Great people, great content @ Texting4Health

From what I can tell, everyone was pleased with the Texting4Health event at Stanford last week. About 150 people gathered to explore and learn how to use text messaging to improve health behaviors.

Thursday’s preview workshop helped texting newbies learn to text. This was a fun session, and everyone left with the basics of texting mastered. (Some parents who texted their kids for the first time were surprised with the positive reactions, like “I can’t believe you’re texting me. Awesome. Welcome to the 21st century!”)

Friday’s main event featured over 25 speakers giving 10-minute talks. For most of us, this was a welcome wave of info. The speakers are among the world’s leaders in texting and behavior change. We’ve posted many of their slides online.

To our surprise, Saturday’s optional workshop was perhaps even better than Friday’s main event. About 55 people who attended learned from four texting companies. What made Saturday fascinating was how much confidence everyone gained. Most people went from thinking, “Yeah, I want to start texting4health, but I’m not quite sure about my next steps” to a confident “I’m ready to go home and get started. I know just what to do!”

Thanks to everyone for making this event a success.

–BJ Fogg

Event Director &

Director of Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab