 I want to thank AADJ and ACD, and specifically Dave Chambers, who are inviting me to speak with all of you today. And I want to thank you for spending your valuable time here today as well. My objective for this presentation is to prompt good conversations, conversations between editors and journalists, and within your respective organizations. Throughout those conversations, I ask you to consider these questions. What new ideas are being generated in the broader communications realms? What can we learn from them and apply to our work in dental communications? Conversely, what are we worried is being lost? What do we need to refresh and renew? How can we ensure communications help shape a positive future for our profession? How do communications build connections? As editors, journalists, and organizational leaders, you regularly converse with audiences. These audiences are not singular entities. They represent collections of people. If we are doing our jobs well, each person in our audience will take something away that is personally meaningful, and together we will build stronger relationships and connections. To that end, I have a participatory exercise to get us started. Please participate today by thinking about what you want to take back to your respective audiences. Maybe that is your organization's board, your staff team, or your membership. They're all free. If you will, please pull out a piece of paper or blank note page in your electronic device and write down the following two questions. During the pandemic, what has been the most significant communication challenge for you personally or for your organization? And what has been the strongest connection you formed through communication with a person or an audience, and why? During this session, with these questions in mind, I want you to write down ideas about how you will apply your learnings from those experiences in addressing future challenges and creating future connection opportunities. Good communication makes strong relationships, wrong teams, and strong organizations. Really, it is the foundation for achieving any goal. The most profound lesson for me through the pandemic is how I have been challenged by but also found opportunity in new modes of communication. As a colleague, as a friend, a family member, as a community activist, and as an organizational leader, I adapted to stay connected and engaged with our usual norms of conversation. When our usual norms of conversation, our usual norms of connection were so severely disrupted. In my role as executive director of the California Dental Association, maintaining connection has been my primary focus through the pandemic and provided a sense of accomplishment. This includes ensuring our leaders are having the right conversations, ensuring we are fostering significant points of connection with our members, and ensuring our SAF teams remain engaged and know their work is having an impact. When so much was out of our control, we worked to adapt and connect in meaningful ways. Technology helped us stay connected in business as well as to celebrate successes and milestones. We could not rely on casual interactions, but we could be targeted and intentional in our communication. As you reflect on these questions, I ask you to think about what have you as a communication leader done to adapt, lead, and grow in your communications leadership role? How can you build on those efforts going forward? When trust is high, communication is instant and easy. This is true in our personal and professional lives. There is ease and effortlessness in words and body language. Short-hand references, humor, and quick check-ins are common. Bags are accepted and good intentions are assumed. We are curious and we outstretch ourselves and resources to help each other. When trust is low, ease and effortlessness erode into complication and struggle. Our words and body language formalize and stiffen. We provide long or defensive explanations with references and documentation to justify our perspectives. Bags are suspect. We are no longer curious. We look to prove our points, or worse, keep score with them. This is when leaders have a critical role in helping to build trust, setting a tone that is accessible, grounded, and safe. If the people we are conversing with believe in us, we are better able to hear each other, relax, and be curious. When people feel vulnerable, especially in times of uncertainty, they look to leaders for answers, for certainty, even if there is no answer book to follow. New people look to a leader remembering they are human and ask what support they need. While that experience can be exhausting or lonely, both for a leader with the right frame of mind and with patience, it can also be an enormously rewarding time to lead. The past 18 months has been such a rewarding opportunity for me. Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you will be criticized anyway. I love this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, because let's face it, in our polarized world today, critics are everywhere. We don't have to seek them out. They find us. But trust is built and a leader's value is formed when they can communicate beyond the polarization and beyond what's comfortable to address what's needed. That is a role I frequently aspire to perform in our environment. Observing group dynamics and helping to bring the conversation into a grounded and authentic frame of reference. When tensions are high, this often involves cutting through any posturing that is occurring, those moments when curiosity turns to point scoring, calling out the postures, the bullies, those who make broad, unsupported comments, and helping to reframe the conversation around the root issue. This has enormous impact. Not only do the postures usually back down, but more importantly, space is created for those with curiosity and real interest in problem solving to speak up. Even if what they have to say is different from the norm. What those individuals have to say usually is where the past productivity and going forward begins. Performing this leadership role is often an imperfect task, and I've experienced my share of stumbles in trying to attain it. But doing so is the cornerstone of authenticity and of leadership. Conflict avoidance in the name of politeness may seem comfortable, but it rarely gets to the core issues and certainly doesn't solve any core problems. As you can see in this video, conflict should be constructive and can build respect and trust through shared experience and the forging of shared commitments. Politeness on its own achieves neither of these. It only masks them. Okay, so this is the disputed poster. Let's see if we can't just brainstorm and find some creative alternatives that are win-win. Win. Yes, thank you, Pam. How about Angela makes the poster into a t-shirt which Oscar wears. That way he can never see it, and whenever she looks at Oscar, she can see it. Win, win, win. No. That's no. Again, communicating what is needed rather than what's comfortable. When we as leaders do this well, the