In Case You Missed it...

Conference 2012! 

This year at the Alliance of the American Dental Association’s Annual Conference we spent an amazing weekend in Stone Mountain, GA renewing friendships, learning and giving back to the community.

Thursday April, 12^th almost 50 Alliance members gathered to organize and package hundreds of donations they received for their second largest “Head to Toe” initiative. We care about you from Head to Toe was created in 2011 where the Alliance collected almost 2500 care kits including toothbrushes, tooth paste, a pair of socks and a hat to benefit locals in need. The first ever Head to Toe packaging event took place in 2011 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, NV as the ADA held their Annual Convention. In April of 2012 we decided to take on this project once again at the Annual Alliance Conference. Alliance members packaged a total of 360 kits to be donated to Senior Connections and the International Women’s House in Atlanta, GA. In addition to the kits we were able to donate 21 hats, 840 toothbrushes and 406 tubes of toothpaste. 

Gathered in a suite Sylvia Greer, Kristie Peppy and Mary Percy used every inch of space including the floor to put together the dental kits!

The Foundation for Dental Health Education held a silent auction, members of the Alliance both donated items and bid on them in support of future Dental Health for kids! The Foundation auctioned off 75 items and raised an astounding $3,972 in about an hour.

Thank you to everyone that donated and purchased at this event, your generosity helps make programs like Head to Toe and Give Kids aSmile a reality.

In addition to the community projects dentists were offered a CE course “New Advances in Oral Pathology” with Dr. Dwight “Ronnie” Weathers, DDS, MSD. Twenty one dentists were able to attend and receive 4 hours of CE credit. A member commented, "My husband LOVED his CE course!".

Alliance members really know how to have a good time! Not only did we enjoy ourselves while packaging dental kits and setting up the silent auction, we were danced to the Drum Cafe, visited the Carlos Museum and took a tour through some beautiful southern homes. 

For photos of all of these events and more please visit our Facebook page. This being my first conference, and first few months with the Alliance, I enjoyed meeting some wonderful people and learning more about dental industry. I hope to see everyone again at Convention this year October 19 -20 and again next year at conference.

A special thanks to Debbie Torbush and all the others that helped make this conference possible!

An Encouraging Note from the Membership Recruitment and Retention Conference

It only takes one more degree...

Opening speaker Kevin E. O'Connor began the conference with a metaphor; he said "At 211 degrees, water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And with steam, you can power a train. Just one extra degree makes all the difference."

 

What an encouraging statement! Throughout the rest of the conference we discussed ways to reach potential members and keep current members active, and it all seems to "boil down" to just that - people need to see the value of our organization and it takes just a little extra to show them.

 

I encourage everyone that is excited about the Alliance to remember to take that extra step with your membership. Here are a few ideas.

• Invite a friend to become a member
• Make sure new members feel welcome
• Make sure you are ready to tell people why you love the Alliance!
• Participate in a Dental Health Education project
• Get involved in advocacy
• Engage your Alliance friends on social media
• Call a member you haven't seen in a while and invite them back!

 

Thank you to the ADA for putting together such a great conference!

 

Keep Evolving, or to put it bluntly, Change or Die

In my second week on the job here at the AADA I was privileged to attend the Dental Editors University from the American Association of Dental Editors. Over a day and a half I got a crash course in dental publications. Talk about jumping right in!

It actually worked out to be perfect timing, I got all kinds of new ideas and tips from the seasoned pros. I felt ready to really begin my position here as Communications Coordinator.

A theme throughout the conference became evident right away. Editors need to continue (or start) to evolve and grow their publications. A large percentage of dental professionals still prefer to receive news via paper copy, but this is changing. It's up to us as communicators to continue producing quality print publications while we develop new digital versions and options for the future. It is also imperative that we offer publications that are a real value to our members.

A few tips and ideas for the future

• Offer a photo contest
• Have a member spotlight section
• Survey members to find out what they want to read about
• Request member submissions
• Offer different niche publications

There is so much more, I could go on for pages, but facilitator Mary Byers said something very important as we closed out the second day. She proposed that we take an idea or maybe two, and really focus on them. It's impossible to try everything at once, so I decided to really focus on two things.

1. Focus your communications so that they support what your organization is about
2. Find out what your readers (thats you!) want to read

Dr. Jeffrey Galler, Emily Vagts, and Dr. Donald Hills

I would love some feedback! Please post comments, mention this blog on facebook, or send me an email What do you want to read about or see in our future publications?

This weekend I am attending the ADA's annual conference on Membership Recruitment and Retention, I hope you all look forward to reading about that next week.

Student Spouse Alliance's Hard at Work

I am so pleased to hear about two different Student Spouse projects making a difference in local schools!

The Marquette Dental School Student Spouse Alliance decided to not only give the children brushing lessons, but to send the kids home with a tooth-friendly goodie bag! To raise funds for this project the Alliance held a bake sale just in time for the holidays.

Kasey Bruch-Nenn donated some Sparkley Books to the sale as well!

The bake sale was a huge success with everything selling out! the Alliance made enough money to purchase toothbrushes, tooth paste, and stickers for each goodie bag. The volunteers read to 10 different classes of pre-school through 1st graders.

