The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry – Episode 261

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Welcome to The Group Dentistry Now Show: The Voice of the DSO Industry!

Revolutionizing the Dental Conference: The Smile Together Experience – Use Code GDN26 for an Additional $500 Benefit

Aaron Pugh & Scott Johnson from Together Media discuss Smile Together’s unique hosted buyer event with one-to-one meetings & much more. The two share:

• What makes Smile Together unique & what to expect
• Event details: October 1-3 in Las Vegas
• Special benefits for GDN’s audience: code GDN26

DSOs, emerging dental groups and solo practices can register at https://www.smiletogetherlive.com/ . Up to $600 flight reimbursement, up to 3 nights hotel covered, additional perks and if you use code GDN26 you receive an additional $500 benefit.

You can also connect with Scott Johnson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-johnson-54ba923/ or Aaron Pugh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-pugh-705b65/ .

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DSO Podcast Transcript – Revolutionizing the Dental Conference: The Smile Together Experience – Use Code GDN26 for an Additional $500 Benefit

Welcome to the Group Dentistry Now Show, the voice of the DSO industry. Join us as we talk with industry leaders about their challenges, successes, and the future of group dentistry. With over 200 episodes and listeners in over 100 countries, we’re proud to be ranked the number one DSO podcast. For the latest DSO News, analysis and events and to subscribe to our DSO weekly e-newsletter, visit groupdentistrynow.com. We hope you enjoy today’s show.

Bill Neumann (00:38):

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Group Dentistry Now Show. I’m Bill Neumann and we appreciate you joining us today. I had an opportunity last fall to go to New Orleans and attend a new meeting in the industry. There was a lot of talk about it because it was new and as we all know, there are a lot of meetings in the dental industry. A lot of people go, “Oh my gosh, not another meeting.” Which is unfortunately the reaction that a lot of people have. But I’ll tell you, I really appreciated the uniqueness and how intentional this meeting was and we’re going to talk about it. It’s called Smile Together. We have with us Aaron Pugh, who is the president of Together Media and Smile Together. And we also have with us Scott Johnson, who is the chief development officer of both Together Media and Smile Together.

(01:36):

Welcome both and I really am excited to talk about this meeting. I told a lot of people that didn’t attend about my experience, but I didn’t get to tell everybody about it. So now we all get a chance to tell everybody what they missed in New Orleans and what they can expect in Las Vegas this year in October. But first off, again, thanks guys for joining.

Aaron Pugh (01:58):

Thanks, Bill. Appreciate you having us on. We’re really excited to be a part of the podcast and just our partnership with your group and your community, we’re excited to be here.

Bill Neumann (02:11):

Yeah, we appreciate it. We had the partnership last year. We’re able to get some people. It was a little bit late in the game at that point. We got together. Now we’ve got a good bit of time, although you know what? It’s already May. So I guess I don’t know if we do have … What I would tell everybody is that you want to get registered for this event because there are all sorts of opportunities and perks and things that you get. And the earlier you do it, the more you’re ensured that you’re going to get in, you’ll be able to take advantage of everything. But why don’t we start things off a little bit with learning about you all. So Aaron, maybe a little bit about your background and your organization. So who’s Together Media and then how does Smile Together fit into that?

Aaron Pugh (03:01):

Yeah, absolutely. So I’m Aaron Pugh. I’m the president of Together Media and Smile Together. My background has really been in the animal health space. I’ve been over there for the last 20 years. I helped found and launched this company called Veterinary Growth Partners. We became the largest buying group in the animal health space. Sold that company back in 2021 and met my new partner, Chris in this entire adventure who had done these networking business conferences in the hospitality industry. And after hearing about that style of conference and me being on the other side of the fence from the industry and attending so many of these conferences, the light bulb just really went off for me on the impact that this could have and how much our industry really needed this. As we launched our first vet show, many of our vendors actually provide the same services in the dental field, which they all came to us, were like, “Please launch this over on the dental side.” So Scott and I had the room and space and so we decided to go for it last year.

