A bird’s eye view of practice management

Chris Barrow is Chair of the Business Strand of The Dentistry Show 2012.  In the last sixteen years he has built up a sterling reputation in the UK dental corporate market.  Being a Practice Manager in 2012 is an entirely different role from what it used to be fifteen years ago as Chris elaborates:

“The steer of operation now for a Practice Manager is no longer just about the clinical side of the business.  Practice Managers nowadays need to be multi-disciplinary individuals who understand finance, branding, marketing, customer service, human resources and employment laws, as well as keeping everyone happy.

“The Dentistry Show has established itself as one of the primary trade shows in the UK with a reputation for looking to the future.  The speaker programmes this year reflect the optimistic outlook for dentistry and cover all the different disciplines a Practice Manager encompasses.

“From selling skills to compliance and social networking there are expert speakers such as Russell Abrahams’, ‘PCT Issues and Selling Dental Practices in the New World: Making It Happen’ and Riz Akhtar’s, ‘Do you and your practice have a planning Strategy?’ that thoroughly cover the business and clinical side of practice management.

“The main problems that a Practice Manager faces are dealing with the CQC, admin and handling teams effectively.  In my presentation ‘The boom of 2012; the top 10 successful habits of practices that will win in the next 12 months’ I intend to provide perspective on where I think dentistry is heading.  I will also be chairing two ‘How I did it’ sessions that involve people from the profession discussing their experience of becoming a practice manager.  In previous years these sessions have had enormously positive feedback.

“The Dentistry Show is an outstanding opportunity for Practice Managers to network with a spectrum of people from the dental world, as well as the added bonus of being able to act with trade exhibitors who see a better future for dentistry. 

“There is a constant fascination with the latest marketing techniques and a growing interest in treatment co-ordination.  Practice Managers will be able to expand on their financial knowledge.  By listening to the expert speakers and case studies, they will learn how to manage both money and people.

“After The Dentistry Show, Practice Managers should undoubtedly be able to take away the idea of a bigger future for themselves, a notion that practice management is a career pathway that leads upwards and for me, the concept of a positive future is key.”

The Dentistry Show is at the NEC, Birmingham March 2nd and 3rd 2012. For more information, please call 020 7348 5269 or email info@thedentistryshow.co.uk