bedrock of authenticity is established where values, ideals, and actions align. Peter Drucker, the godfather of management discipline and education, is often quoted for saying that the most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said. I think this quote has new significance in organizational management today. As we seek to make our organizations diverse, equitable, and inclusive cultures of belonging, CDA has been actively simulating and exploring conversations about how to be more authentic, how to align our values and our ideals with our actions in these areas. It's imperative that what Drucker says about hearing what isn't being said must include broadening our diversity, choosing equity, and strengthening inclusiveness and belonging in everything we do. If we are effective, the outcome is an authentic experience of belonging for everyone. A couple weeks ago, our executive committee met with the seven California dental school deans for an extended conversation about this. We talked at length about growing the diversity of the student and faculty pipelines. It was a stimulating conversation about how together we might build on the significant activity already underway. Two things were clear to me from our discussion. One, our goals will not be reached simply by having good intentions. We can't just have an open door and expect people of different and diverse backgrounds to walk through it. We need to step out of our door, out of our comfort zones, our biases and our historic norms and seek out the people and perspectives we need from our environments and nurture them. Secondly, we need to remove distractions and dedicate resources to our diversity, equity, and inclusiveness efforts. Like with any change, time, effort, and energy are often quickly sucked away into other activities seen as more pressing. I would contend that these other activities are comforts and distractions, and until we identify them as such, we will be slow to make change. This is why dedicated diversity and inclusiveness leaders and representatives are needed. They are not established to check a box or hold up a figurehead. They are full with new perspectives who are charged and held accountable for leading changes. And then they are given authority to hold others accountable for integrating changes in their streams of responsibilities. This is how organizational cultures change. CDA also recently hosted the National Dental Association's president, Dr. Pamela Alston, at our most recent board meeting. Dr. Alston spoke to our trustees about NDA's own equity efforts that they have been leading for nearly a century. We also showcased NDA's recent efforts to combine resources with similarly focused dentist organizations, the Indian and Hispanic Dental Associations, to establish the Diverse Dental Society. When prioritizing DEIB efforts in an organization's mission, profound achievements can happen. NDA's coalition efforts and advocacy priorities have helped to propel not only its members, but the profession as a whole, centering by centering its efforts on fighting disparities and increasing oral health equity. Examples of these efforts include prioritizing the integration of oral health in primary care and behavioral health, inclusion of dentists in for federal student loan forgiveness programs, and advocating for expansive dental coverage in various government-run health programs, including Medicaid and Medicare. All of these efforts are prime examples of how the cultivation and celebration of DEIB can bring about profound change in our communities. However, lasting and institutional change cannot occur without all of us pushing ourselves to step out of our comfort zones and shifting our priorities to amplify voices equally as important as ours who simply haven't had the opportunity to sit at the table or in some cases even be invited to come into the room. I implore those of you in your mid and late careers to make it your highest priority to seek out, welcome, and give responsibilities to colleagues with other perspectives, particularly those in their early careers and different walks of life. Seek out and encourage their perspectives on content, on delivery modes, and audience connection ideas. Help them shine. These people are the sources for your own succession planning. Include and celebrate them. Make sure they have the agency and access to learn and grow. Those of you early in your careers, engage, speak your mind, and step up. Show the way for new communication norms, new ways to spark interest and accessibility, and seek out and welcome more new voices and perspectives. Regardless of your role and your career stage, find ways to lead on the issues of diversity, equity, inclusiveness, and belonging, and on other issues that are important to a diverse audience. Idea and others have excellent resources for communications you may want to pursue. Be factual, be persuasive, be provocative. Find your personal strengths and surround yourself with others who demonstrate complementary strengths. Lastly, listen for and hear what isn't being said. I can assure you when you're successful in doing so, it's the most rewarding work you will do, and the rest of your work will be better for having done so. Communications in general are evolving, and dental communications are not immune to the evolution taking place. The expectations for communications, largely driven by expectations of younger generations and the explosion of content in a digital environment, means editors, journalists, and leaders have new responsibilities and challenges to meet. These expectations include open access, short form content, omnichannel modalities, and pacing. First, open access content and research is the future. This will change our publishing mode and publication content norms. If you're not already considering this, start now, and reach out to those who have made that transition, learn from them. Short form is dominating the environment and unlikely to go away. This is certainly a byproduct of distractions and competition for attention spans, but it is not just that. There is simply an explosion of quality short form content to choose from now. Tempt to make the information you are communicating accessible, break information down into checklists and toolkits, link resources and related content, listen and watch for what your audience needs now, and then build on that. Keep them coming back to you for trusted information, even if it's not your original content. As a communication leader, you are a steward and a curator. No longer just about being the trusted voice, but also the trusted source for assembling good information from other voices. Create a journey that is relevant and accessible for your audience. In today's world, that journey is far more complex. The rapid adoption of smartphones and voice devices, and the proliferation of new social connection platforms has led to a communications ecosystem that can feel overwhelming to navigate, as portrayed in this video. It's part of the dog pack, as I call it. But, look, why tell you when I can show you I just sent myself a woof? Ryan, you have a woof on line one. Thank you, Aaron. Woof. This can be a challenge, but I would encourage you to take the time to solicit feedback from your audience to help with prioritization. At CDA, we conduct periodic research with our members, which includes questions about their communication preferences. We have traditionally done this through a mix of focus groups and broader reaching surveys. We are in the midst of that research again now, and the insights from the focus group phase were telling, and definitely spotlighted the generational differences. While participants referenced decreased consumption of printed materials, some indicated those stand out now with so much communication having moved online. Others indicated that they rely heavily on social media, influential people, and news outlets. Nearly all indicated that email overload is real. While this doesn't provide answers, hopefully we get a few of those in the survey phase, it showcases the challenge of modern day communication. Regardless of the number of channels or modalities that you choose, it remains more important than ever to know who you are and focus on consistency, both in terms of voice and perspective. The evolution also involves significant attention to pacing. Being first is not always best, which is a challenge in current communication expectations and trends. Good information is sometimes at odds with speed to produce, and in some cases, may be in direct conflict with journalistic ethics. It may also mean breaking from your norms of a weekly email or a monthly journal. What can you adapt to give your audience what they need when they need it? The ability to be steady in the face of uncertainty is an important leadership attribute. Your audiences will appreciate your courage to identify and talk about what is not known as much as what is. At CDA, at the height of the pandemic, we pushed out standalone emails and content on a daily basis. In normal times, that pace of communication would increase opt-outs and frustration. But in the confusion and uncertainties of those days, it served to steady and reassure our members that we had their backs with factual information and guidance they could turn to when there was an onslaught of noise and misinformation to contend with. We also had to balance written communication with verbal communication, recognizing when members might be getting overwhelmed with written content and in need of a forum that allowed for additional dialogue. Breaking through the noise has become more challenging than ever. Big data, AI, artificial intelligence remain main say topics in the communications world. Use for good, these are powerful concepts that allow us to drive content relevancy for our readers. But as we've seen in the news heavily over the past year and especially in the last weeks, news and social media algorithms can play a negative role in the communications landscape. This environment is creating enormous pressure for a level of virality and communications that unfortunately drives misinformation. Controversy fuels engagement, which feeds the algorithms and leads to content that spreads faster and reaches more audiences and therefore can be more profitable. We see this all around us, even in dentistry. But we can be steady in the face of that pressure. We can be a trusted source for members, policymakers, the media and the public. It can be challenging to weather tough feedback or be at the center of controversies. It's challenging to rise above and be on the right side of history. Once the noise and the misinformation campaigns blow through, good information stands strong and will build your organization's positive reputation. A recent example we are navigating, working to find a steady path through noise and misinformation, is the current issue of a Medicare dental benefit being pursued in Congress. This is a complex issue, one that will have enormous impact on dentists and their patients if adopted. Most dentists have minimal understanding of how Medicare functions. Policymakers don't understand dentistry. And the politics of our day are certainly incomprehensible at times. While most of the details are not yet known, tensions are high and misinformation is rampant. It is our duty to be informed, be clear with the information we have and to be helpful. We need to be honest, rational and consistent so that we can promote a positive image of the profession with the public. If you've not read CDA's recent article on this topic, I encourage you to do so. You can find it by going to cda.org slash newsroom where it's our featured article, the one on Medicare. Our volunteer work group did an excellent job in providing a balanced comprehensive information piece that we hope is helpful to audiences across the country. Paying attention to and communicating about this issue. We will supplement it with digestible communication points we're needed. You're welcome to reference and share CDA's communication. I encourage you to add it to the conversation in your publications. Share those communications with us and with each other so that we can grow the discussion and improve our collective understanding and knowledge. The future of the dental profession is bright. Whether you are thinking about dentistry's role in healthcare, the future of publications, or meeting the needs of future members. The leadership you demonstrate through effective communications is going to be crucial for sustaining strong organizations across dentistry. AADJ's leadership recognizes that the professional issues in dentistry are changing rapidly, driven in part by new platforms and new participants. There is a need for a group to host the discussions and the creative work that needs to be done across the changing landscape. That is a phenomenal opportunity for AADJ and its contributors. I hope I've prompted some ideas about how we might all be engaged in making that happen. At the beginning, I ask you to write down two questions. What has been the most significant communication challenge during the pandemic for you personally or for your organization? And what was the strongest connection you formed through communication with a person or an audience and why? When we wrap up today, please take the time to think more about your learnings from those experiences and how they relate to addressing future challenges and connection opportunities. Perhaps you can spark a conversation with your board or your publication team to inspire the next level of change in your organization. And if you're interested, please connect with me. I'd love to hear about it and learn from your conversations. As I close, I would like to thank AADJ's outgoing president and our CDA journal assistant editor, Dr. Brian Hsu, for his leadership. Congratulations, Brian, on stepping forward and contributing in such meaningful ways. And thanks again to each of you. Connected here in our virtual environment for your time and your meaningful contributions across the country. It was an honor and a joy to be with you today. Thank you.