After more than 13 years postgraduation we organized a 3-day Composite Veneer Esthetics Course and we invited a highly skilled faculty member from Bandar Abbas Province.
We had planned for this event for more than 2 months and we realized this maybe a challenge since I myself as Periodontist have been far away from other dental treatments and definitely not updated to the new techniques and materials used for esthetics. (though I have been graduated from, Philippines Academy of Esthetic Dentistry offered by University of Philippines, almost 15 years ago). Also, other members of organizing committee either were in different field of specialty (like me) or just attended other local courses.
After looking for sponsors I had a few take aways from the course myself which I like to share;
- Fame Comes After Attendees Realized High Quality of Education.
For this course, although we had invited a faculty member and prosthodontist with more than 9 years of experience is esthetic dentistry (both composites and laminates) but since this was his 1st public course, we had a hard time introducing him to prospect dentists. (mostly were asking for famous ones) therefore there were many didn’t enroll the course and those enrollees were much skeptical to the quality of the course.
But after finishing the course they were all happy and satisfied with the course and even told us that compared to many other similar courses on the same topic this one was the best. Thanks to the lecturer who knew this and told me that, “since I am not famous, I should put 100% of myself to be known and accepted by the crowd in the first place”.
It was after the course had ended, those participants started telling and sharing their experiences with other dentists and friends.
This was the same journey for me too. I started giving lectures in dentistry years ago, and sometimes I didn’t expect to be paid much. In seminars and conferences, I gave free talks too. But it was the quality of lectures and courses and me giving 100% of myself that helped. Though this giving 100% of one’s self is not a guarantee for fame or success but at least deep inside you know you did the best you could, hence, there won’t be regret.
“Putting 100 percent into your life, your work your sport, doesn’t give you the right to expect at whatever you are trying to do. It just provides the opportunity.” – Graham Lowe
- For a Course to Succeed Organizers Should Look Over the Course Delivery
I always thought of leaving our newly stablished dental education institute, to a manager or another person to handle its activities. However, I realized that first of all, it is hard to find a manager with minimum wage to know everything for such business venture and 2nd, no matter how skilled that person is, still the business needs to be under observation for its growing period.
For this 3-day Esthetic Course I was not the speaker and I was just helping my colleagues to make sure things go smoothly for both our guest speaker and the attendees. It was then that I realize how difficult it is to do such a task and be able to delegate different task to others. I also have to admit the leadership of the institution and therefore the courses are responsibility of my partners but I had to be there to help them and share with them my personal experiences in delivering and handling such activities as I used to manage them locally and internationally.
In short, one should be present all the time as his/her business or startup is growing and give it enough time till the foundation of the company is strong enough to stand by itself. Even then the shareholders and board of trustees still should be present to once in a while to make sure their company is doing great and flourishing along the way.
- Power of Sharing Knowledge.
At the end of the course, everyone was tired. Attendees were happy and so much satisfied and I have to admit our guest speaker and lecturer gave his best in delivering and sharing his knowledge to the point that even he himself was satisfied with the result by saying, “I gave it all, a perfect full course on Composite Veneers!”. As speaker myself I know when one says this, it means I have shared whatever I know and feels great after the course is finished because we know we gave our 100% of what we know.
Sharing the knowledge as a profound effect that despite the physical tiredness. We feel grateful and energized afterward. And I was so pleased everyone was feeling the same. A sign of a great course delivered.
“Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality” – Dalai Lama