The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry

Jill Hasselmann, SVP of Strategic Partnerships at HR for Health, and Dave Salciccioli, Chief Strategy Officer at Singing River Dental Partners, discuss the upcoming DSO Leadership Summit.

The DSO Leadership Summit takes place October 12 – 14 at the Austin Marriott in downtown Austin, TX. Visit https://dsosummit.com/ and use code ‘GDN23’ to save 20%.

During this podcast Jill and Dave discuss:

The DSO Leadership Summit agenda
What is happening just before registration (M&A, speed dating, ortho)
The GDN Emerging Groups to Watch awards on Friday night
Dave talks about his experience as an attendee last year
Much more

Visit https://dsosummit.com/ and use code ‘GDN23’ to save 20%.

If you like our podcast, please give us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review on iTunes https://apple.co/2Nejsfa and a Thumbs Up on YouTube.

Our podcast series brings you dental support organization and emerging dental group practice analysis, conversation, trends, news and events. Listen to leaders in the DSO and emerging dental group space talk about their challenges, successes, and the future of group dentistry. The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry has listeners across North & South America, Australia, Europe, and Asia. If you like our show, tell a friend or a colleague.

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Full Transcript:

Bill Neumann:

Welcome everyone to The Group Dentistry Now Show. I’m Bill Neumann, and as always, thanks for watching or listening to us. We appreciate you and boy, it’s been a heck of a road. We are up to 130, 536 podcasts and just keep getting better and better. So, we have one guest that’s been on the show before, and we have a new guest that you may have met last year if you happened to be attending the DSO Leadership Summit. And, you’re going to learn all about the leadership Summit, just in case you haven’t attended it. It’s coming up relatively soon in October. You’re going to find out all about it and why you should attend. So first off, I’d like to welcome back Jill Hasselmann. She’s the Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships for HR for Health. Jill, welcome back.

Jill Hasselmann:

Thank you, it’s great to be back. Third year in a row. Third year is a charm, I think is what they say.

Bill Neumann:

I think so. Yeah, this is going to be a big event, so I’m really excited to talk about this. And then our next guest, he’s going to have a really interesting perspective on things. He attended the DSO Leadership Summit last year. He was an attendee, and he was also a speaker or a panelist. And, he’s coming back to the event for a couple things. I’m going to hold off on one of them as a little bit of a surprise, although if you read the Group Dentistry Now website, you’ll know why he’s attending for one of the reasons. But then the other reason is, he’s going to be back as a speaker again. So, we have Dave Salciccioli. He is the Chief Strategic Officer at Singing River Dental Partners. So Dave, welcome.

Dave Salciccioli:

Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I am excited to be here, excited to talk about this incredible event and talk about the specific panel that I get to be a part of. So thanks, Bill.

Bill Neumann:

And, we appreciate you Dave, you’ve been a great supporter of Group Dentistry Now. We connected a while back, and we really appreciate what you and Singing River Dental Partners has been doing in the industry. So maybe we start off with a little bit about your background, Dave, and then also talk a little bit about Singing River.

Dave Salciccioli:

Yeah, that’s great. I was thrust into the dental industry from a management consulting perspective. I was able to speak at a dental event, and got connected with a group with this owner, Dr. Jimmy Gardner, who I’m partnering with now and have been working with him since 2018. It’s been an incredible ride and I’ve loved getting my hands into the operations and strategic elements of growing and emerging DSO. And so, from that time period, we have grown to 10 locations with seven general, three pediatric, and two different brands, one for the general and one for the pediatric. And it’s just been an amazing ride.

And, I love and I’m excited about this event because I feel like it’s given a platform for these types of groups, the groups like Singing River Dental Partners, these emerging groups that are doing amazing work in their communities, and this event allows for us to highlight that a little bit more. So, I’m honored and I appreciate the opportunity to share about it.

Bill Neumann:

Yeah, we’re excited to have you back for a lot of different reasons. Jill, could you give the audience, maybe the ones that don’t know you or didn’t hear the podcast or see it last year, a little bit about your background, and then what your role is at HR for Health?

Jill Hasselmann:

Yeah, so I have been with HR for Health for going on 10 years now, almost since the inception of the company. And, our goal with HR for Health is to help make HR management, employee management, much more easy and streamlined for group practices. So, we take care of all of the compliance stuff that nobody wants to worry about, knowing when laws change, updating document policies, things like that so that everyone can focus on what they actually want to do in the practice, which we know is not HR. So, HR for Health and Group Dentistry Now, this is the third year that we partnered to put on the DSO Leadership Summit, and we’re very excited about it. I think our two forces coming together really get the best type of audience there, so that networking is great. The groups are able to meet each other and learn from each other, so we’re really excited about this year.

