This year, 6 of our members had the privilege to represent our school at the annual ASDA National Leadership Conference. Each year it is held in Chicago and is a great opportunity to meet students and dentists from across the country, gain insight into what it takes to become a great leader in the dental community, and do some exploring in the great city of Chicago as well!
Friday morning was the keynote speaker for the conference, Valorie Burton. She was an incredible speaker that explained the importance of being positive and finding happiness within ourselves. As cliche as it sounds, dental school can become daunting, exhausting, and frustrating at times that we forget the simple thing of staying positive and being happy. Following the keynote speaker, the conference held numerous small breakout sessions throughout the weekend from which you could choose to attend. Some of the sessions we attended related to debt management, ergonomics in dentistry, women's perspective in dentistry, and different marketing techniques for dental practices. I was able to learn a lot more about the differences between DSOs (Dental Service Organization) and corporate dentistry. Depending on who you ask, they can both seem to be like controversial topics, but I was able to put some of the biases aside and learn about the advantages they offer.
However, we could not go to a conference in Chicago and not go exploring. Shout out to our personal tour guide, Nida! We were able to sneak in some time to visit museums, try new restaurants, and of course, the Bean. My personal favorite was the interactive WNDR museum. We felt like kids again as each room held different set ups to explore, including the infinity room. This trip helped to create lasting memories and built upon our friendships and leadership skills in dental school and within the community. Through the learning and exploring, it was definitely a successful trip and can't wait to see what next year has in store!