(04:09):

And I just can’t tell you how positive the experience has been and how much I just love the dental industry. We’re still very new to it. It’s just barely been a year now that we’ve gotten to experience the industry, but the people there are just amazing. So really excited to be a part of this entire thing and get Smile Together launched and see what it turns into.

Bill Neumann (04:35):

Yeah. Thank you, Aaron. Scott, a little bit about your background.

Scott Johnson (04:39):

Sure. Thanks, Phil. Once again, thanks for having us. Excited to be here and this opportunity to meet with all your guests. But no, Smile Together is just a great organization that a new concept that we’re rolling out and I think excited to bring us to your viewers here. But no, my background really kind of comes from distribution. I’ve been in distribution over 15 years, worked with many different vendor partners on the pharmaceutical side and things like that and saw the need for obviously creating connections and trying to get past gatekeepers and get business partners connected together to move things forward. So Aaron and I have been associates for quite some time and when we heard about this opportunity with something new and something different in a definite crowded marketplace, but obviously having some uniqueness to it, I was first to sign up and put me on board to be a part of this change in the conference model.

(05:36):

So happy to be here, happy to be a part of change and happy to be talking to your people here on the podcast today.

Bill Neumann (05:45):

Yeah. And a lot of questions about the meeting, like I had mentioned. I had the chance to attend last year and so there were questions from both sides, both sides being the vendor side, “Hey, is this worthwhile?” That’s the question you get because of all these meetings. And same question really from the group practice or the dentist side of things, is it worth it for me to take time out of my day or couple of days where I could be if I’m a wet finger dentist, am I producing or if I’m running a DSO, should I be in the office? What’s the value of going to this event? And the feedback that I got, because again, I’m not a DSO and I’m not a vendor, I kind of sit a little bit in the middle. I talked to both at the event afterward, “Hey, what was it like?

(06:41):

” And there were people, groups there that were signing up for this year’s event there. They were like, “We’re registering now for next year.” And the same with the vendors. So everything I heard was really, really positive. There’s always things your first year that can be changed a little bit and I know you’re going bigger this year for sure, but the one thing and you kind of touched on it is you handle vet as well. So there’s vet together and then there’s SMILE together and they were together going on at the same time. So Vet Together had an extra year. So it had started a year prior and so that started in 2024 and then 2025 was when you combin the two. How many vet attendees were there last year?

Aaron Pugh (07:36):

So I’ll start off the first one because it almost mirrored what we did on the smile side. So our very first conference we did in 2024 and we only had about four months to pull that conference together. We had about a hundred vets that were attending. Last year we had about 400 that attended the event and this year we’re going to be pushing real close to 800 vets that are going to be attending. So really excited about the growth on what has happened on that side. And we’re seeing actually an even larger growth on the smile side than what we did on the vet side from year one to year two. So we’ve already got a little over 300 that are going to be attending. We still have 90 more days of sign up. I would not be surprised to see us with over 500 dentists at this conference this year.

Bill Neumann (08:25):

And it’s a mix, right? So Scott, tell me a little bit about what’s the profile of the attendee from the dentist or the group practice standpoint? What does that profile typically look like?

Scott Johnson (08:40):

That’s one thing that makes us unique and different is in this model we are really all about decision makers of getting the right people in the room is what we kind of say. So we’re never going to be some of as big as some of those other larger shows that are out there because we’re really focusing on building the relationships with people who actually can make a decision for change within a practice, whether it be from a provider, whether it be from a DSO, whether it be from our vendor partners, want to get the right people in the room. So it is going to be always more of a niche crowd from that perspective, but definitely a powerhouse crowd from a decision making standpoint. So we try to find some of the best, more innovative practices and DSOs that are forward thinking, that are looking to grow, that are full of energy and trying to find out what’s the next best thing out there for them to build a partnership with and take things to the next level.

Bill Neumann (09:36):

And it was just the scale of the event last year, and this is going to be that much larger, just to give people who didn’t attend a little bit of perspective on the vet side of things, you had something that you didn’t have for the dentists or the DSOs on the Smile Together side, you actually had booths set up. So you had like the exhibits set up on the vet side and then on the dental side it was more the … Well, the one-to-one meetings, right? You had the combination of the two. So Vet had both the one-to-one meetings going on at 4X there, 5X the size plus the exhibits going on. But this year you’re actually going to have the exhibits for dental as well. So you’re actually doing that. So what’s the purpose of having both the one-to-one meetings going on and having the exhibits going on as well?

(10:35):

Can you talk a little bit about the idea behind that?

Aaron Pugh (10:39):

Yeah, happy to jump into that. And this is not your traditional trade show floor when you step onto our floor. We want this to be a really fun, exciting, hyper-focused networking time for people to be able to get together. The way that our structure works is we have our block of one-on-one meetings where you get to sit down, have that time directly with the decision maker from either the vendor side or from the practice side, but you can’t meet with everybody. As a matter of fact, one doctor can only meet with 30 vendors during the one-on-one sessions and we’re going to have over 150 vendors there. Our trade show floor gives them the opportunity to walk around, potentially meet with others that they hadn’t had an opportunity to have that one-on-one conversation with and really shop out what they’re looking for. I will just say to all the doctors that are out there, if you’re not meeting with your vendors and your vendor’s competitors at least once a year, you’re absolutely leaving money on the table and you’re not finding all the new opportunities that are out there that can really help your business grow and become more efficient.

(11:46):

Our trade show floor is a very lively trade show floor. Actually, we give away over $50,000 worth of prices on our floor while the event is going down. We have multiple booths that we bring in that we call Activation Zones. There’s going to be an open bar for an activation zone. That’s both for doctors and vendors alike. Anybody can grab a drink whenever they want to grab a drink. We have a latte, cappuccino, big old cafe set up that’s there. We’re going to have ice cream parlors there for people to go grab ice creams and Sundays if they want to have that as well. We’ll have golf simulators, we’ll have headshot lounges, puppy lounges. We bring in a lot of different stuff to make that a very fun, interactive, engaging environment for everybody. And for many of the vendors, being able to have that first initial introduction is a wonderful way to get their foot in the door, but this allows those conversations to continue on with those that were really interested in what they were providing to be able to come back, sit down and have a direct one-on-one conversation in their booth and see what their products are all about.

(12:50):

So it really provides that ability to have that one-on-one connection and then go have conversations with others you haven’t had conversations with or really get and follow up and close the loop with the ones that you were really engaged with during our one-on-one meeting time.

Bill Neumann (13:07):

And so let me pause here and just mention that this is going to happen Smile together October 1st through 3rd in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Convention Center and we have a special, I would say it’s not a discount code, it’s actually a perk code. So you get some extra benefits from it. So it’s GDN26 like group dentistry now year 26, so GDN26. And Aaron, go through maybe what the DSO or dentist attendee can expect. I know you cover some things like the hotel stay and there’s some things that are covered for them. And then in addition to that, we’ve got some special benefits if they use that code.

Aaron Pugh (13:56):

Yeah. Bill, thanks for jumping into that. I firmly believe that what we need to do for doctors and DSOs out there, you guys are the commodity and everybody wants to have a conversation with you. What I want to do is make this the most cost-effective, time-efficient way for you to be able to get out of your business and actually work on your business. In doing so, we do what we call as a hosted buyer model. So we cover up to $600 on your flight to attend our conference. We’re going to cover three nights at the resorts world completely on us as well. The cost to attend our conference is a $300 registration fee to be a part of all of this. That covers your flight, your three rooms of hotel, and then you get an opportunity to pick your perk. So your perk can be, I would like to have a $300 gift card at the end of the event.

(14:44):

That will completely make this a no cost out of your pocket to attend this event. If you don’t want the $300 gift card, you can ad on an extra night of hotel stay, or if you want to bring a guest, you can bring a guest with you. Working with Bill, we wanted to do a special promo for all of the community that is part of GDN. So if you put that GDN 26 code in, we’re going to give you an additional $500 on top of that perk that you get to pick to go along with it. So for those that want to show up and take that $300 gift card opportunity and you signed up right now with GDN26, you’re going to be able to get an $800 return at the end of this entire thing. So not only is this going to be an amazing opportunity for you to network, for you to be able to meet with a ton of vendors and actually work on your business, it’s the most cost-effective, time, efficient way for you to get out there and do it.

