Top 5 Clinical Sessions

Clearing Out the Clutter

Meeting Progress Report

Have you been struggling to find meetings that really create energy, excitement, or reinvigorate your passion for your profession?

It makes sense; there so many meetings to choose from and it's hard to know which one(s) will result in an experience that truly impacts your practice. With that, I challenge you to create a strategy that guides you on which meetings to choose.

I've written about this subject a handful of times in different ways, so I don't want to beat a dead horse; however, for meetings to progress everyone needs to have more positive experiences. Part of that responsibility is on you. If you're choosing meetings that don't align with your practice goals and/or your personal strengths as a physician, then you're doing yourself a disservice by "going through the motions."

So - again, I'm not going to beat a dead horse, but I am going to remind you of the articles we've put out before regarding how you can become an active participant in whether or not you have a positive meeting experience. It starts by choosing the ones that make sense for you.

Happy Archiving....

Kent State 14^th Annual Southeast National Conference

We partner with some truly awesome individuals who seriously know this profession given their decades of experience. Do yourself a favor and get to know them!

The 2023 conference year is almost finished, bringing in a brand new year to revisit meetings you've previously attended and/or explore meetings you've never tried before.

It also provides the chance to employ a new booth strategy. If you don't feel like you've gotten the most out of your meetings this year (or previous years), then get to work on trying something different! I know it's easy to blame the meeting/organization... but that's out of your control.

There are a lot of ways to revamp your booth strategy, but have you tried this? Clear up the clutter and focus on a single product or service.

For some of you, that might not be of concern if you already only have a single product or service; but after years of roaming the exhibit halls, I've seen more booths than not have the entire kitchen sink plus some out on display.

Knowing that, why would we continue to create a space that evokes these negative feelings and decreases the chances of coaxing in qualified leads?

I've had this discussion with a handful of exhibitors, and a common talking point or concern with removing several popular items from the booth is that, "current customers won't think we have it anymore."

Well... are you standing at the booth and physically able to simply answer that question? Yes.

Also - would it be possible to have those popular items on site, just not strewn all over the table, but underneath where all of your other materials rest until the meeting is over? Yes.

Finally; is the risk so extremely high that you can't try something new for one or two meetings?

Again, if you're not getting the results you want, then you've got to implement some new plans. Isn't it more risky to continue to employ strategies that have proven to not work?

Give your booth some space and give your potential new clients a breath of fresh air.

I was going through some blog archives and found one from October 2020 that discussed what some of our trusted and experienced peers/exhibitors thought about investing in meetings and what they hope to achieve from them.

Below are the comments and we'd love to hear from you regarding whether meetings have progressed, regressed, or seem to have stayed the same when it comes to these topics over the last three years.

As I was typing up the Featured Meeting article at the beginning of this newsletter, I took special notice to:

It got me thinking about conversations I've had throughout the last couple of years with meeting planners and organizations that, for the most part, don't seem to want to provide online credits, but are continuing to offer hybrid meetings.

So, now I'm asking, why???

If you don't like the idea of having online credits - then don't.

If your organization's leadership is in agreement that the best way to learn and truly have a meaningful educational experience is in person, then go with your gut and eliminate the online portion of your meeting(s). Hold your ground and just say no. There are plenty of options for DPMs to get their CMEs online; you don't have to be one of them.

If you feel you are not delivering the educational experience you know is crucial to your event with online lectures - then axe them!

Additionally, we know from three years of exhibitor feedback that they are not going to invest heavily in online sponsorships. You know better than anyone that when sponsor dollars are down, running a meeting that is already stressful, just became nearly impossible.

Am I saying don't have online credits? No.

I'm just saying... you don't have to.

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