Staff Development
Georgia Chapter’s ‘Meet Max’ series captures HFMA member stories
October 1, 2020
1:42 pm
Each Meet Max episode, featuring a Georgia Chapter member, is released roughly every other week, to accommodate other online Chapter events. The series also won the 2020 Yerger Award.
Max Smith, a Georgia Chapter marketing committee member, is the host and producer of the Meet Max series. The series features Smith interviewing members, and the recordings are then turned into mini episodes.
The details behind each episode
Each show presents members, vendors/non-providers and providers discussing a variety of topics, from careers to products and services. Each episode also reveals something personal about the interviewee to help viewers get to know each featured guest that much better.
Smith said he is pleased to interview passionate members who are willing to discuss:
- HFMA experiences
- Networking success
- Education
- Volunteer efforts and community involvement
- HFMA’s family atmosphere
- Lifelong HFMA friendships
The inspiration in starting the series
Smith says the series is the brainchild of Bridget Cutchen, 2019-20 Georgia Chapter president, and Sherrie Thrasher, head of the Georgia Chapter marketing committee.
“I was looking for a unique way to get involved/ volunteer while integrating my video and photography talents,” said Smith. “And in an early 2019 brainstorming session with Bridget and Sherrie, we all came up with the idea of Meet Max.”
To kick off the series, Cutchen and Thrasher sent out an open casting call to attendees interested in being interviewed for the series at the 2019 Georgia Chapter Fall Institute.
“I set up a ‘sound stage’ in the hotel lobby — studio lights, cameras, furniture arranged for interviews, etc. — in full view of everyone attending,” said Smith. It was not long before a long line formed, and we were inundated with willing volunteers. We ended up interviewing around 30 members that day.”
The series’ mission
According to Smith, each episode is posted to the Georgia HFMA YouTube channel, and once approved by Cutchen, the video is published to georgiahfma.org and marketed on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
“Our mission was to discover, ‘Why HFMA?’ with the intent to capture real-life stories of being involved, the real benefits of being a member (education, networking, friendships) and family atmosphere created, loved and cherished,” said Smith. “With this intent in mind, it doesn’t matter what medium is used to create compelling stories.”
