"WE ARE FAMILY"

This week’s blog should be subtitled, “We are family,” because the Alpha Omega family is an international fraternity with both alumni and student chapters. All fraters, whether they are students or alumni are equal fraters. Some students are not fully aware of the full nature and scope of Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity, and it is for that reason, and because we are indeed one big family, that our alumni and our alumni chapters need to do certain things for our students and student chapters.

Here are just a sampling of some of the things that our Alumni chapters can do to help our Student chapters:

(1) Educate them about Alpha Omega International
(2) Invite them to all alumni chapters functions without charge
(3) Participate in “Lunch & Learn” programs, where alumni take students out to lunch (doesn’t need to be fancy- pizza or a sub are fine!) and conversation. Bring in some relevant alumni clinicians to give students another look at the dental profession and help educate them
(4) Invite students to participate in all community service programs
(5) Invite students to participate in Holiday functions. Invite them over to your home!
(6) Familiarize students with the AO Externship program
(7) Advise and help them with the post-grad and job placement process.
(8) Have your chapter subsidize or partially subsidize a student’s convention tax, and invite and encourage them to attend Convention. Teach them what AO Conventions are all about
(9) Invite their spouses or significant others, if they have one, because “We Are Family.”

THESE ARE ONLY SOME SUGGESTIONS AS TO HOW TO ENHANCE AND IMPROVE ALUMNI-STUDENT RELATIONS. NO ONE PERSON HAS ALL THE ANSWERS, AND I WOULD LIKE FOR US TO GATHER A “BEST PRACTICES” ALUMNI-STUDENT RELATIONS GUIDE. Please forward anything your chapter uses, or any ideas you think would help this process to me at: csberkman@aol.com, and I will update this list with the suggestions I receive!

On the day this is being posted, I am in Chicago at the Chicago Midwinter Meeting, involved in a busy schedule of meeting and greeting fraters, speaking to vendors, and attending a series of meetings. One of the meetings is the Corporate Advisory Board meeting, where we are working on introducing a series of enhanced member benefits that will make the AO Brand a global one. I want to thank Steve Kess, chair of this committee, (our own Board of Director) and Michele Penrose from the Henry Schein Co. for all their efforts in coordinating this important meeting. It is our desire to develop strategic partnerships that benefit our members, AO, and our corporate partners.

On March 16th for the students, and on March 23rd for the alumni, we are hosting our first attempt of the year at utilizing Webinars for both discussing relevant professional resources available, as well as having a discussion of important, timely AO news. As some of you might remember, several years ago. PIP Howard Pranikoff was instrumental in initiating a CE Webcast program. This was years ahead of the pack, and before the web was universally used for educational programs, and therefore enjoyed modest success. This program is NOT intended for CE purposes - - this is the first time we are using the Webinar technique to enhance member benefits and member communication and information.
I look forward to reporting next week on the events at the Chicago Midwinter Meeting, my visit with the Illinois Alumni Chapter and what my activities of the week will mean for Alpha Omega.

AO Leadership Seminar April 30-May 1

As most of us were finally having seasonable weather instead of storms, last night I enjoyed an evening of unparalleled laughs and entertainment. I went to the Smithtown Theater for the Performing Arts, and enjoyed a “laugh-out-loud” funny version of “The 25th Annual Putnam Valley Spelling Bee.” The show was totally entertaining, and for me, the highlight was that my husband, Richard, was chosen as an audience spelling bee contestant. Richard not only is a great speller, but “got into” the silliness and extravagance of the show, participating, dancing, laughing and shaking. What a great way to relax!

International President-Elect Michael Tenenbaum has been extremely busy working with Wendy Spektor, arranging for an AO Leadership weekend April 30th and May 1st, in Seattle, Washington. On April 30th, Wendy and her Seattle chapter committee have arranged for our own Board of Director Member Steve Anderson to present a full day seminar. If you have never seen or heard one of Steve’s seminars, it is a positive, uplifting, informative and valuable experience. On May 1st, Michael Tenenbaum has been busy planning a dynamite AO leadership program, facilitated by our new Executive Director Marty Zimmerman. This program is intended for past, present and future fraternity leaders! Details and information, as well as registration, is available from the website at www.ao.org.