Bill Neumann:

Yeah, I’ll give a little bit of my background on my first time I attended the event because it was pre-COVID, it was before our partnership. I was an attendee in the audience. It was in Santa Monica, and I’d been to a lot of the larger, the ADSO, and Dykema, and some of the other events, and ended up at the DSO Leadership Summit probably at the time, maybe 150, maybe a little higher than that, as far as number of attendees. But what I was struck by, and Dave touched on this a little bit were, I would say emerging groups, so probably the best way to describe it. The three to maybe 20, 25 location groups that were mostly doctor-owned and led, were in different stages of scaling. A lot of them doing things similarly, but maybe not everybody.

And what was great about that was, a lot of the groups I had never, sometimes when you’re in the industry a while, you think everybody, and I was amazed who I was sitting with at the table, and who I knew and who I’d never heard of before. I’m like, “Yep. 10 locations, never heard of you.” It was kind of exciting, and then just the ability for these groups to share openly. That was what I was really intrigued by. And so I enjoyed the event. And so when we had the opportunity at Group Dentistry Now, Kim and I, to partner with HR for Health, we jumped on it and we’re happy to be part of now the third year.

Jill Hasselmann:

Yeah.

Bill Neumann:

Let’s talk about this year’s event. It’s coming up October 12th through the 14th. It’s going to be in Austin, Texas. So people tend to like to go to Austin for various reasons, whether it’s the music, or the weather, or the food, or whatever it is, you can do it all there in Austin, it’s a pretty cool town. And Jill, do you want to talk a little bit about the location, the hotel that you’re hosting it at?

Jill Hasselmann:

Yeah, so the hotel is awesome. It’s at the Austin Marriott Downtown. So we have our room blocks there, at the end of this show I know Bill will give those resources so that you guys know how to get your room blocks. But the hotel is beautiful. It’s right in downtown, it’s close to everything. We’ll have some really cool parties in the hotel, which I know we’ll talk about in a little bit. We will have our Friday night party, which is legendary, which I know we’ll talk about, which is walking distance from the hotel. And yeah, it’s just a really great area. We last year were in Nashville, and we know Nashville has a certain vibe, and so we wanted to really meet the demand for growth that this event has pushed on us, which is amazing. We don’t want to have to turn people away, but we wanted to make sure we had a space big enough, and so that moved us to Austin this year.

So we want to keep, I think Bill mentioned music, weather, and food. We’re going to bring all those things together to make sure everyone has the best time possible that weekend. The weather’s supposed to be great, the food will be awesome, music, all of it. We’re going to check all those boxes.

Bill Neumann:

Yeah, it’s a great hotel if people haven’t been there before. And maybe some have been at the JW for ADSO events, there’ve been a couple events there, but this is probably a couple blocks away. And I was at a dental meeting at that Austin Marriott, and it’s just recently been renovated. And I think there’s a rooftop bar where there might be an event that we might be having one of the nights that Jill’s going to talk about, so it’s a really cool location. And then it’s within walking distance to pretty much all the happening spots in Austin.

Dave Salciccioli:

It’ll be my first time, so I’m excited to check out the scene.

Jill Hasselmann:

Awesome.

Dave Salciccioli:

Yeah.

Jill Hasselmann:

I’m glad we could bring Austin, it’s a really fun city.

Bill Neumann:

Yeah, it is a cool town. So, let’s talk about a couple things starting off. It’s going to start off on Thursday, October 12th. And so Jill, how do things start off, because there’s some things that are going on, several different workshops prior to the main event going on, so maybe I know one’s an M&A workshop. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Jill Hasselmann:

Yeah, so the M&A workshop, we’re really calling it a mastermind, if you will. It’s presented by Bob Winder with Logan Growth Advisors, and the team at Align Dental Partners. I’m super excited about this event. Bob is awesome. He is an educator by trade. He actually is a professor at BYU, teaches about investment banking, economics, and he really is, he approached us after last year’s event and said, “I would love to do more of a hands-on kind of workshop to help groups really understand what investors want, what buyers want, what adds or detracts value.” He was on the private equity side for a long time, so he knows what these people are looking at when they’re investing into the groups.

And so, really again, getting hands-on with the aligned Dental Partners group to talk about what you need to have in order to look appealing to buyers, and really what levers to pull when you’re going through the negotiation process. So, he’s going to really dive deep into it. And I know Dave had mentioned that he knows Bob and is familiar with him. So I don’t know Dave, if you want to share your experience, but I really can’t say enough good things about him. He teaches me at something every time I talk to him, so I’m very grateful to have him in the Align Dental Partners team kicking off the M&A workshop this year.

Dave Salciccioli:

Yeah, Jill, just to show you power of the event, last year was our first time attending, and met Bob Winder there and he’s been an amazing resource. Literally Friday, I texted him in the morning, “Hey, can I have 15 minutes of your time? I just have this possible acquisition. I’d love some thoughts on how he might structure it,” and that’s not even what he’s primarily focused on with the groups that he’s working with. But he’s been a great resource, and becoming a friend of ours, and so I’m super excited that we’re connected with him now through the event. We would’ve never met him. And now he’s helped us with two deals already, and a few other different points as we continue to grow and scale. So yeah, great guy, and can’t wait to see this workshop.

Bill Neumann:

I think it’ll be great to have Bob, and I can speak for Bob. We had Bob on a podcast, I believe it was last year, and it was probably a little over an hour. And it was a real deep dive. When Jill talks about him being an educator, that is kind of the way he went into the podcast. You would learn quite a bit from that. We’ll drop that in the show notes, so if people want to get a listen to that, they can.

And then I’d be remiss to not mention the team at Align Dental Partners because a lot of the emerging groups that we work with have engaged, aligned in various things, whether it’s acquisitions they might be working on funding, different things like that. So to see those two organizations team up is going to be great. So that’s-

Jill Hasselmann:

It’s a fun fact that as Bob was talking to us about this workshop, we were exploring, “Well, we feel like there’s maybe a place for something like Aligned Dental Partners, what they focus on to bring in some extra value here,” and both Aligned Dental Partners and Bob were like, “Oh yeah. We met at the DSO Leadership Summit in 2022. We’ve been working together ever since then,” and so I think it just goes to the theme of how people are getting connected through this event, and now this year they’re able to put on this workshop. So it’s very cool to see how people are all connected through this event, which is great.

Bill Neumann:

So speaking of connecting, one of the other workshops we have is Speed Networking. So Jill, can you talk a little bit about that, because that’s probably one of the most important things, if not the most important thing, at the DSO Leadership Summit is networking and connecting with the right people.

Jill Hasselmann:

Yep. Absolutely, yeah. So on Thursday we will have a speed networking session that is focused on new technologies for growth. It’s going to be a new and improved format this year. So last year was the first year we did it. We’re tweaking the format a little bit, so that the groups can choose who they would like to meet with, and then those meetings will be one-on-one. And the goal with this is really to introduce new technologies that you maybe haven’t heard about before, are up and coming, maybe have smaller budgets, so they aren’t at a lot of these shows because again, they’re just starting out. And so this is a way for our attendees to get exposed to what’s coming out there that again, they might not have ever heard of. So we’re really excited about that. Again, to give these companies awareness and exposure because they’re awesome. And then also to be able to connect them with the attendees so you know what’s hip and cool, it’s coming. Technology is always evolving, so we want to help you to stay up on it.

Bill Neumann:

And then finally, we have the third workshop. So we haven’t even gotten to the main event yet, we’re still on the workshops.

Jill Hasselmann:

Yeah.

Bill Neumann:

But there’s an orthodontic workshop. So this is going to be geared towards DSOs that are ortho-specific or DSOs that have orthodontics in-house, or even maybe want to bring ortho in-house. So it’s going to be four hours long. And, topics are going to include implementing aligners for growth for general practitioners, supporting orthodontists in the DSO environment. We’re going to focus on financing ortho, so patient financing for ortho patients. And then, managing the staff crisis, which I think anybody can relate to now. So that’s going to be an invitation only event, and that’s put on by Align Tech and OrthoFi. And if you’re interested in that, you could email us at info at info@DSOSummit.com, it’s info@DSOSummit.com to find out about that event.

So we’ve got three workshops going on all simultaneously. You’ve got to pick the one that you want, but there’s probably one that you’re going to want to attend. So after that, then there’s going to be the registration, I guess, for the main event, right, Jill? And then take us up to the party on Thursday.

Jill Hasselmann:

Yeah. So registration is from noon to 5:00 on Thursday. So we have these workshops going on, and as Bill mentioned, a lot of our attendees bring usually two people from their groups. You can divide and conquer what’s going on with these workshops. Just make sure that you’re registering prior, they do require preregistration. So reach out to us if you have questions on that. All the info’s on our website. So registration goes up to 5:00, and then we literally start the party.

So, our opening night party, our welcome party that is sponsored by Align Technologies will be taking place from 5:00 to 7:00 that evening. And this is where we will make very good use of the rooftop bar that is at the hotel, so it’s awesome, there’s cabanas. There is a pool, you don’t have to go in it, but we are getting creative to make sure that the party’s super fun. But it’s at the hotel, so you don’t really have to travel anywhere, but it’s a great way to just introduce yourself to the other attendees going into the event. And that will again, go to 7:00, and then you’ll have your night to do what you would like before we start our full day on Friday.

Bill Neumann:

Yeah, it sounds like it’s going to be an action pack Thursday. So, to Jill’s point, make sure if you want to go to any of these workshops, you register ahead of time, because we’re going to need to have a headcount and we’re going to make sure that… Because there is going to be, and then also for the ortho, it’s going to be invite only, so if you want to find out more, you have to email us, and then we can reach out and let you know criteria and how many people can attend the event.

Okay. So that takes us through Thursday. So what about Friday, October 13th? So Friday the 13th, which is going to be a lucky day for everybody.

Jill Hasselmann:

I know.

Bill Neumann:

What does that look like?

Jill Hasselmann:

So Friday we will have a full day of content. So we will start our event around 8:00 for breakfast, and then we’ll start our content around 9:00. So that will go all day up until about 5:00. We’re going to dive into some of the segments we want to highlight, but it’s going to be a great day of content. Friday night is the infamous Emerging Group to Watch Awards Party, and I know we’re going to talk more about that, but it is something you don’t want to miss. It is so awesome to be able to recognize these groups that are doing really, really awesome work, and we give them a literal platform. They’re able to accept their award, it’s really cool. So that’s on Friday night.

And then Saturday we will have a half-day of content. We promise we’ll get you out at 12:00, so really, really good content on Saturday too, so you don’t want to leave early. Make sure you are there because there’s going to be some really good information. And then yeah, we wrap up at noon on Saturday and you have the rest of the weekend to spend in Austin or go back home, whatever you want to do.

Bill Neumann:

And I’ll just talk a little bit about the DSO Leadership Summit party. That is going to be, again, Friday night. It’s going to be at a separate location called the Speakeasy, which is a really cool pub. Well, it’s a speakeasy. And it’s about what, maybe a four or five-minute walk from the hotel so it’s really close by. And, anybody that may have attended the A DSO Summit four or five years ago may have remembered that one of the events was there. So, it’s a really cool place. And yeah, we’re excited about it. Dave and I will talk and Jill will talk a little bit about the event in more detail.

To Jill’s point, all the award winners get a chance to get up on stage, accept the award, talk a little bit about the challenges and successes. Last year we had a mic drop moment with one of the winners. They were a little out there, we weren’t sure where it was going to go, but it was fun. It was certainly entertaining, and I’m sure we’ll have some more entertainment this year.

So, maybe we could talk about the background of the event, maybe. And so Dave, it might be good to get your impression because again, last year you were both an attendee and a panelist. So from that, maybe go from the attendee perspective first, and then maybe from a panelist’s perspective.

Dave Salciccioli:

Yeah. So, like I said, last year was the first time that myself and my team had attended. And I think, as you know Bill, you travel to all the events, there are so many dental events. And I think sometimes it can be hard to know which ones are really, you can make a team experience and it’s going to have content that applies to multiple different types of Leadership Team members in the function that they manage. And so, it can be intimidating for, and what certainly was a little bit for our team. I’ll go, and what is that going to look like? It was the first experience that my team had had really getting in the industry and seeing what’s possible. But I will say that we were pleasantly surprised by the way in which it did meet the things that we were hoping to hear about, to learn about from the attendee perspective.

So, I actually built our annual Leadership Team Retreat in conjunction with it. And so we had about four days of an incredible team experience to be able to learn together, grow together, digest what we had learned, come away with action steps, and apply those when we came back into the business. So, it was a neat experience. And so for anybody who’s feeling maybe like, “Should I bring my team?” Or, “I’m a little bit intimidated to go reference with the industry. Am I even big enough to go be a part of this? And is this only big groups?” It’s not. And I think it was a very accessible and really powerful event for us as an attendee, and with my team.

Bill Neumann:

I think that’s a great point, Dave, that you make. Are we too small to go to this event? And the answer would be no. You could have one location looking to add a second location. You could be on the other end of the spectrum, you could be at that 25 to 30, and there’s still, you’re going to take some great tips away from whether it’s one of the workshops or from groups that are similar size. So I think if you’re anywhere from that three to about 35, 40 location, this is definitely an event I think you’re going to find is really unique. And to Jill’s point, and she’s going to talk a little bit more about this, the content is very unique. It’s unlike other events, because like Dave mentioned, there are a lot of DSO events out there. There are a lot of dental meetings.

And then now we’ve got this layer of DSO events, and they run the spectrum of large groups to what we’re really trying to accomplish, which is reach those emerging groups. But, I think where we shine as an event is really on the content side of things. Bringing different speakers, people that you don’t necessarily see or hear, and different perspectives.

Jill Hasselmann:

Yep. Yeah, and I know we’re going to talk more about that, but yeah. And to echo what Bill is saying, it’s not even just that if you have one location, you should consider it, we have people that in the last two years we’ve seen a large uptick in people with one location, two location, that are coming to this event that are feeling comfortable, and the content, again, is geared towards that size. So we really want you to feel comfortable. Don’t shy away. If you’re thinking about growing, this is where you’d want to be.

Bill Neumann:

Dave, have you had a chance to take a look at the agenda at all? Is there anything that you’re looking forward to this year, besides yourself?

Dave Salciccioli:

Yeah, besides myself. And I can speak to that piece. I’m excited about even some of those pre-workshops. I was at another event in June, and there’s so much emerging technology coming into the space, it can be really overwhelming in a vendor space to know, “Who do I go up to? What’s this technology? How do I do that?” So I love that idea. I’m super excited to attend that Speed Networking and seeing some of the different technologies that are out there.

I think we’ll talk about a few of those that are coming back, the Point/Counterpoint and a couple of those other sections there, but I’m excited about the content. And what I love about this industry in general, and this is maybe more high-level, which is where I live, is people are so willing to share other groups that you’re meeting at the table. So the content is going to be incredible, but it’s also the conversations that happen with the attendees. And, I see us all as worthy rivals. We’re all in the mission to grow, to take care of people. And so being able to have that, to rub shoulders with other people who are right there in the trenches with you, has been really, really neat too.

And coming out of it now, some of my team members have some mentoring relationships with people who are in like positions that I’ve helped to facilitate and say, “How do I do marketing?” Or, “How do I do this? How are you doing that over there?” And so I think that’s an important point as well.

Looking into the agenda, I got to be a part of an operations panel last year, was incredible, moderated by Charles Mosier, and I’m excited to be a part of the DSO Diagnosis Panel because this was one that I was watching and I was saying, “Man, this is an incredible type of engaging content that I haven’t seen before,” where you literally get to pick apart and look at and analyze another group and give some thoughts, some really practical feedback on, what is it that they could do from the operations strategic standpoint, which is what I’ll be representing? What could they do from the finance side? Accrual and cash basis accounting has been a big topic. So I know Mike White is going to be a part of that.

What can they do from the HR legal side with Ali, because we’ve been working through all sorts of talent issues, and that’s on the forefront of everybody’s mind. How do we take care of our people? How do we adjust to the needs of the workforce now? And then the staffing. How do we recruit? And how do we compete with other industries or other businesses who are trying to also provide jobs for the types of people that we want in our organization? So, Theresa is going to be representing that staffing side.

So for me, I’m just super honored to be able to be a part of that. I cannot wait to be able to look at three groups, I believe, and really these are real DSOs looking for real answers, and provide some tangible feedback and strategy for them, is basically going to be a thrill for me. So, I think Jill, if they want to be a part of that, they’ll email you guys at info@DSO Summit, is that the path for that?

Jill Hasselmann:

Yep. Exactly, yeah. So we pick three DSOs to go on stage. We try to have them be in different areas of the country, different sizes, going through different things, so everyone can get different angles. I know that in past years, every DSO that’s participated with this has really gotten a lot out of it. And it also opens up the audience to feel very comfortable again with that sharing. And so yes, if you’re interested in being a part of it, you can email info@DSOSummit.com and we’ll send you your questionnaire to fill out beforehand. We make sure the panelists have your questions and what you want help on going into it, so they’re prepped, and then the panel just goes through those situations and gives real-time advice. So, there’s nothing like getting free advice from all of these people that are experts in these spaces, so take advantage of it.

Dave Salciccioli:

Yeah, I can’t wait. It’s going to be such a great panel.

Bill Neumann:

Absolutely. That was one of the things that pulled me in early on when I was an attendee was that. It’s very unique, you don’t see it anywhere else. And, I don’t think any of the groups that I saw on the stage I had ever seen before. So these were, and again, three to maybe 10-location, 15-location groups, getting honest advice and asking pretty open questions, being vulnerable on stage, which kudos to them. It’s really a unique experience, and really worthwhile for the audience and the DSOs that are participating on stage. So yeah, it’s probably one of the highlights for me as well.

And of course I’d be remiss to say, and this might be because there are The Group Dentistry Now Awards, but it’s always one of the highlights as well. Again, Jill talked about it earlier, we’re going on our third year of a partnership, and Kim and I started The Emerging Groups to Watch Awards back in 2017. We really didn’t have a platform, an event to actually hand out the physical awards so it was always something that was done online. And then the first year we were able to do that was in San Francisco in 2021, and we really didn’t know how it was going to go because we had never done it before. And, we had a relatively small space. We didn’t know if five people were going to show up, or all 300-plus attendees, and we pretty much had every attendee there. A little concerned about the Fire Marshal, but we were able to pass that. But it was a packed house, and it’s definitely a highlight.

Jill Hasselmann:

And this year it’s going to be at one, as Bill mentioned, The Speakeasy. It’s one of Austin’s original speakeasies, so really cool venue, multiple levels, a lot of things to do. That’s sponsored by Dykema and GLO Science on Friday night. So again, it’s really cool to be able to honor the groups that have gotten the award this year and hear from them, and again, just open up that networking so you can learn from them. And we’re very excited. It’s been a hit the last couple of years, so we’re excited to double down on it and just make it even better this year.

Bill Neumann:

And I guess we can mention it now that Dave’s group is going to be receiving the award on Friday night at The Speakeasy as well. I’m sure he’s working on his acceptance speech right now.

Dave Salciccioli:

Well, you mentioned the mic drop moment, I don’t know if I’ll be able to provide those same fireworks, but our team was sitting there and it was such a great event last year, and I said, “I want us to have that recognition,” and so we worked, and we applied, and we went through the process. And again, I’m honored that we’re able to bring our story, and Dr. Jimmy Gardner’s story, to the forefront. One that again, may not be the same as… I’m giving you a little preview of the acceptance speech, but may not be the same as some other groups, that might only talk about financial numbers, and growth, and all of that. And I think what has been my group’s success is the way in which we take care of people, and the 100% alignment around we exist to take care of people, and we repeat that all the time. And if we do that well, the rest takes care of itself.

And so, I’m excited to bring that story. I’m super honored to have our group be mentioned and to be recognized as an emerging group, and I can’t wait to share more at The Speakeasy.

Bill Neumann:

And just so all attendees or people that are thinking about attending know, that you’re, if you attend the DSO Leadership Summit, that also gives you entrance into the Emerging Groups to Watch Awards, so it’s all part of the deal. So make sure you go, and definitely don’t miss that. We covered the awards, we covered the workshops. We talked a little bit about the DSO Diagnosis, one of my favorites. Let’s talk about some other things. There’s a marketing breakout session as well, Jill.

Jill Hasselmann:

Yeah. And even prefacing as we’re diving into the content, I think it’s really important for the audience to know that our content is geared towards the small to mid-size groups. I know we’ve been harping on that, but it is really important to know that. We are very intentional with our speakers of, we want them to be vulnerable, we want them to be able to share tips and tricks. I think Dave used the saying, “In the trenches.” I probably say that once a day when I’m talking with these speakers. These are the people that are in the trenches killing themselves to grow their group, and we need to be able to speak to that. We don’t want sunshine and rainbows. Of course, we don’t want it to be depressing, but we want the real advice and real input on what we’re seeing day-to-day.

