American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society Annual Meeting

Author: Casey Gale       

AOFAS Annual Meeting 2017

Event Details

July 12–15, 2017

Washington State Convention Center

Seattle 

OVERVIEW A record number of exhibitors set up shop at this year’s American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) Annual Meeting in Seattle — joined by about 900 orthopedic surgeons, physicians, and allied health professionals. Nine symposiums and 11 paper sessions discussing the toughest problems and greatest innovations in the AOFAS community.

CHALLENGES AOFAS membership continues to grow — which isn’t a problem, but it does require organizers to smooth out logistical bumps for the Annual Meeting year-to-year. As previewed in our Pre Con profile (convn.org/pre-con-AOFAS), this year AOFAS debuted a new housing bureau that “allowed for more options for attendee venue selection,” said Elaine M. Leighton, CAE, AOFAS’s interim executive director. The new housing bureau increased the number of properties hosting attendees as well as the number of rooms in each room block. AOFAS also introduced self-service registration this year. “It eliminated lines,” Leighton said, “and allowed us to decrease our temp staffing.”

INITIATIVES AOFAS is always looking for new ways to share the benefits of seeing an orthopedist, which is why it launched a new consumer-awareness campaign at the Annual Meeting. “Members were excited to take home campaign materials that encourage the public to ‘Look for the O’ — for ‘orthopedic’ — when they have foot or ankle concerns,” Leighton said. AOFAS also received positive feedback on the Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Outcomes Research initiative, which aims to improve care by collecting patient-reported data nationwide. “Several members took advantage of getting demos from our vendors,” Leighton said, “and signed up to participate in the program when it goes live later this year.”

For more information: aofas.org/annualmeeting

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