Bill Neumann (15:35):

Yeah. And you know what, Scott, I think let’s bring you in on this because I’d love to get your perspective. You’re talking to both the vendors and the DSOs. What’s the feedback that you’re getting from them, like the ones that attended last year and some of the changes that you made this year?

Scott Johnson (15:54):

No, super excited. We’ve been welcomed with open arms into this industry and our event change and style was … Everybody’s a little skeptical at first of how was this all going to take place as you start saying, we’re covering airfare and hotel. So some people may believe, are you selling timeshares? What’s happening here? But after last year was a proof of concept that no, we are here to implement change and we know there’s a better way to do things because one of the core missions that we have here, we fully believe that better conversations lead to better care. So getting the right people in the room to have better conversations can ultimately create better outcomes for patients all across the United States. So there’s so many DSOs that said that they met with people that they probably never would’ve met with otherwise without coming to a conference like ours where they had a small time slotted meeting that really opened their eyes like, I never would’ve had to set up a meeting with these people, but now we’re actually in talks for taking our business further and increasing it.

(16:57):

So it’s a very unique way of learning what’s out there, fact finding. And you know what? If it doesn’t work out, you’ve only invested a 15-minute time block. But when it does, man, there’s people that can do basically almost six months worth of meetings within three days because of our efficiency, because of our organization and because of the model that we’re putting together that’s really changing things quite a bit.

Bill Neumann (17:24):

If I’m a DSO listening now or an emerging group and I’m like, okay, this sounds pretty interesting, what can I expect? When I go, how do I pick who to meet with? How many people do I meet with? What’s that experience like? Do I know who I meet with ahead of time?

Aaron Pugh (17:46):

Yeah, happy to jump in and take that one. So about two months before our event goes down, all of the DSOs, all of the doctors and all of our vendors are going to go into our portal. From there, it kind of looks like a dating app. You’re going to be able to sort by categories to figure out which categories of vendors that you would like to select to have conversations with that you might want to learn information about and they’re doing the exact same thing on their side and you start picking all of the doctors and they start picking all the vendors that they want to meet with and then our matchmaking process starts happening. So we have pre-screened all of the DSOs and all the doctors ahead of time and we’ve asked them about 25 different questions on what are you interested in growing?

(18:27):

What are some of the pain points that you’re experiencing right now? And all of this feeds into our algorithm. About three weeks before our event goes down, every DSO and every doctor and every vendor is going to get their schedule of what’s going to happen at our event ahead of time. So now you’re able to research the vendors ahead of time, you’re able to lay out your schedule and how all of that is going to unfold. So it’s really clean and it’s really streamlined to make this the most effective way for you guys to be spending your time with us. The first day is a Thursday. Everybody comes in. We have a nice little welcome for everybody and we kind of explain how the event is going to go down. We leave our trade show floor open for about an hour for people to walk around, grab a couple of drinks and then we launch right into our one-on-one meetings.

(19:15):

We never do more than a two-hour block of one-on-one meetings. They’re very fast paced, as Scott was saying, they’re 15 minutes between one meeting to the next meeting. We have found that after about two hours, people’s eyes start glazing over because there’s so much information that’s been put on them. So we give everybody a break at that point. Our first night we throw our networking reception party and it is one of the biggest parties out there. So we personally invest a little over half a million dollars into this party we’re having at the Zook Nightclub this year. It’s going to be all alcohol. All food is included with it. We’ll have music. It’s a really good time. We provide entertainment to go along with it as well. On Friday, we kick everything off with the fun little networking breakfast education series that jumps in at about 8:30 in the morning.

(20:06):

For those of you that are listening, all DSOs and doctors that attend our CE event, we do a special $2,500 drawing after that event goes down that only those that were attending that networking breakfast reception have the opportunity to win that $2,500. Then we launch right into our morning sessions of our one-on-one meetings followed by about four and a half hours of our trade show floor experience. All lunches provided for both vendors, DSOs and doctors out there. It is not a box lunch. It is a really nice catered for everybody to be able to participate in. And then we round everything off with a session of afternoon meetings that day. We like for vendors to be able to take out their guest as well. So we leave Friday night open for people to go out and explore the town. Have a wonderful time. Hang out with all of your DSO friends that are going to be attending.

