Delegates gathered recently at the Sancroft venue, a stone's throw from St Pauls cathedral, for Align’s biggest-ever UK event. The day began with a virtual briefing from executive vice president and managing director Simon Beard, who detailed Align’s characteristics of development, the ways they intend to utilise visualisation in the future and the investments being made into research and development.
Simon commented on the size of the event, saying it was because Aligned aimed to get all members of the dental team from specialists to dental nurses in the same room. This of course meant courses were provided to suit all manner of topics within the dental team, with a grouping of over 20 experts delivering a variety of experts. Next, onto the stage were Evren Koskal, general manager of Align for the UK and Ireland and Dan Parsons, Align’s marketing director. Evren gave a playful welcome taking selfies with the audience, and discussed the 27 year trajectory the company has been on, helping more than, “17.6 million people transform their smiles.” Dan continued that more than ever the company is focused on the people it is trying to help with its innovation, explaining that, “The customer is at the very centre of everything.”
Attendees then heard from executive vice president Zelko Relic and executive vice president Sreelakshmi Kolli, who together presented proudly on treatment outcomes, practice efficiency and growth, and overall improved patient experience. Whilst acknowledging that the company and dentistry at large are facing, “A dramatically different consumer landscape than ever before”, the leaps forward that Align has made in its ‘Digital workflow experience’ and in enabling chairside multi-model diagnosis, Align is engaging with patients through visualisation like never before. With its newly created app, the ability to flexibly create and track patient’s treatment plans wherever they are, there has never been more opportunity to help patients feel connected and a part of their treatment, even in the stretches of time between in-person appointments.
After this, the delegates split into several sections to enjoy a variety of lectures for general dentists, orthodontic specialists, and the practice teams. For dental nurses, there was a presentation from dental nurse turned client experience manager Chloe Phillips, ‘Transforming the Patient Journey: Creating WOW moments and Raving Fans’, whilst dentists were treated to a talk from David Galler, president of the American Academy of Clear Aligners.
The programme was truly international, with speakers coming from France, Belgium, Italy, Germany and even Australia.
As well as the educational programme, the event included valuable time for networking, with an extended lunch and a glamorous gala dinner on the first night with music and smiles aplenty as Align recognised the outstanding work being done within the company itself. With such a triumph of an event on such a grand scale this year, delegates and all who are involved can only wait expectedly for what Align has planned for next year’s Invisalign Live, and bask in the clarity of the memories of this year’s so fresh in our minds!