"The kids all loved their goodie bags, and many of the parents talked to me a few days later informing me that their children had come home and taught them the proper way to brush their teeth!" says Brittney Checketts. She continued, "I had SO much fun and can't wait for the next opportunity I have to go and teach in the schools again!"

Great job Brittney and the Marquette Student Alliance!

Student spouse Megan Beatty arranged a huge dental health education activity for her classroom. Using the Ready, Set, Brush books as inspiration she recruited her husband Joe (a second year dental student) and three of his fellow students to her class to teach the children proper brushing and flossing.

With puppets, tooth models and string the volunteers demonstrated good flossing technique to pre-school and kindergaten students just in time for National Children's Dental Health Month. Megan, being the creative enthusiast that she is, created two weeks worth of reading, math, science and social studies activities all centered on teeth, dentistry, and dental health!

Megan and her students.

It is truly inspiring to see Alliance members in action and making a difference! Anyone that is working on an Alliance project, or knows someone that is, please send me and email so I can be sure to share your hard work with the rest of our members and friends.

Prepare For the Future

Mark Twain said "Plan for the future because that's where you are going to spend the rest of your life."


I recently came across an article written by the AADA's very own Marilyn Woerner about the importance of planning ahead for our families. It's difficult to accept that we do not know what will happen in the future - let alone plan for it. Marilyn, and apparently Mark Twain advocate for accepting that we don't have control over the future, but that we can plan our reaction. This is great advice for dentist’s, and the rest of us as well.

Thanks Marilyn!




PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE -



Being in dentistry can be a satisfying career because the dentist can be aware of the help that he/she is giving to a patient so that that patient can look better and have better health. In addition, if all goes as planned the dental family can have a comfortable life from the income of the practice. Hopefully, the dentist will live until retirement and then be able to enjoy many retirement years. But what if the dentist dies suddenly or has a disabling illness or accident?

Have plans been put in place so that the spouse or the personal representative can sell the practice easily and the family can continue to have an income?

If you would like to know more about what plans can be put in place there are people who are willing to attend your Alliance’s local or state meetings to share this information. These speakers are brokers with American Dental Sales. In addition to being brokers they work in other fields such as accounting and law.

For the full article and contact information please visit our website.

Note: This article is not to be construed as an endorsement or approval by the Alliance of the American Dental Association or its members, of American Dental Sales (ADS), its products or services.

Introducing Your Brand New Communications Coordinator

Hi everyone,

I have already had the pleasure of introducing myself to many of you on facebook and over the phone, but just in case you missed me... I want to introduce myself and say a few words about how excited I am to be a part of your organization.

I moved to Chicago almost six years ago after graduating from Miami University of Ohio, since then I have volunteered and interned with several non-profit organizations including PAWS Chicago, Hostelling International and Climb for a Cause. My personal goal is to work with a not-for-profit organization and to be excited about what I get to do every day. My connection to the dental industry stems from my work with Climb for a Cause, last year we climbed San Jacinto Peak and raised almost $50,000 for children’s oral health and treatment projects. I feel that working with the AADA is a wonderful opportunity and I look forward to meeting all of you.

Also about myself, I love all kinds of animals, I have two cats at home and I have been vegan for three years. I enjoy maintaining my container garden, photography, travel, vegan cooking and biking (sometimes even in the winter). Please don’t hesitate to email or comment if you have a question, suggestion, or would just like to say hello.

Sincerely,

Emily Vagts
Communications Coordinator
Emily@AllianceADA.org

Member Spotlight: Megan Beatty

My name is Megan Beatty. I was married this past July in Minnesota to a boy that I met while attending Luther College. Two weeks after saying "I Do", we found ourselves packing up our lives and moving to the University of Illinois at Chicago Dental School. I am a teacher by trade and hoping to find myself in school in the fall, but for now, I work as a waitress/hostess/manager at a cafe down the street and at Midtown Tennis Club.

Johanna Manasse welcomed the incoming dental students one day during orientation and my husband, Joe, grabbed an AADA welcome card from her to bring home to me. Not sure what I was getting myself into, I signed up as a student spouse. Johanna helped me find another dental spouse named Amber who lives just a couple floors below me and had us meet Pat Cross at our first conference in Illinois. And well, that's how it all began. Our student spouse alliance at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is now up to three members with a recent addition!

Together, Amber and I attended the AADA Conference and had a great time. Our favorite part was actually getting to be with other student spouses. They have been a great resource, wonderful encouragement, and great friends to us. Our alliance is going to be making a website before the end of the year! The current project we're working on is getting a "It's not Tooth Early, It's not Tooth Late" packet out and presented to a local hospital. We are also looking forward to working on the "We've got you covered from head to toe" project in the fall for the AADA Convention in Las Vegas. Photo Right: Amber (left) & I at the Plantation home in Richmond, VA, at conference.

Student Spouses at our Sock Party!

The other part I loved about the conference was the meeting they had just for us student spouses. The meeting was filled with tons of info about starting up a dental business, things to be aware of, and even a book to being successful in the Dental world. So wonderful and thoughtful! We felt very welcomed into this community of dental spouses!

At the Civil War Museum in Richmond, VA

Thank you to all the members who made me feel welcome at the Alliance event and for making it possible for me to attend.