So, the goal of each of our panels is not only to deliver really good content, but also again, open up the room little by little, and allow for in those networking breaks, and during lunch, and during breakfast, and during the parties, to give you guys ideas and content that you can talk about and learn from each other. So, that is what everything is geared towards. This is the first year that we are going to be doing a marketing breakout session. So, this is going to be at the end of Friday. This is how we’re going to wrap up. So the first full day of content will end with a marketing session.

And really it was because our three speakers have so much amazing information that we wanted to give them more than just 30, 40 minutes on stage because they are able to deliver so many good tips and tricks. And this focus is going to be on, we always hear these, “My DSO is different, my group is different,” but when they are struggling to find employees, when they’re struggling to get patients, it really boils down to, “Well, are you different? Do you know how you’re different?” And so it’s going to be talking about how to build your personal brand, because it really starts with you as the owner or as that high-ranking leadership position, what is your personal brand? What are you attracting? It plays into recruitment, of course it plays into getting new patients and keeping patients.

One of our speakers has some really, really cool formulas about how she is helping groups decide if a practice is worthwhile to acquire, based on the marketing metrics and what that data is showing. How marketable is that practice, essentially? So she’s going to be going through the numbers for that. So I’m so excited. Again, one of them has never spoken before on stage, and not because she’s not amazing, but I just don’t know that she’s gotten the opportunity. So I’m so excited for these three speakers. Stay tuned on social media, we’re posting who these people are, but definitely don’t want to miss it.

Bill Neumann:

And it looks like we also have HR Due Diligence, Jill, so do you want to touch a little bit on that as well?

Jill Hasselmann:

Yeah, so we can’t get away from the HR and the employee issues that have been going on since COVID. This is a really cool panel where we’re going to be talking about how to bring in HR due diligence into your acquisition process to know what you’re really buying. I know that Dave actually and I talked last year about how one of his strategies of going into these practices was meeting the team, knowing what they were getting themselves into, really building those relationships so that day one, when that acquisition happened, they were profitable. And so, we have at HR for Health, been working on a Due Diligence program. A DSO that we’ve gone through the Due Diligence program will be on stage to talk about a case study of what did they see? They’re acquiring 80 practices at once, and so what did they see when they were going into the practices to make sure that their valuation was higher, that they were cleaning these things up?

We’ll have Elizabeth Voss, who maybe you guys don’t know, but she is so awesome. She’s the Employment Attorney for Dykema on the Group side. So, if you worked on a transaction, she might’ve helped you through the due diligence process, but she’s such a good friend. She is that person who is going to go, “Sorry, this is a roadblock. You have to get this in order.” So, really talking about the tips and tricks to make sure that you’re compliant, you’re safe going into these practices, you know what you’re getting yourself into, and making sure your valuations are high as possible. So we’re excited about that one.

Bill Neumann:

And then, we have something we believe is first of its kind. So, there’s plenty of talk about AI out there, so we realized that that’s not a first of its kind. I think like 2022 and 2023 are the years of Dental AI for sure, it’s all a rage. But, the HR for Health team was able to get the big three, so Pearl, Overjet, and NVIDIA Health on the stage at the same time together. So, I don’t know if they’re going to duke it out, but they’re going to have a nice conversation. And I don’t think it’s ever been done before. Normally, it’s one or the other, but never all three, I don’t think even two of the three, at once. So I’m really excited to see how that goes, because Dave touched on this with the Speed Dating. Everybody’s talking about Dental AI and everybody’s talking about technology, but it can be pretty overwhelming.

So I think this is going to be a really good conversation. You’re going to get a chance to hear from the big three, and then you can decide for yourself. They’re going to have to make a case for themselves. So it’s going to be a lot of fun, and kudos to the team for getting everybody onboard for this.

Jill Hasselmann:

I have to give a shout-out to Tanner Applegate because I would not have been able to do it without him. It was a lot of… We want to make sure everybody feels safe and comfortable going onto that stage. And so, the goal is really and Tanner’s moderating, again, could not say more good things about him. He is so in-tune with the technology, and he really helped to bring this panel together. And it’s going to be talking about the future of AI, as well. What is to come? What can you expect in the next five years? The medical/dental integration that has been floating around here, so really, really interesting content. I’m super excited for this. And yeah, proud that we’re able to come together. That’s the point of this event is this sense of community and learning from one another. So it’s going to be really cool.

Bill Neumann:

Yeah, it’s going to be a lot of fun. Okay. And then we’ve got another one that can be kind of spicy, it’s called Point/Counterpoint.

