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ASHT Exhibit Hall
445 Plays2 years ago
Josh and Miranda talk about the exhibit hall and will it become a thing of the past.
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Transcript
Introduction to Hand Therapy Academy
00:00:05
Speaker
I'm Josh McDonald and I'm Miranda Materi and we are Hand Therapy Academy. So if you get a chance to go to conventions, there's always an exhibit hall
Exhibit Hall Experiences
00:00:15
Speaker
there. And I just got back from ASHT. This will launch a little bit after that, but I'm not usually a big fan of the exhibit hall. I made it a point today or this last time at ASHT to spend some more time there and
00:00:27
Speaker
experience it a little bit more. And so I came back with a couple of lessons, both from specific booths and just in general. So Miranda, what's your thought about an exhibit hall? What's your kind of initial thought?
Environmental Concerns
00:00:38
Speaker
like I remember my first one I went to I was super excited you get all the freebies but now kind of since I've done one I've done a few actually it's not my favorite thing to do I'd rather go spend my time outside walking or going to lunch or something like that even though I do know they offer some gems also when my kids go with me to conferences they love the exhibit hall
00:00:59
Speaker
But for me, it's just like usually a bunch of crap that you might take back that's probably gonna end up in a landfill,
Value of Freebies and Vendor Interactions
00:01:05
Speaker
right? We like mass produce these cheap plastics that we give away. And I don't know, it's something that's kind of, I don't really like that that much. So I'm always like, no, I don't need that. You know, someone else can have it that might need it.
00:01:18
Speaker
And I agree with you in the, my kids love the freebies. So even my 21 year old daughter, she was with me at the ASHC helping me do some hand therapy academy stuff. She's like, make sure you bring back a fabric tape measure for me and any cool pens you see. So she
Splint Pan Market Changes
00:01:33
Speaker
loved the free stuff. That's just their version of getting you to come up and say hi. But I actually got a little different experience out of it this time and I kind of want to share with you guys a little bit. I feel like there were some boosts that I wanted to go to because I had a question.
00:01:47
Speaker
The splint pan world is kind of upside down right now with Whitehall not making splint pans anymore. And so now we have all these other providers, North Coast and SME and Performance, all trying to sell this other splint pan. It's this hypoallergenic and it cleans itself. And so I wanted to find out about this. Why is it, I think it's like four grand or something. Why is this thing so expensive? And it's the only market in town or only gaming town
Dynamic Booth Interaction
00:02:12
Speaker
right now. So I want to ask questions.
00:02:13
Speaker
I went to the performance health guy and we had a conversation about it, but I had to kind of get through this initial layer of they were trying to sell this piece and that piece. And so I said, okay, I have a question about that thing over there. And we were able to talk about it and talk about parts and maintenance and backorder and all that kind of stuff. So I got a better idea of it. But with all these booths, if I have something specific, I'm going to have to get kind of through that initial like, okay, here's the spiel they have. That's fine. You got to do your job. I get that.
00:02:42
Speaker
but to kind of get through that layer of things. Yeah, so what else? Do you have any other pearls or anything? Or like, wow, or I mean, if you, or just say you were an exhibitor, what would you do to make it better or make it something that people would enjoy going to?
Innovative Therapy Tools
00:02:58
Speaker
I want, like we've talked about doing booths or not, and we've always kind of shied away from it. The cost is a little high for us. And, and there's some other limitations on it, but we would want to do a booth that had a much more dynamic interaction with it. Something where the people who stop at our booth leave with knowledge they didn't have walking into the
00:03:16
Speaker
something where they leave with an awareness, whether it's technical or some kind of knowledge that they didn't have before that makes them like, oh, I want to take that to my daily patient care. Same thing when I do a lecture. I want to make sure that when they're done, they have something that says that's going to make my care different.
00:03:33
Speaker
I do feel like there were a couple of those devices there. There's a new device, and you can find all this stuff by going to the ASHT website and look at the vendor's list. There's a new alternative to a joint jack. Joint jack was there, but there was a new alternative that's this plastic, I would say 3D printed, but I don't believe they actually 3D printed. I think one of my staff said that they did.
00:03:56
Speaker
You can find it on Amazon and it's about a hundred bucks and it's this version where you kind of push and click and it extends that PIP joint. I think that has some warrant to it. I think that could be something that is a value for those patients that need something kind of a static progressive. There was an alternative, two different versions that were an alternative to the Squag that were kind of game-based grip home exercise tools or clinic-based tools. One of them
00:04:20
Speaker
was this really cool app that had all these fantastic games with it that are really dynamic and interactive and they're more like standard video games. And this tool has different resistances. But the tool was a little bit more pricey. It was about 10 times the cost of the squag. But the app itself was an additional 90 bucks a month to have access to the app.