Student leaders should put aside March 16th at 9PM Eastern, for a Webinar featuring both the NextDDS program, as well as important AO leadership info. This is the first event of this kind and AO will learn as we go about new electronic communication.
Alumni chapter leaders should save March 23rd at 8PM Eastern for a great webinar, “We Can Do That.” Details will follow. All our new member benefits and the latest in AO news will be presented to our local leaders. This is the first effort at mass electronic communication to better inform our membership in a timely manner. We are trying many new things this year, so I hope you are as excited as I am!

I have been busy prepping for the Chicago Midwinter Meeting next week. I have a “packed” schedule full of meetings and events, where AO will make great additional strides in several areas, specifically member benefits. All of us owe Board of Director member Alan Moltz and his committee an incredible amount of thanks for all their preparation, research, and hard work! Stay tuned for details to follow!

I want to thank and commend International Editor Fred Margolis, who has put together a brief Power Point presentation on our annual convention this December in San Diego. I will be able to show it to fraters as I go on my Presidential visitations. This Convention is sure to be a value-oriented, fun-packed, event-driven, truly fraternal experience, with lots of CE available. Our AO Foundation has arranged a great Foundation Evening event, which is a perfect complement to our convention! Attend a Convention once, and you’ll come back again! Look forward to seeing many of you there! Details are available from ao.org.

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW- But this is no "snow job"