(20:59):

This thing is supposed to be a networking fun event. A lot of your industry friends are going to be there. So take that time to hang out, have a couple of drinks, enjoy each other’s company. Saturday is very much like Friday. We will do another networking breakfast reception. Again, we’ll have another $2,500 prize that we’ll be giving away for everybody that’s in attendance during that timeframe, followed by a morning session of meetings. We do four hours on the trade show floor followed by another two-hour block of meetings at the end, and then we let everybody get out of there by 2:30. For doctors and DSOs that want to take advantage, we do have a special CE education series that goes down. We run it four hours before our event on Thursday and we will run it for four hours after our event on Saturday. You are not obligated to attend this education series, but you’re more than welcome to take advantage of it.

Bill Neumann (21:52):

So you got a lot going on. You’ve got the one-to-one meetings, you’ve got giveaways, you’ve got CE with the education, catered event, nightclub, you name it. And a lot of prizes. There was a Bronco on the floor last year that you gave away, I believe.

Aaron Pugh (22:12):

We did give a Ford Bronco away last year. This year we’re going to do something really different. We had one giant prize last year that we gave away. We’re taking a lot of that. We’ve doubled up the prize money as a matter of fact. So for those ladies out there that love Louis Vuitton, we’re going to have Louis Vuitton pursues we’re going to be giving away. We’re going to be giving away drivers for golf clubs. We’re going to be giving away large cash prizes on the floor as well. We want this to be fun and entertaining. So about every 30 minutes there’s going to be new fun, something that’s going to be given away during our event at this year’s trade show floor.

Bill Neumann (22:49):

Excellent. Yeah, really looking forward to it. Last year, I know what happened was some of the vendors out there ended up not being able to attend because they were a little late to the game. So is there still opportunity on the vendor side if somebody wants to attend the event, Scot?

Scott Johnson (23:11):

Yes, sir. Bill, that’s a great point. Last year was really a pilot program and kind of our first attempt of getting this off the ground on the dental side. So we did sell out quickly from space, but obviously having a full year to prep for this, as Aaron kind of alluded to, we’ve had a lot of time to think about this and promote it and make that happen. So we are open. Go to our website, which is smiletogetherlive.com. All the information is there for vendors. If not, feel free obviously to reach out to one of us. Happy to get you signed up, ready to go.

Bill Neumann (23:42):

Excellent. Yeah, it sounds good. And the prediction is that there’ll be over 300 dentists or dental groups. Can we talk a little bit about the mix there? Because that’s I think one of the other unique things is that you’ve got a lot of the larger groups there. What I saw when I was there was a lot of emerging groups. So docs that had five, 10, 15 locations, which is awesome. And then you also had some larger single practice groups out there. So solo practitioners that had larger groups. If you kind of broke out by a percentage, what would a vendor expect as far as the different types of customers they might be talking to?

Aaron Pugh (24:25):

Yeah. So we wanted to create one, a national event. So this is not your state event. This is all the way across all 50 states that have the opportunity to attend. The other thing that we noticed is that a lot of the big events are actually tied to a very specific corporation. So it limits the number of vendors and what vendors are able to attend this event in the first place. We are not going to play that game. We want this to be a true free market out there for any vendor to be able to show up and be able to represent whatever it is that they are doing for doctors and DSOs to actually be able to choose between what the market has to show out there whenever they show up to attend this event. As far as the attendees go, we’re probably going to end up with about a fifty fifty split.

(25:16):

50% of them are going to be those DSOs and emerging DSOs. 50% are going to be those large independent practices that are going to be attending as well. So it’s a really good mix between the two. I believe that DSOs and independent practices have a lot of stuff that they should be talking to each other about. And as we’ve seen over the last several years, the consolidation factor has just continued to build over here on the dental side with everything. So being able to know both sides of that fence and being able to have those conversations I think is extremely valuable for both the DSOs and the independents.

