By Steve Moran

In senior living, there is a conference for everything. The big question is this: What conferences should we go to—and who gets to go?

We Know …

  • C-suite folks get to go—and they attend a lot of conferences.
  • Regionals sometimes get to go.
  • Executive directors get to attend state conferences.

But what about … other team members?

It is a lot tougher to send dining pros and activity pros to conferences. If they are not in the building, it means someone else is, which increases costs. And it is not just the cost of the conference. It is the travel and the hotel. It’s just plain quite a bit of money. 

So what ends up happening is that these department-head-level folks rarely get to attend conferences … if ever.

Wasting Your Most Precious Asset

I would propose that if you don’t send your dining leaders to conferences like SYNERGY, the only senior living dining conference for and by senior living dining professionals, here is why they should attend:

  • It is like sending them to a passion machine. They will come back more fired up about senior living, about residents, about your organization and you as a leader. 
  • They will get new ideas that can be implemented in your community, enhancing the resident experience (a fancy way of saying, they will love you better).
  • They will come back with a better manager. 
  • They will come back recharged and energized for the new year to come.
  • They will come back with new ways to save money. 

If you don’t send them, things will stay the same—or even worse, you will find yourself on the receiving end of a two-week notice from your dining leaders because they have lost their passion. 

Don’t waste that precious asset.