Let me begin this week’s blog by thanking all of you who are reading the blog, and especially those of you who have sent me comments and suggestions. I decided to do a weekly blog during my Presidential year in order to enhance communication with Fraters, and not to be any type of substitute for our more formal communications including our website, AO Now, our printed journals, etc. The advantage of a blog is that it can disseminate information quickly and casually. Dictionary.com defines a blog as an “online diary or personal journal,” and that is precisely what I hope to accomplish with this blog. My blog will permit Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity’s members to read about what I consider relevant and timely thoughts, as well as issues that might be timely. In order to keep this as timely as possible, I am writing this on Thursday evenings, so that our members will have the opportunity to read my latest “ramblings.” Because of that, it is important to understand that, almost by definition, a blog is not intended to be highly polished or edited - - think of my blog as my weekly AO diary for the age of technology.
These past two weeks certainly were “all about the snow.” First, there was the snowstorm that hit the Middle Atlantic States, particularly from the DC area to the Carolinas, on January 30th. My vivid image of that snowstorm was watching our International Treasurer David Schneider struggling to try to get flights home (for his birthday celebration) from our Admin meetings in San Diego. Fortunately, David got home safely, but not without a lot of angst. Then the first of the two Middle Atlantic snowstorms hit last week, bombarding the areas around Philadelphia, Southern NJ, and the Washington DC area. Record or near-record snowfalls hit in these areas, paralyzing the Washington DC area, and even closing down our US government federal offices. We were all very deeply worried about our fraters in the DC area, and were concerned for their well-being. Some examples included: Our AO Foundation Chair, Sam Blum had no heat or electric for 13+ hours, and was snowed-in; David Schneider ‘s lack of heat and electricity forced he and his family to temporarily move into a hotel (and he was fortunate to find a room); and Ben Williamowsky, who reported being “safe, but not shoveled or plowed, but had plenty of toilet paper as instructed by the TV news.” I am glad to let you know that they are all well. We, in Long Island, NY, were very fortunate about this second storm, but not as lucky when it came to the storm a few days later. While we got snow this time, it was certainly not as bad as elsewhere, nor as bad as forecast, and we luckily avoided getting the blizzard that we were told to expect. This e-mail and phone communication with our stranded fraters points to our Fraternalism. When I stayed home for one day when we got our snowstorm, and had no place to go, it was wonderful to read a great AO exchange discussion that was better than many CE courses I’ve attended. There’s a great example of our Professionalism, because we were able to take advantage of the expertise of several of our knowledgeable clinicians. With that in mind, International Editor Fred Margolis is always looking for great clinicians as contributors for the Alpha Omegan (contact Fred at: kidzdr@comcast.net).
In updating our records and trying to improve our member outreach, we realized that we needed some help in locating certain information about some of our Israeli fraters. Although currently serving in the Israeli Army, and no longer a student, Vladi Dvoyris stepped forward and helped in that effort. His e-mails now come from his army post. That is real commitment!
Our Global Oral Health Initiative (GOHI) is something that we are proud to point to as an example of our commitment to the Judaic value of “tikun olam” (healing the world). With that in mind, our fraters in the Washington DC area are conducting an Oral Cancer screening program. Kudos to these fraters, their worthwhile project, and commitment! I am sure that there are many other chapters doing many similar projects, and I would urge them to publicize them so that others follow suit. Please forward any GOHI project information or reports to Fred Margolis, who is gathering data for a future Alpha Omegan issue.
Our new ISR’s Whitney Mostafiz and Matt Rossen, along with our fabulous Student Activities Committee (SAC), have been very busy contacting individuals and chapters, organizing efforts, and reaching out in any way they can. I urge all alumni to reach out to the students in your area, and urge all students to reach out to your local alumni. Remember that we are in this together!
I am really pleased to let you know that the latest Convention flowsheet for the San Diego convention is now available on the www.ao.org website. You can register, see the flow sheet, and even see the Optional Tours available on that site. If you’ve never been to an AO convention, you’re missing something. This year’s convention is a fun-packed, CE loaded, event driven, value-oriented convention, where you’ll get to meet and greet fraters from around the world! I hope to see many of you there!
This weekend, I am doing something very “un-AO-ish.” Richard and I are heading to Boston to celebrate my brother-in-law Mike’s 60th birthday. Yes, this is the same brother-in-law who attended our cruise convention. Thank you to all the cruise-going Alpha Omegans for being so kind, warm and hospitable to my family during the convention. My brother-in-law, who lives around the block from us, recently underwent major surgery - - again thanks to all who expressed well wishes for his recovery.
My third brother-in-law, from Rockville, Maryland, very recently retired, and since he’s retired, the DC area has had three major snow storms. We always said it would be a cold day in H_ _ _ when he retired. Sorry Washington DC area for inadvertently wishing this weather on you!
Our corporate partner, Henry Schein, has arranged for us to take advantage of free webinars that they are sponsoring, to allow us to take advantage of an additional way to communicate, and to introduce member benefits and 2010 projects. Chapter Officers and leaders should save the date of March 23th at 8PM EST, and AO student leaders should reserve March 16rd at 9PM EST. These webinars will be an interactive opportunity to evolve AO even more. More complete details to follow!
As International President for 2010, I have declared this “The Year For Our Members.” These are not simply empty words, but a commitment on my part, and on your fraternity’s part, to build upon what we have done in the past, but enhance it for our members benefit. I hope, in the not too distant future, to be able to inform you of innovative and enhanced benefits, and to further demonstrate Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity’s commitment to our Fraters ---- YOU!
I welcome any questions, comments, suggestions, or sharing of ideas, through either the AO exchange, by telephone, or by e-mail to me at csberkman@aol.com. If we all work together, AO’s potential is limitless!

Great Leaders do not wait for things to happen...