Bill Neumann (25:52):

Yeah, I 100% agree. I think it’s an opportunity for some doctors, some dentists out there that maybe whether it’s considering partnering with the DSO or whether it’s, “Hey, how did you do that question? We want to be like you. How do we grow?” Having those conversations, it really is a great opportunity and there is plenty of time, even though there are a lot of these meetings, it’s your point earlier, they’re quick. So you’ve got these two hour blocks where you’re spending 15 minutes next meeting rinse and repeat and then you’ve got time where then you can either go to the exhibits, go to educational events, win a prize, and also talk to your peers and learn from them. And then of course you’ve got the events at night too. So there really is a balance I think of the things you want the networking and what I think the vendors really appreciate is really just the chance to get FaceTime because a lot of these traditional trade shows, you just don’t necessarily get that all the time.

(27:02):

You’re at a booth and you hope somebody walks by and talks to you and that’s not always going to happen. So really this is a lot more intentional.

Aaron Pugh (27:12):

That has been one of the biggest pain points that I think Scott and I were trying to solve because we’ve been the guy in that booth before and it’s tough and your traditional conference for real business to end. And I’m not saying that they don’t get done and I’m not taking anything away from the traditional conferences. I think there’s a lot that they provide particularly around speakers and education and giving the doctors that piece of everything. We’re really hyper focused on the business side of it all. So as a vendor that has sat in many of boots and given my best pitch just to find out that that was just a really nice front office staff person that I was having the conversation with and they really just wanted to grab that t-shirt behind me and move on along their way, this is what solves that problem.

(28:00):

There’s only decision makers that are on our floor. There’s only decision makers you’re going to be meeting with during those one-on-one conversations. So it allows a different level of conversation to happen and for the DSOs and dentists, it allows an immediate impact. I know you guys don’t like walking to those trade show floors and trying to weed through all of the masses and have some sales rep, just everybody’s trying to find and buy your attention and grab you to pull you over because you’re a diamond in the rough in those. You’re amongst all of your peers at this event, so you’re not going to experience that same experience at all.

Bill Neumann (28:36):

Go ahead, Scott.

Scott Johnson (28:38):

Oh, sorry. I just wanted to step in there and say one thing too. We wanted to take the guesswork out of the traditional model. That’s why our organization skills on this whole thing have really come to shrine that people really enjoy it because we actually do take the dentists and they get their own table. The DSO will get their own table where the vendors actually rotate in front of them. So we are catering to them as much as we possibly can, that you are the star of the show. We are here to serve you while you’re coming to our meeting and we not only map out everything, we try to roll out the red carpet from all that, but taking the guesswork of that, of the scavenger hunt, so to speak, of wandering around trying to stumble to the right booth and find the right person just to find out the person you want to talk to is not there.

(29:20):

But by the organization, the meetings, knowing that in advance, like I said, we give you your schedule a month in advance so you can do your homework in advance so you get the most out of it and you can maximize your time and that’s really resonating.

Bill Neumann (29:35):

Yeah, I would say another, just a tip for some of the vendors considering this event, I saw it executed really well with a couple of the vendors I saw was if you’ve got a special markets person or a strategic accounts person and then you’ve got somebody that calls on the independent dentists, you’re probably going to need to bring both because, and I saw this where people were kind of planning out, All right, I’m going to deploy you to these meetings and these meetings you’re going to go to based on who your customer base is, who you handle on a day-to-day basis. So if your team has strategic accounts or special markets people and people that call an independent dentist, you’re probably going to want to bring both to represent the organization. Then of course you’re going to have to have somebody at the exhibit. Is that part of the deal if you’re attending the one-to-one meetings as a vendor, you also have a booth as well.

(30:33):

Is that the way that works?

