SFAMI Holds Annual Board Meeting and Casino Night
Fort Lauderdale, FL – Friday, February 4th, 2010
The South Florida Association for Medical Instrumentation (SFAMI) held its annual board meeting and casino event Jan. 29 at the Sheraton in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The free event for biomedical technicians and healthcare professionals also included an invitation to join SFAMI, which is a chapter of the Florida Biomedical Society (FBS). The night was hosted by MedEquip Biomedical and featured several sponsors, including AMC&E, GMI, AIV, TechNation, UNFORS, and DOTmed. This year's meeting attracted nearly 200 attendees, an increase over last year.
"We hold this event in support of SFAMI and FBS with the hope of bringing more biomeds to the association and to give them a chance to network with their peers," said Mike Lipson, VP of MedEquip Biomedical and a main organizer of the event.
Guests started out the evening with a buffet style dinner, which was followed by SFAMI's annual board meeting. In a break from tradition, SFAMI scheduled the event on a Friday this year.
"Going forward we will try to hold this event on a Friday night. It's convenient for biomeds to make it out on a Friday not having to worry about working the next day. It seemed like more people stayed longer at the event," said Lipson.
At the beginning of the night, guests were given $1,000 in MedEquip 'funny money' to cash in for poker chips. Guests enjoyed a casino themed night produced by AHotParty.com. Casino activities included blackjack, roulette, craps, Texas Hold 'em and slot machines. At the end of the night, guests could turn in their remaining chips for raffle tickets. MedEquip then held a raffle and gave away about 100 prizes.
Several sponsorship packages were available, including the sponsorship of casino tables, drinks, prizes, poker chips and more. "Next year we hope to offer more sponsorships as well as more appealing and creative packages," said Lipson.
FBS also announced details of their 2010 symposium and urged both vendors and biomeds to start planning to attend now. "We are truly excited to have the opportunity to hold our annual symposium and trade show at an exclusive venue like the Grand Floridian. The settings and events that are planned will benefit both the biomeds and attending vendors," said Bill Hascup, 2009 FBS president.
As for plans for next year's event, Lipson said "depending on the popularity of the event and RSVP's, we might consider moving it to a larger venue."
