside you every day.
Shelby: Oh, thank you so much. So excited to keep on growing with the amazing community that we have, inside our organization, and our lovely clients and folks that we partner with. So looking forward to all that is to come.
Jenny: Awesome, and thank you for tuning in. Hopefully, if Swaay has been on your maybe list, this will push you to give it a shot in 2026.
Strongly recommend attending if this content spoke to you. And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out directly. We would love to chat. Thanks for tuning in today. Have a fabulous rest of your day, and we’ll see you on a future episode of We Are, Marketing Happy.
