January Newsletter: Charging into 2022 with Serious Excitement

We wanna get trendy with you in 2022!

Oh yes, we are launching the hottest fashion statement our industry has seen since Crocs!

OK, obviously we are being a little overzealous about our upcoming fashion campaign... but we just can't help ourselves!

We've got something new and fun planned for exhibit halls throughout the meeting circuit for the entire year!

We're being a little vague here, we know, but if you plan on attending the SAM Conference this month, keep your eyes peeled to get your hands on our latest fashion accessory... it will really bring out the color in your eyes; and it could put a really nice prize in your pocket!

PS- Exhibitors: Request your stickers here

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Speak Up, DPMs!

Not all prizes are created equal.

We are working on new ideas to create more excitement for everyone attending future meetings!

One thing all people get pumped for are freebies. We've already thought of a few items you may interested in winning, but we want to know which one really gets your motor running!

If I won a prize at a meeting, I would be most excited for:

$100 gift card to the meeting area's top-rated restaurant.

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Catered lunch for my team when I return to the office after the meeting.

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Technology/Gadgets

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Free products from exhibitors.

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TRICKS OF THE TRADE - Tips for DPMs

Find Yourself a Study Buddy

Quick Tips from Sarah

Hopefully as we forge on after two years of pandemic stress, you are starting to feel more comfortable going to public places - and especially going to meetings that require travel! I know I have missed the on-site meeting scene as well as my "travel buddies" that I'm used to seeing on the road.

Speaking of travel buddies - do you have one?! If you haven't noticed, you will rarely see me without my other half - Ann. And while we are besties for the resties, the bonus is that we make an awesome meeting duo given our complementary skillsets. Plus, it gives us a break from the day-to-day where we can brainstorm new ideas without being bogged down with general work duties.

Meetings for DPMs can get extremely grueling; sitting in a lecture hall for eight hours - it's a lot. However, grueling circumstances are always more enjoyable when you've got good company around. So find yourself a meeting buddy!

You maybe already have someone in mind, but you may want to mix it up too depending on the meeting and your goals. Here are some suggestions to get you thinking about who you can start to take over the world with:

Previous classmates or residents. Nostalgia tends to give us warm and fuzzies; plus it can be refreshing to see old friends. You may discover that the two of you have taken on different specialties (i.e. wound care vs. surgery), which will allow you to share recent experiences and find inspiration to take something back to your practice that wasn't even in the lectures.

Your Medical Assistant(s) and/or Practice Manager. This probably isn't anything you've never thought of before, but it may get overlooked given busy schedules and the risk of having too many people out of the office. Having a member of your own team at a meeting allows you to bounce ideas off of one another in real-time. This is valuable time spent because each of you will have a shared vision of practice improvement going into the meeting.

Your Protege. What's nobler than helping a promising physician become a rock star physician? Taking in lectures and education alongside someone who may see the world in a different way given a potential age difference could open your eyes to some new ideas you wouldn't have otherwise considered. Plus, if this person is going to be a member of your team, traveling from meeting to meeting is a great way to discover if your partnership is going to blossom or if it needs to be cut off at the knees. There's usually no better way to realize if you mesh with someone like a road trip!

These are just some sample ideas, so start thinking about whom you might want to jive with. Sometimes, you may want to go it alone, but don't underestimate the power of two.

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TRICKS OF THE TRADE - Tips for Exhibitors

It Takes Two to Make a Thing Go Right...

It Takes Two to Make it Out of Sight.

Quick Tips from Sarah

If you know me, you know I love a good theme and if you scroll back up to the top of this newsletter, you'll see that my tip for DPMs this month was to identify one or a few individuals that would make solid travel partners; and this tip goes for exhibitors too!

You may not be in control of who you get to go to meetings with if you are not the owner of your company or you are not the director of your sales and/or marketing team. If you're not in complete control of that, take this article and see if you can make some recommendations to the decision-maker. If you are in control, hopefully this article will help you break out of you comfort zone when it comes to who you decide to share your continental breakfast with.

If you didn't already know Ann and I are each other's "Ride or Die" - but don't put that much pressure on yourselves. We don't expect everyone to be able to be as adorable as us.

😉

Obviously you want to travel with somebody you get along with. Not everyone in the office has to be your best friend, but it's pretty safe to say that sales on the tradeshow floor are usually a bit more fluid when the team in the booth actually like one another. But beyond personalities, let's hash out some ideas of why and who may be a good tradeshow companion for you.

Sales Rep and Marketing Coordinator Duo. This one is kind of a no-brainer. However, I have witnessed marketing directors come to the party and then just observe. Instead, make sure to get in the action. This is the best way to know if the tools you're providing are actually helping the team close sales. When I was a marketing director for an orthotics lab, I would often go to shows and even make sales calls in the office just to have first-hand experience of what the sales reps were "dealing with." It definitely helped me make some improvements to their sales tool kit by putting myself in their shoes (podiatry puns are the best).