Jill Hasselmann:

I was going to say, it’s a little bit of the opposite of the AI Panel where we’re bringing everyone together. The Point Counterpoint Panel, it’s brought back by popular demand this year. Brian Kaleo is moderating it, and I say this all the time, Brian Kaleo when he retires, should be a moderator. He is so good at getting the information out of people. And so the point of this panel is actually for two people to go head-to-head and duke it out of defending their point of view, and Brian is the perfect instigator to moderate this. So this year we’re going to bring two groups on stage that are going to go head-to-head on their different DSO models, different funding models, and really defending again, what’s the best approach to the market? So this one is really fun. Brian loves it, and he gets really into it, so it’s definitely one you don’t want to miss. Stay tuned for who we’re announcing for the groups on that. It will be coming soon, but we got to leave some secrets going into it, but it’s going to be really good.

Bill Neumann:

That’s great. I think we covered quite a bit here. So, I wanted to wrap things up a little bit. I know that the team at HR for Health has been working tirelessly to get everything together. So the agenda’s out there, it’s on the Group Dentistry Now website. You can find it under our Events tab. You can find it at DSOSummit.com all the information. And more importantly, you can register there for the workshops, you can register for the main event. And, this is my call to action to everybody is we actually are offering, it’s normally 10%, but we’ve got a 20% discount. So if you use code GDN, it’s for Group Dentistry Now. GDN 2023, you can save 20%. So, you need to plug that in, in the coupon code area, and you get your 20% off. This will sell out.

And I know that I’ve had calls from industry partners and DSOs in the past, “I want to go,” and they’re two or three days before. So that 20% is only good until the event. If you show up on the day of, there might be availability, but you’re going to pay full price. So, make sure you sign up well before. And that also guarantees that you’re going to get access to one of these workshops too. So make sure you do that. Any final thoughts from you, Dave, before we let the audience go?

Dave Salciccioli:

Yeah, thanks Bill. What I would say is, I would want to thank both of you and your respective groups for really putting in the tireless effort to create something for these emerging groups for this size, and staying committed to that vision. I don’t think there’s much out there that is really hitting the kinds of content, the kinds of connections that you’re working to build through this event. I remember Jill and I had just met after the last event last year, and I pinged her and said, “Hey, are you open to some feedback?” and she’s like, “Absolutely. 100%.” And, we had a great conversation, and we were able to talk through a few things, and so I know that both of you behind the scenes, you’ve been taking in feedback, you’ve been learning, growing, and I think looking at what this year has to offer is evidence of that process that you have all been going through.

So, I’m super excited. I’m grateful that you’ve been putting in the energy to tirelessly create this type of event. What I’m excited about is the speakers, the unique sessions. And what I would say if you were looking to come is, you can use our story as an example. Again, a little bit intimidated, “Are we really an emerging group or not? Are we too small? Is this going to be way over our heads?” But, really what it did for us is it gave us a broader vision of what’s possible. And, I think it’s really pulled us forward from that event in terms of new thinking, new behaviors, new strategies, new ideas, and great connections and support to be able to know how to achieve those. And so, I encourage you to jump in, use that code, sign up, and I can’t wait to see you there.

Bill Neumann:

Jill, final thoughts?

Jill Hasselmann:

Oh my gosh. Dave, how have we not gotten a testimonial from you about this event? I swear we did not pay him to say that. It’s true. We’ve work so hard on it.

Dave Salciccioli:

Namaste.

Jill Hasselmann:

I know. We work so hard on it and it’s really for the attendees, we want it to be a really good experience. This isn’t like a revenue driver, this is really just to build a community for maybe some overlooked groups that are intimidated, and so it’s really awesome to hear that. And I can second what Dave said. I’m always open to feedback, our team always is. We want to make this something that is very exciting. So I was very grateful. Dave shared his thoughts last year from his individual team members and what they got out of it. And so, we definitely doubled-down on that this year so I can’t wait. And, I’m just super excited to see you guys in Austin. I don’t think we have really any events between now and then, or at least not too many that I’m going to be at. So I’m excited to see you guys, and get back on the road, and I promise it’ll be worth it.

Bill Neumann:

Yeah, it’s going to be a great event. And Dave and Jill, thanks for being on the Group Dentistry Now Show, appreciate it. And remember, DSOSummit.com. You can register there and use code GDN 2023 to save 20%. That’s it, until next time, I’m Bill Neumann. We appreciate you watching us today.