March 2006

• CEO Report
• Mini Dental School
• AMIC Dental Show in Mexico City
• DA Conference
• Skills Training
• Annual Meeting Update

CEO Report
As usual, most of us left Chicago happy with the Mid-winter show. The mid-winter meeting is a busy one for DTA business. The Board of Directors and six of our committees met during the week. Our World Dental Trade Conference was a tremendous success. Our Preview Show drew more visitors than ever before, even though we had some serious problems with our location and the service at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. We will have a great location for next year's show. See more pictures of the WDTC and Preview Show.

There have been two newsletter announcements about our speakers at the Annual Meeting in July. Hope you saw those notices and marked July 25 - 29 on your calendar so you can attend.

Our work on your behalf with the ADA and regional show sponsors continues. Our Board and Exhibits Committee have worked hard to address some of the more serious issues surrounding the excessive number of shows across the country. Six of us represented you last month at a meeting of the ADA's Council on Sessions. The purpose of our attending was to present the Council with issues about their show and to make recommendations to them to improve.

We made it clear that we are not happy with most of the dental shows including the ADA show. The event in Philadelphia was not good for the industry, but ADA was extremely happy with the numbers of attendees. We told the ADA representatives that we" clearly have a different definition of happy," because we weren't happy.

We provided a lot of detailed information about the cost to the industry of attending these shows and frankly, I believe some of the members of their Council were surprised. It will likely cost the industry well over $20 million dollars for the ADA Las Vegas show. We obviously want a return for that. We'll see.

Joining me in representing the DTA at the meeting were Dan Parrilli (HuFriedy), DTA Exhibits Committee Chairman; Carey Lyons (Sultan), who made an excellent presentation to the Council; DTA Board member Kent Chiu (Septodont); Patricia Licata (Sullivan Schein) and Jim Wiltz (Patterson).

The issues surrounding trade shows will continue to be a top priority for DTA. The Board approved a substantial amount of money to have a professional research firm do an extensive survey and study of dentists so that trends for trade shows can be forecast. You are spending a lot of money supporting the shows and the organizations that sponsor them. We'd like to know it's worth the money.

Mini-Dental School
Our Mini-Dental School at the University of Colorado has been postponed. Fall dates will be announced in the near future.

AMIC Dental Show in Mexico City
The AMIC (Mexican Dental Association) Dental Meeting takes place in Mexico City at the World Trade Center from May 4 through May 7. DTA has a pavilion with more than twenty 10' by 10' booths in the front entrance of the exhibit hall. There are a few booths remaining and they are free to DTA members. Hurry - contact DTA if you would like one of the free remaining exhibit booths.

FDA Conference
A special event with FDA has been planned for May 18^th, 2006 at the Hilton - North, Gaithersburg, Maryland from 9 until noon. Top representatives from FDA will be on hand. There will be a panel discussion and Q & A. DTA Regulatory Chair, Grant Ramaley has assembled a superb program. All members are encouraged to attend. There will be a small fee for the program. Sleeping rooms are available on May 17^th at the Hilton for those requiring an over night stay.

Skills Training Workshop
The next DTA Workshop, "Increasing Productivity" takes place June 5^th, 2006 at the Embassy Suites, Rosemont, Illinois (near Chicago's O'Hare Airport). This workshop has two separate tracks, one for manufacturers and one for distributors. This is a one day event designed to contribute directly to your bottom line.

Annual Meeting
Planning for the Annual Meeting is on track and registration materials will be coming your way in April. Lake Tahoe, Nevada will be beautiful during our meeting July 25-29. You'll be receiving more information about the program via email before you get your registration packet. We'll also be updating the web site with information on the coming program and activities.