ODA Annual Session going virtual for 2020!
The 2020 ODA Annual Session is moving to a virtual meeting. Watch for more details in August! Photo taken at the 2019 ODA Annual Session.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ODA Annual Session Committee has decided not to hold an in-person meeting of Annual Session in 2020. Instead, the ODA Annual Session Committee plans to host a virtual meeting.
The ODA Annual Session was originally scheduled for Sept. 24-27 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The ODA Annual Session Committee has been closely monitoring the situation including information about safety and regulations in Ohio and across the nation regarding large meetings.
“As a science-based organization, the Ohio Dental Association’s Annual Session Committee decided not to hold an in-person annual meeting in 2020 in order to ensure the health and safety of our members, staff and exhibitors during this time of COVID-19,” said Dr. Kyle Bogan, 2020 ODA Annual Session general chair.
The health and safety of attendees is a high priority to the ODA, and in light of the current uncertainty the committee made the difficult decision to transition the 2020 ODA Annual Session to a virtual meeting.
“As the trusted source for quality continuing education in Ohio, we will have a series of online continuing education offerings in place of our annual meeting that will be an outstanding value for our members and their teams,” Bogan said.
The 2020 virtual ODA Annual Session will likely include a series of online CE courses for dentists and staff, one of which will be an opioid CE course for staff to be able to meet the new OSDB requirement for dental hygienist license renewal. Stay tuned for more details on this and how to register. Full details will be released in August.
Throughout the pandemic, the ODA Annual Session hosted a series of “Sneak Peek” online CE courses. ODA members could tune in to the live CE for free as a benefit of membership.
“A part of our new programming for 2020 was the introduction of the ODA Annual Session Sneak Peek,” Bogan said. “We were thrilled by the participation in those CE events, but we were overjoyed by how well received they were by our members. We look forward to continuing to provide innovative programming in the years to come.”
The first course featured Dr. John A. Svirsky presenting “A Patient Can Have as Many Diseases as They Pleases.”
The other two courses focused on issues specific to opening a dental practice amid the pandemic. Dr. Purnima Kumar and Dr. Kumar Subramanian presented “What’s Next: Practicing Dentistry After COVID-19” and Dr. Thomas Paumier presented “Getting Back to Practice.” These two courses were moderated by ODA President Dr. Sharon Parsons and are now available at www.oda.org to view on demand. Please be aware that these courses are no longer available for CE credit, but are available as informational webinars that can be used as a resource for your practice.
The webinars were viewed over 17,000 times by dentists and their staff members.
The ODA Annual Session Committee is already planning the 2021 meeting, which will be held Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2021 in Columbus and will be chaired by Dr. Lori Fitzgerald.
“I am excited to announce that the new and innovative programming that we had planned to deliver in 2020 will be combined with the outstanding scientific programming that we have in the works for 2021,” Bogan said. “Our 2021 meeting will be one of the best ones ever! Please plan to join us next year!”
