Aiming for Excellence: The 102nd Thomas P. Hinman Dental Meeting
February 2014
See this article in the February issue of Proofs
We interviewed the executive director of Hinman Dental Society, Sylvia Ratchford, on what you can expect at the upcoming meeting, specifically, what the dental meeting plans to do for laboratory technicians.
Lauren Burns: What have been the attendance numbers over the last few years?
Sylvia Ratchford: We traditionally attract between 22,000 and 23,000 attendees, including 6,000 dentists and an overall professional audience of nearly 16,000.
LB: Are you seeing any attendance trends?
SR: The dental professionals continue to support this meeting with their attendance every year. They represent all 50 states and a few foreign countries. As a meeting that was born in a study club 102 years ago, the consistent quality of continuing education for the entire dental team, as well as the integrity of the exhibiting companies on our floor, has resulted in a loyal following among dental professionals.
LB: What will Hinman offer to both attendees and exhibitors at the meeting this year?
SR: The continuing education highlights include the return of popular tracks for each auxiliary area, as well as a focus on high-level participation courses. One course will offer instruction on hands-on implants in cadaver heads. Other course pairings will feature a combination of education on both preparation and therapeutics. As always, Hinman will offer top-level and relevant CE. Some courses will be located on the exhibit hall floor, enabling attendees to meet with exhibitors immediately before and after their courses. In addition, there will be table clinics for free CE and a “Messages to the Military” booth, where attendees can complete a postcard to be mailed by Hinman to our service personnel overseas. All attendees and exhibitors are invited to participate in a raffle for a chance to win a three-year lease on an Audi TT, a $2,000 Ritz-Carlton gift card, or a $1,000 cash prize. Tickets are $100 each and are limited to a total of 700 to be sold. The balance of the raffle income will provide dental student scholarships, which is in keeping with our program every year. The excess revenue (we are a nonprofit organization) is invested with our trustees and then given in scholarships and large gifts to dental students and dental schools. The Hinman Dental Society mission is to provide education at the highest caliber to practicing dental professionals, and to financially support dental students at the undergraduate level. These efforts, as you can imagine, are very rewarding for our 800 members.
LB: How will you increase traffic on the show floor?
SR: This year, one of the features is in direct response to the exhibitor survey. The request has been for us to provide “dentist-only” hours in our hall. We are opening our meeting on Thursday morning with “dentist-only” hours from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. We have built our educational program to ensure that the auxiliaries have plenty of courses from which to choose during this time period. In addition, we will offer a Wheel of Chance and the return of the Treasure Quest. There will be two Hinman Eateries with a variety of lunch selections for purchase, and free Wi-Fi to make it easy for attendees to stay on the floor. The educational program course times are staggered to provide opportunities all day long for dentists and auxiliaries to visit the floor.
"Our mission is to provide education at the highest caliber to practicing dental professionals and to financially support dental students at the undergraduate level."
LB: Have you implemented any meeting extras designed to make sure people keep coming year after year?
SR: We work hard to provide a strong CE program and a quality floor for exhibitors to showcase the latest and best in dental products and services. In addition, we work arm-in-arm with the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, the participating hotels, and the Georgia World Congress Center to provide an attractive as well as economical package for attending our meeting. We have a housing partner who delivers the guaranteed lowest available rated hotel room rates; we commit to very low meeting registration fees and then provide 50% of our 230 courses at no additional fee; and finally, we work with our service contractor to keep the exhibitor costs as low as possible.
LB: What are the highlights of this year’s meeting?
SR: The keynote speaker on Thursday afternoon will be Dr. Ben Carson, the noted pediatric neurosurgeon. Our Special Events program will include the opportunity to play golf at East Lake Golf Club, the home of the great Bobby Jones, a luncheon and fashion show at Neiman Marcus, and a fun Brews Cruise of some of Atlanta’s finest craft breweries (transportation included!). With receptions for dentists and auxiliaries among other events, there are numerous opportunities for networking during the three days.
LB: Did you go to the GNYDM or ADA meetings? What are your thoughts on those: what did you take from those meetings that you hope to use or avoid at Hinman in the future?
SR: Between our team of scouts and our staff, we visit all of the major dental meetings each year. While I personally did not attend GNYDM this year as in recent years, I did attend the most recent ADA meeting in New Orleans. One of the valuable take-aways that we gain from seeing these other meetings is to make sure we are not duplicating what everyone else is doing. At the same time, we try to observe and learn from their successes (whether it’s a new speaker, new exhibitor, session format, or overall meeting logistics). I think it’s safe to say that we all “borrow” best practices from one another. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
LB: What aspect of the Hinman Dental Meeting do you like to brag about?
SR: Our education and our Southern hospitality. The two go hand-in-hand in the delivery of what we believe is the best continuing dental education available. We know that if we deliver the best education (with the best speakers and most needed topics), the dental professionals will meet their objectives in coming to the meeting. That classroom education, coupled with the education they receive on the exhibit hall floor with our professional and credible vendors, makes for a compelling experience and one that the dental professionals want to repeat in the future.
LB: And finally, tell me about the Lab Tech Day.
SR: Thank you for bringing that up. That is a new thing we’re doing this year. The most recent president of SCLD is one of our affiliates and he came to last year’s meeting and asked if there was a way that we could work together. We found out that our meetings were scheduled on the same dates, so we came up with a plan. Their event starts on Friday and the first day of our meeting is Thursday. So we created programming with a number of courses that have topics for laboratory technicians for the Thursday schedule. Our arrangement is that they can register just for Thursday. That will allow them to go to the exhibit hall and attend any of the general attendance courses. They’re free as long as you’ve paid your registration, so half of our 230 courses are free. It gives them more exposure than what the SCLD could offer.
LB: Is it too early to tell what the numbers are for that?
SR: Yes, we’re still waiting to see what the total engagement is since it’s a new program.
Laboratory technicians registered for the 2014 Southeastern Conference of Dental Laboratories are invited to visit the exhibit hall at Hinman and register for CE courses and other special events. There will be transportation to and from the SCDL headquarters at the Georgian Terrace. Courses offered for lab techs during the meeting on Thursday include: Application of Fundamental Restorative Principles to Fixed and Removable Prosthodontics; Complex Implant Treatments: The Agony and Ecstasy; Global Diagnosis – A New Vision of Dental Diagnosis and Treatment Planning; Bending Proven Principles with Contemporary Materials and Technologies – Today’s Challenge for the Dentist/Technician Team; Immediate-Load Implant-Retained Overdentures: An Evidence-Based Protocol; Keys to Prosthetic Success for the Dentist, Lab Technician, and the Patient; and I Made It Pretty, Why Did It Break? When Esthetics Isn’t Enough.
The 102nd Hinman Dental Meeting will be held March 27 through 29 in Atlanta, Georgia. To find out more about the meeting, visit hinman.org.
