The American Association of Dental Office Managers (AADOM) met in Nashville in August for three days of management courses and networking. Our team loves to catch up with members about their offices and their lives. I’m always amazed at how our members can juggle full-time schedules, wonderful family lives and still want more!
We are known for an energetic and exciting opening to our conference and this year was no different. We had Toby Keith open our session! Well, not really, but he really looked like him! After a fantastic musical opening our keynote speaker, Colette Carlson, CSP, had the audience laughing with her very accurate description of a day in the dental office. From interrupting patients to team meetings that don’t quite go the way we’d planned, she was able to help us laugh at our stressful but rewarding roles.
Our conference features several perennial classes such as the AADOM Ambassador session and the Dental Spouse Business Network (DSBN). The Ambassador session is for members to learn more about our organization and how they can take AADOM back to their cities. It’s a great informational class for future AADOM Chapter leaders. The DSBN session featured a class geared toward the unique challenges faced by spouses and life partners who work in the dental office. This group of attendees continues to grow yearly and generously share their experiences with each other.
Our educational and sponsored sessions also delivered with popular topics such as medical billing, leadership, hiring and firing, and financial systems. We also offered a special evening session with AADOM favorite Lois Banta. Marketing was a large focus as well. In addition to several marketing classes we offered two panel discussions: one for general practices and one for specialty offices. The other panel discussion that stood out for our attendees was the “Eyes Wide Open” industry panel. This group of industry leaders discussed upcoming trends such as demographic shifts, practice expansions, medical billing and dental insurance changes.
The conference wrapped up with a debut feature, Forum Live! This was inspired by AADOM’s most popular benefit – the online AADOM Member Forum. The session brought the attendees together to discuss multiple topics such as social media, insurance network issues, leadership and more. Rotations between tables enabled the attendees to obtain viewpoints on five different topics. Members shared what works in their offices and how to navigate through common everyday obstacles. The Forum Live! will definitely be back by popular demand.
The conference is also to recognize our members’ achievements. Cecilia Mescain was named 2015 Office Manager of the Year at our session and we also graduated another class of AADOM Fellows. Phew – that’s a lot for one conference!
As an AGD-approved PACE provider, we were able to offer up to 13 PACE continuing education credits as well as up to 13 CE toward the AADOM Fellowship Program.
We hope you will join us in Boca Raton, Florida, next year. Save the dates of September 15-17 in 2016 so that you can be a part of our 12th Annual Conference. You can find more information on our website, www.dentalmanagers.com. We’ll combine learning with a relaxing beach atmosphere – you won’t want to miss it!
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