Every year I attend AAMI with lots of my co-workers. This year was no exception.

It is always a fun show because people are in a good mood and it is a friendly, unpretentious group of individuals to spend your time with.

This year was no exception. Even though I do not have any official records, my gut feeling is that both attendance and the number of exhibitors were up this year.

It seemed to me that there were more IT exhibitors and more diagnostic imaging exhibitors. The Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia is nice for a lot of reasons. It is situated right on top of a giant market with every kind of food you can think of. There is also lots of nooks and crannies with tables and chairs so you can break away for an informal meeting.

I keep looking for signs that the economy is improving and when hospitals around the country can justify sending their staff to a trade show as they did with AAMI, I interpret that in a positive way.

All this makes me think of something that Malcolm Forbes said: 'Contrary to the cliche, genuinely nice guys most often finish first or very near it.'