"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.