Your Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity Administrative Committee met from Thursday, January 28th through Saturday, January 30th, for marathon sessions of Alpha Omega meetings and events, and a site review for the our Convention hotel, at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay in San Diego, California. Meeting with our AO International leadership who are so dedicated to the success of Alpha Omega makes me even more enthusiastic and optimistic about the future of our fraternity.
Our Thursday and Friday meetings were spent with the International Line Officers: President- Elect Michael Tenenbaum, Editor Fred Margoles, Secretary Marcy Schwartzman, Treasurer David Schneider, and IPIP Dan Uditsky; as well as PIP Advisory Member Michael Kampel, and representatives of our new management group, Third Eye Group; joining me in in-depth discussions of past, present and future planning for Alpha Omega. These meetings were true working meetings, where we continued working through breakfast and lunch, and attempted to address strengths and challenges that we face, and how to make the organization stronger. I emphasized my goal for 2010 to dedicate the year as the “Year for our Member.” Michael Tenenbaum demonstrated his incredible commitment to AO and his wise counsel, as well as discussing the year’s Leadership programs, and his goals. Fred Margoles continues to impress me with his attention to detail, and commitment to make the communications end of AO more accessible and valuable to our members. Fred reviewed numerous options for our communication vehicles. Marcy Schwartzman has worked diligently to enable our management team transition to be as smooth and seamless as possible, and has been tireless in her pursuit. David Schneider has stepped in at full speed to fill the difficult-to-fill shoes of Michael Tenenbaum, and is the first International Treasurer to also be serving as Treasurer for the Convention. David’s attention to detail and excellent evaluative skills should prove invaluable for AO. Dan Uditsky continues to give us valuable input and perspective. The PIP’s selection of Michael Kampel as their representative has proven to be a very wise one, and Mike gave us both historic perspective, his wisdom, and is someone who has a practical, pragmatic eye on getting things done. Three representatives from Third Eye Group joined our meetings- their owner Nicole, Office Coordinator Yolanda, and our new Executive Director Marty Zimmerman demonstrated keen insight and gave us valuable input. We look forward to a long and productive relationship with The Third Eye Group.
Thursday evening we met with our Trudi Birger Humanitarian Award winner Irvin Silverstein and the Dean of Detroit Mercy Dental School, followed by having the opportunity to visit with over 100 of the students that are involved in the UCSD Pre-Dental Organization. This group of college students devote numerous hours working with Irvin and volunteer dentists to run three free dental clinics for the under-served. What an awesome experience. I had the pleasure of speaking to them and we showed the Centennial CD. The idea of fighting discrimination resonated with this diverse group of students.
After a full day of meetings on Friday, we had Shabbat dinner at a local restaurant with about a dozen fraters from the San Diego area. All of these individuals have warm feelings for Alpha Omega, although there has not been a formal chapter in San Diego in some time. I learned that making personal calls is the most effective way to invite people, and not to rely on electronic communication, as I had called them, snail mailed and e-mailed them the weeks before our visit. Many of these fraters expressed an interest in getting involved with and attending our International Convention in San Diego in December.
Our meetings on Saturday were devoted to overall discussions about Conventions, and especially the upcoming San Diego convention and next year’s Ft. Lauderdale convention. Marshal Bob Simon and Spouse’s Marshal Larry Vinegar have molded an action packed schedule that will certainly make this one of the best conventions in history. We did a thorough site visitation to make the Convention even better! Special events have been planned including: a Dinner and Cocktail Reception and Tour on the historic USS Midway; a Spouses event on the Hornblower Cruises, enjoying a fabulous Champagne Brunch Tour of San Diego harbor; great functions at the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay including a terrific Welcome Buffet, fabulous Honors night, Shabbat dinner and New Year’s Eve party; and a GOHI project on Dec 25 to “give back” to the community, as well as a great CE program. Our AO Foundation has arranged a great evening at the historic Abbey. The Hyatt Regency Mission Bay is offering us deeply discounted rooms at only $149 per night (approximately $100 below the regular rates). I urge you to go to our website, www.ao.org, and click on the 2010 San Diego convention, and look at the great fun- filled flow sheet, and want you to make your plans by registering to come to this year’s convention. Once you come to one convention, you’ll feel how the three sides of AO’s triangle really come into place. It is great to spend the time with your AO Family.
Getting home on Sunday was more challenging for some of us due to the snow storms along the east coast, but it was worth the effort to be a part of this motivated group. I personally got my H1N1 vaccine while waiting for my plane from San Diego, as the true multi-tasker that I am.
My first month as International President has been quite active, and I feel we are on our way to evolving our beloved fraternity and positioning it to be even more relevant for the next 100 years. Together, Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity will grow and fulfill its important purposes and missions.