Sales Rep and Owner. Eeee... this one makes me sweat just thinking about it. I'm sure many of you can understand the pressure of having your boss stand over you in a tradeshow booth. Maybe not though, if you're one of the lucky ones who has an owner that lets you "do your thing." This may sound strange, but I don't really encourage this duo at a meeting. Sales representatives tend to flourish when they can be themselves and the feeling of the owner breathing down their necks could be very stifling. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is how it is in every situation, but if you're an owner reading this right now, consider taking a step back and letting your talented team work their magic.

Sales Rep and Customer Service Rep. This combination can be a ton of fun! Often your clients have a face-to-face relationship with a sales rep, but they never get to see the emergency contact in customer service. Heading to a tradeshow together creates a strong sense of unity between these two roles because the client appreciates both of them in very different ways. When a sales rep gets to see the bond between a CS rep and a client, and vice versa, it can also create new communication protocols when you get back to the office.

Sales Rep and Manufacturing. This one always cracks me up; only because it's hilarious to see the shock and awe of a home-base team member that works in the lab/shop/etc., is hands-on, and is so very proud of their work. And they should be... but they also get a little bit of an awakening when they come to a meeting and have to hear DPMs make comments that aren't always sunshine and rainbows. Making sure the "builders" get first-hand testimony about their clients' experiences is critical. It's a great opportunity to let everyone know who the mastermind behind the most glorious product in the world is, but it also helps to open the minds of those who aren't always on the front lines to strive for some improvement when they get back to headquarters.

Regardless of whom you pair up with at a meeting, mix it up to see what combinations work and which ones may need couples therapy.

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vTail is a free mobile app that automatically matches you with your local reps, and lets you choose who you want to hear from.

Go ahead and give it a try! I mean... it's FREE!

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD: https://join.vtail.co/podiatry-meetings

Speak Up, Exhibitors!

A brand new advertising opportunity is available to you from PodiatryMeetings.com!

We are offering a unique option in our My Meeting Workbook. This is VERY DIFFERENT from placing an ad in a typical print publication.

Why? Because it’s a tool that DPMs will be engaged with, working through, and coming back to time and time again. DPMs will be using this Workbook to journal pre-meeting goals, take lecture notes, and revisit to create post-meeting action plans. There is also an exhibitor section to take notes of the companies they connect with in the Hall.

Your company can place a full-page ad in the Workbook where you will be noticed as DPMs use this as their meeting journal.

Use the poll below to let us know if we should contact you with more details about this opportunity!

Let us know if we should contact you.

Yes, I want more information about advertising opportunities.

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Not right now, but keep me posted on future opportunties.

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90-Day Meeting Outlook

Click below to see industry events for the given month.

PARTNER CONTENT

TRICKS OF THE TRADE- Tips for Meeting Planners

MEETINGS! UNITE!

Quick Tips from Sarah

My partnership theme here can't stop, won't stop. For meeting planners, however, it's a little bit different and it could get REALLY tricky.

Over the last few years, Ann and I have heard many people (both DPMs and exhibitors) talk about how there are just too many meetings. More feedback needs to be gathered here to really have it stand on two legs (note next month's DPM and exhibitor polls have just been created organically), but I'm sure this concept isn't blowing your mind right now as if you've never heard this complaint.

Considering the meeting calendar at PodiatryMeetings.com is our most visited page because there are so many educational opportunities, I'm reluctant to say I want fewer meetings; I mean, I do have to pay my bills. But, there are a lot of points that I could see as being pros of some meeting consolidation. With fewer meetings, scientific content would be a little less copy/paste... the opportunities to be a faculty member would become a bit more exclusive, which could result in a demand for more "wow-factor" presentations... exhibitors would have fuller exhibit halls due to scarcity of meetings... the list goes on.

The other unexpected surprise these last two years was an event-killing pandemic. I don't know if you've heard of COVID-19, but it kind of took a little bit of a toll on the meeting industry.

So let's say meetings do consolidate and partner up to create fewer, but stronger events - the quality over quantity factor. Which meetings would mix well and how would it work? Well my friends, my brain just exploded trying to figure that one out on my own. Obviously, there are pairings that go well when it comes to scientific content, but it can get really messy when we start talking about combining meetings that are affiliated here and not affiliated there. Then we have the dynamics of staffing. Oooof.

So guess what? I am thinking FOCUS GROUP!!!!! We want to ask you. Let's lay it all out on the table and determine what factors would come into play.

Are you game? If so, use the poll below so we can gain an idea of who would be up for this discussion and see where it takes us.

Would you be interested in participating in a Meeting Planner Focus Group?

Yes I want to participate and get more thoughts on this issue.

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No thanks; but I'd be interested to know what comes of it.

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Travel Tips

ORLANDO HIGHLIGHTS

Last month, we featured Orlando, but we're bringing it back again simply because there's a solid amount of meeting activity happening there sooner than later.

Check out our Orlando Travel Tips page for

ideas on what to do and where to eat while you're there.

We have travel tips for several locations where meetings are prevalent.

Check them all out on our Travel Tips page by clicking here.

Need More Credits?

Check out the meeting list below which, according to their official websites, provide 16+ CECH.

The meetings listed below take place from February - April.

NOTE: Details regarding podiatric meetings listed in this newsletter and on PodiatryMeetings.com may not be complete nor are they guaranteed accuracy. Please visit each meeting’s official website or contact each meeting’s organizer for official, complete details and registration rates.