Aaron Pugh (30:34):

You have the opportunity to have a booth as well. One thing to make sure that we distinguish our trade show floor does not stay open throughout the entire course of the event. So if you have a book of 60 meetings, at a minimum, you’re going to need two people to have all of those meetings. One doctor, one DSO can only do 30 meetings during the schedule of our event. Same with the vendor. Each rep can only do a set of 30 meetings during our event during that timeframe. However, since we only open up our trade show floor after we close down our one-on-one meetings, your rep can go have your one-on-one meetings and then go back and work the booth for the rest of the time as well so they are not competing against each other at all. And then one last thing I also want to throw in there.

(31:20):

We’ve talked a lot about the DSOs and dentists and we’ve talked a lot about the vendors, but Bill, we had you in mind this year as well. We’re doing this year what we call our Creators Corner and we are building out a very specific area for influencers and podcasts to be able to do live shows at our event. We’re going to have a place laid out for you. We’re going to have lighting prepared for you as well. You’ll be able to go inside, you’ll be able to get into a quiet environment and you’ll be able to have direct one-on-one interviews with whoever you’d like to set up and have meetings with during our event catered for you as well.

Bill Neumann (31:55):

Excellent. That sounds great. Looking forward to that and having our own space and not trying to find a quiet corner to do that. So wonderful. That’s wonderful. Well, I think we covered quite a bit here. What I wanted to do is let each one of you have any final thoughts you’d like to get out there and then want to make sure we shout out the website again and the perk code so everybody takes advantage of that additional $500 using GDN26. But Scott, just final thoughts from you.

Scott Johnson (32:31):

No, once again, thanks for having us, Bill. It’s been a great opportunity to be on here. What a great community. That’s something that I definitely have realized in my first early years on the dental side here is what a great community that it is and accepting. And it’s been so much fun to be a part of it for the engagement, the back and forth. So many people have been trying to been helpful for us. They’ve committed their time, their energy and their resources to us to help get the word out about this. Cannot be more grateful for that part. So we want to do our part to live up to that and provide one of the best events in the industry. And we’re excited for that and see where it goes. Once again, it is smiletogetherlive.com for more information and to sign up, whether you are a DSO or a vendor partner, that’s a place where you can get more information to make all that happen.

Bill Neumann (33:21):

Excellent. Aaron?

Aaron Pugh (33:24):

Yeah. I think I would like to sound off by saying if you want to come see a really high energized, really fun event where you actually get real business done, come check us out. From the DSO and from the dental side, I know time is your most valuable resource. Let us show you what we’re able to do for your time and how cost-effective that we’ve made it for you. From vendors that are out there, we’re trying to help lift this industry up by this conference. We’ve been in your shoes for many decades playing on that side of the fence. Come see how we’ve changed that and then help be a part of something that’s fun and exciting and growing and really making an impact in this industry.

Bill Neumann (34:09):

And I think you can hear the excitement from both Scott and Aaron. I mean, they’ve got a lot of excitement about the event and it carries through. Again, I think if you went to the New Orleans event, you understand that, and feel free to reach out to me and I’ll tell you exactly what my experience was like. It was very positive. We wouldn’t have them on the show if it wasn’t, but they are doing something unique in the industry and I think it’s certainly going to be bigger and even better than last year. I think it’s going to be kind of hard to beat, but I believe it. So I’m excited. Make sure you use the code GDN26 and get a couple extra perks there that extra $500 is not bad at all on top of the $600 reimbursement on the flight, three nights hotel accommodation and then that $300 reimbursement to the fee that you pay.

(35:16):

So really excited guys. Thanks for partnering with us and we really look forward to being there in October. And like I said, anybody listening or watching this, you can reach out to me. Actually, the one thing we didn’t do, Scott, is there a way, if somebody wants to reach out to you, what’s the best way to do that?

Scott Johnson (35:40):

There’s a way from a vendor perspective to reach out to the website, but also feel free to email me anytime, scott@togethermedia.com. I’m always here, able to answer any questions, anything that you may need.

Bill Neumann (35:54):

Excellent. All right. And you can find these guys on LinkedIn as well. We’ll drop their LinkedIn handles in the show notes and definitely the URL for Smile Together so you have access to that and the code and all that lovely stuff. We’re just really excited for this. So thank you Aaron and Scott and everybody for watching this today. Until next time, this is The Group Dentistry Now Show.

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