December's Newsletter is Packed With... |
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- Featured Meeting: FPMA Annual SAM Conference
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- Tricks of the Trade - DPMs: Switching Up Your Schedule
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- Speak Up DPMs: Young Physician Feedback
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- The FABI Nugget: Bite-Sized Chunks for Your Practice
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- Practice Partner Academy - Upcoming Sessions and Recordings
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- Tricks of the Trade - Vendors: Changing for the Sake of Change
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- Tricks of the Trade - Meeting Planners: Making Meaningful Changes
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Featured Event
FPMA Annual SAM Conference
February 1-5, 2023
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Returning to Disney's Coronado Springs Resort
Disney has been an amazing partner; always bringing that Disney magic to our events. After education is done for the day, the parks and other entertainment are just minutes away!
We've Been Listening To You
We spend ample time reviewing post-conference attendee surveys to identify which educational topics are in demand. The FPMA makes every attempt to incorporate those lectures at the following conference. We've also undertaken an industry advisory group to better understand the needs of our industry partners.
FPMA is committed to continued dynamic, relevant education for our attendees. SAM has been approved for a maximum of up to 32 CECH. Find more physician information here: PHYSICIAN INFORMATION
Exciting Changes for Exhibitors and Sponsors
- A new exhibit hall layout to improve flow
- New exhibit hall hours with an extended period in the middle part of the day wherein lectures will be paused and all activities will be focused on vendors
- New opportunities and options for sponsorship selections
- Flexible scheduling to maximize your sponsorship investment
- Enhanced Innovation Theater Learning Labs
FPMA will continue to provide "know-before-you-go" emails for exhibitors with tips and tricks for exhibiting success! Find more exhibitor information here: EXHIBITOR INFORMATION
Please join us in the Sunshine State this February at SAM 2023!
Karen Lambert
FPMA Executive Director & CEO
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TRICKS OF THE TRADE - Quick Tips for DPMs
Switch Up Your Schedule Strategically
Sarah Breymeier
Many of the tips we provide discuss taking time to plan and to choose your meetings with serious consideration (vs. copying/pasting what you did the year before). Well, I challenge you to do it again!
There was a tip I provided all the way back in September of 2019 that encouraged DPMs to "invest in your passion"; meaning choose meetings that align with your practice goals and niche (if you have one). Click here to go back in time and check it out.
As you consider the meetings you select for 2023, take time to reflect on the meetings you have been to in the last two years. Which ones inspired you? Which ones drained you? Which one was the same one you went to because you just go through the motions every year?
If you specialize in a particular area (i.e. sports medicine), it might be difficult to find a meeting you've never been to with that focus; and that's OK! I wouldn't recommend switching up your meeting schedule for the sake of switching it up. BUT, make sure to check out our meeting calendar to see if there is an event that aligns with your area of focus you may have previously missed! Click here for our calendar.
Another thought... go to a meeting that isn't specifically for podiatrists. It's difficult to get out of the podiatry vacuum and it can cause ideas to become stagnant. Check out some of these out-of-industry meetings and/or learning tools that may get you out of burnout mode!
Regardless of the meetings you do end up going to, just be sure to choose them with intent and a strong strategy.
To really take it up a notch, request one of our Meeting Workbooks. Your Meeting Workbook will serve as a guide to keep you on track, forcing you to set meeting goals, challenging you to step out of your comfort zone and interact with your peers and faculty members, as well as finding new ways to enhance your practice and/or patient care by learning about new products and services in the exhibit hall.
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Would you like a digital copy of our Meeting Workbook?
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Nah... free tools are not my thing.
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SPEAK UP, DPMs
Monthly Quick Poll - Feedback from Young Physicians
This year, one of the most common threads in our conversations with both exhibitors and meeting planners is that they don't know how to reach young physicians. Well, we wanted to do our best to help with a young physician survey that we posted on our website the entire year.
Here's what we found out...
EXHIBITORS:
Young physicians find cash and gift cards the most valuable when it comes to floor/door prizes. So find a creative way to incorporate your brand into this type of giveaway. Need some help? Join our next Exhibitor Mastermind Session! We discuss these types of ideas each quarter.
Email Us Now and let us know that you want to be involved in the next Mastermind Session!
EVENT PLANNERS:
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Young physicians are drawn to conferences that have engaging speakers. My recommendation - when you are creating promotional materials (especially via email and on your website) highlight your faculty and emphasize their expertise. Also, avoid choosing the same faculty members every single conference. Get some new blood on your podium!
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Young physicians are seeking educational content that they can use immediately - practical applications! Hands-on experiences are also ideal.
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Young physicians find meetings that are held during the holiday season difficult to attend, so if you're striving to get more young blood in your seats, avoid December. Spring and Fall seem to be the months that have less conflict with young physician schedules.
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Young physicians prefer meetings at vacation/tourist destinations if they are traveling to a meeting (vs. online education)
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The FABI Nugget:
Bite-Sized Chunks For Your Practice
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With December already upon us, it would make sense to have one eye on the new year. As you are hopefully closing this year with a final, strong kick, now is the time to put a plan together to leave the starting gate strong in 2023.
In the video, I cover five ideas that can help make next year your best year ever. The ideas consist of the Whiteboard concept, using a marketing strategy called Smile and Dial, not settling for team members that are amateurs, deciding to get 100 more 5-star reviews and blocking one week per quarter to take personal time to enjoy life away from the business.
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The end of the year is the perfect time to create your strategy for the next year and commit to the actions necessary to achieve your ideal outcome. Adding the five tactics outlined here will significantly increase your chances of success.
Start now on your path to creating 2023 as your best year ever.