00:04:41
Speaker
And so I think that's a great concept. I love that it's more engaging for a game, but that's a non-starter for me as someone who owns my own clinic.
Desire for Unique Products
00:04:51
Speaker
And so I walk up, cool tool, they got a big TV showing off all the great games they play, and that's fantastic. And they've got norms for it, that's great too. But then I hear it's gonna cost me $1,000 at startup, and then every year it's gonna be another five, 600 bucks with the app costs. I don't know, I don't know that I'm gonna get that kind of value of it.
00:05:09
Speaker
And I'm a pretty cheap person, so I'm a little less likely to spend that kind of money on it. Yeah, that's true. That's interesting, though. I think some of the e-gaming stuff for hand therapy is interesting. And it certainly plays to a younger generation, right? Like, whenever I get out the swag, it's usually for someone quite a bit younger. When I give it to older people, I don't know. They just don't seem as into it. Yeah. Yeah, just not as excited. I think the fact that it's a video game
00:05:37
Speaker
means they're less likely that it's tablet screen based i think my my retirement village population is just a lot like oh i don't play video games well this is kind of a fun thing don't think of it as a video game but it's definitely a different generation honestly if i'm going to spend
00:05:52
Speaker
$500 or $1,000 on a therapy gaming tool, I might get an Xbox with their adaptive controller. Xbox has an adaptive controller now that's got a million ways to play for people who have an amputation or cerebral palsy or stroke. Their adaptive control is fantastic. I might invest the money in that that gives me a broader approach or a Wii even. Yeah, that would be cool if they had that at a conference.
00:06:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
Future of Exhibit Halls
00:06:15
Speaker
And that's the other thing from this exhibit hall was I want different stuff. I want to see something that's unique as a product, as a vendor. And there's some that's like, they're there for recruiting employees. That's great. And if you want to move to Seattle, there's a fantastic booth. There's a lady just standing there handing out information. There was a good treatment guideline book, a protocol book. She was super nice. So there's interesting things there. I want to talk to people that I can't just shoot an email to and ask them questions.
00:06:43
Speaker
some other perspective on things and I think that and The overall networking just talking to other people about the therapy world is helpful And it's a little bit more that total immersion particularly for maybe younger newer therapists Yeah, but it almost makes you wonder, you know Our exhibit hall is going to be a thing of the past soon, right? Because everything we have at our fingertips online, right? So if there's a new product we want to see We can go online and look at it and a lot of the vendors will send it out for you to try you might have to send it back but
00:07:13
Speaker
I think the way we consume information is different than what it was 15 years ago where a vendor booth would be the only place you could see a new product on the market. But now that's not the case with all of our social media platforms and stuff. We don't necessarily need that. You're right. And they had totally changed the poster presentation section too. Normally there's this whole like
00:07:34
Speaker
gauntlet of all these posters and you go stand next to your poster at given times they had TVs and when you checked in you got little bitty ear earphones to plug in and you could click through the posters and you could see what the presentations were but there was no interface interaction with the person telling the story about the project and so it was kind of like over there there's some TVs in the corner and it maybe didn't have that interaction so you're right if it's going to go more tech-based maybe
00:08:00
Speaker
The big guys are going to spend still thousands of dollars to have a booth and tables and TVs and stuff. But some of the smaller may say, I don't know if it's worth my
Networking Value
00:08:09
Speaker
time. And we've kind of decided right now, at least, that it's something we're not going to pursue just because it's I'd rather have that interaction with people just walking around the conference and have that face to face than stand there and make people come to me. Yeah, I agree with you. Yeah.
00:08:24
Speaker
So just some lessons from that exhibit hall that it's kind of an interesting thing. I feel like as a younger therapist, I got more out of it.
Learning from Exhibit Halls
00:08:31
Speaker
Now I feel like I've kind of seen it, but still good to do that network networking and talk to other therapists in the profession and whatnot. Yeah. And one thing that we always say, if you learn one thing, it's probably worthwhile. So if you learn one thing from that exhibit hall, might just be worth it.
00:08:45
Speaker
even if it's a lesson that says, that's interesting, I've been curious, but I don't think I wanna do that, or I'm not gonna use that tool.
Hand Therapy Academy Resources
00:08:52
Speaker
Hey, checks that off the box and I know more as a result of it, yeah. All right, for information, you can check out all of our courses at handtherapyacademy.com. We also have membership options. If you're interested in doing a discovery call to learn more, email us info at handtherapyacademy.com.