-Chris
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PRACTICE PARTNER ACADEMY
Helping You Choose Strategic Partners for Your Practice
Register for upcoming sessions below, or
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Marketing Fireside Chat with Barbara Aung, DPM
Presented alongside Randy Rosler of Podiatry Content Connection
Tuesday, January 10th @ 8pm EST
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DO YOU WANT TO REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION
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YAS! I'm pumped! Please send me the login details!
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No thank you... I'll be washing my hair.
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Regenerating Lipids for Patients with Cracked, Dry Skin
Presented by Bree Wright, RN, CFCN & David Zuckerman, DPM
Tuesday, January 24th @ 8pm EST
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DO YOU WANT TO REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION
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For Sure!! Please send me the login details!
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No thank you... I have to wax my bowling balls.
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Breaking the Fungal Recurrence Cycle:
The Importance of Disinfecting Footwear
Sponsored by PediFix
Tuesday, January 31st @ 8pm EST
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DO YOU WANT TO REGISTER FOR THIS SESSION
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Twist My Arm? Of course I want to be there! Please send me the login details!
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No thank you... I have to fold 100 paper cranes for origami class.
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TRICKS OF THE TRADE - Quick Tips for Vendors
Changing for the Sake of Changing
Sarah Breymeier
We've often recommended to avoid the copy/paste method when it comes to your tradeshow strategy; and we still do! However, I've also seen and/or been a part of teams that switch up their strategies every so often even when it doesn't seem to make a difference in the outcome.
What I'm getting at here is - don't make changes just for change's sake. Instead of assuming everything in your tradeshow set up and/or process needs to be revamped, carefully go through the list of everything you have on hand (i.e. display, collateral, lead sheets) and dissect why you think it's working, why you think it's not working; and if you decide to change any of those things, ask why/how would it truly make a difference?
For example, I know many teams that always want to redesign their booth. Step back and ask yourself if you really believe a booth redesign is going to convert more sales. I'm not saying it can't make an impact - it is important - but is that really solving the problem at hand? If you're not getting enough eye balls on your booth, that could be a solution. But if it's about converting leads, probably not.
All I'm saying is to avoid "blaming" any poor tradeshow results on things that are easy fixes. My guess is the issues are way deeper and harder to adjust. Things like pre-show marketing strategies, post-show follow-up process, on-site offers and sales pitches, etc.
So, as you examine your 2023 tradeshow strategy, take a deeper dive than you have in the past and get to the root cause of any challenges you're having. It won't be an easy fix, but the long-term results will pay off.
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SPEAK UP, VENDORS
Monthly Quick Poll - Psyche!
Instead of our regular monthly poll, we want to get back to our roots. Remember when podiatrymeetings.com launched in 2019 and one of our biggest goals was to collect feedback on your specific meeting experiences? Well.... we haven't heard from many of you lately.
So we want you to reflect on the meetings you've been to this year and PLEASE COMPLETE A VENDOR SURVEY FOR EACH ONE YOU ATTENDED!
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90-DAY MEETING OUTLOOK
Click below to see industry events for upcoming months.
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TRICKS OF THE TRADE
Quick Tips for Meeting Planners
Making Meaningful Changes
Sarah Breymeier
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If you have read the DPM Tip and the Exhibitor Tip above, you have probably caught on to my theme this month. And now it's your turn!
Ann sent over an awesome quote from the November 2022 issue of Convene Magazine, which actually inspired this entire newsletter....
“The event organizers who will be successful going forward are the ones who recognize that they shouldn’t throw away the traditional apple pie recipe we all loved - but they also need to make room for experimentation and iteration. When you make small changes to the method, substitute a new ingredient, or try something completely new, this is a great time to rethink what you are serving up.”
I love this because it's a great way to end the year and to carefully inspect your meeting elements. It's been amazing to see so many meeting planners making some significant changes to their events in the last couple of years, and while I don't want anyone to stop the progress, I do want to encourage making changes that are meaningful vs. making changes to make changes. So let's go through some of the elements of your meeting that you may want to consider more than most.
LOCATION
Do you ever change the location of your meeting? Why? Why not?
If you're changing the location of your meeting every year, you are putting a lot of work on your plate. Hotel contracts are excruciating. It's definitely fun to mix it up, however, if you have found a place that seems to fit both exhibitor and attendee needs equally, I say stick with it... at least for a while. Don't fix what's not broken, right? But if you haven't found the sweet spot yet, don't give up! Location is crucial to meeting success and if yours stinks, it's hard to polish a turd.
HOURS
Are your learning and exhibit hall hours always the same? Why? Why not?
I strongly feel this is something most meetings need to investigate with some serious emphasis. We hear time and time again that education hours are too long and that exhibitor hours are too short. Especially now that online credits are so much more readily available, this could be a great time to cut your on-site educational hours down and increase the time your attendees spend with vendors. Vendors are not getting any attention with virtual meetings, so give them more time in the schedule when you are on site and have an in-person exhibit hall.
SPEAKERS AND CONTENT
Are you getting new voices heard each year? Why? Why not?
There are some meetings that have speakers which, ultimately, carry the event. They are renowned and almost become the face of the meeting because everyone knows he/she is going to be there and they are looking forward to it. So maybe nothing has to change there. But are you recycling the same panel too often, otherwise? I know it's great to see familiar faces, but we are hearing feedback that meetings with the same faculty year in and year out are getting stale AND that practical content is what the audience is craving. So, consider less academia-type lectures, and maybe incorporate more hands-on experiences with the DPMs who are in the trenches and out of the classroom.
Happy New Year, Friends! And Happy 2023 Planning!
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PodiatryMeetings.com presents information about upcoming podiatric events, featured podiatry vendors, exhibiting and travel tips, and more!
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