We have had a presence at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) since the formation of Orchid in 2005.The conference offers continuing medical education activities for orthopedic surgeons, and an expo hall for OEMs and contract manufacturers to showcase their products and services. AAOS is a great opportunity for us to meet with customers , build relationships and showcase how we can help partner with orthopedic OEMs to help them grow.
This year we had two employees who shared their overall experience and takeaways from this year’s annual meeting.
Eric Gatlin, Vice President, Operations, Forming and Coating attended AAOS for the first time and shared his overall experience and takeaways.
"The size of the meeting was impressive - so many companies were represented. The breadth of the orthopedics market, from instruments to robotic surgery, was astounding, and it was helpful to see the full scope of the industry. I participated in meetings with several customers. It was good to connect with them and build more personal relationships with our counterparts. It was also good to get a better understanding of their priorities both short- and long-term. My key takeaway was how important it is to stay close to customers and what's happening in the industry."
Lee Garrett, Global Commercial Manager, attended AAOS shared his experience attending as a contract manufacturer.
"I previously worked on the OEM side, so I have attended AAOS but under very different circumstances. As an OEM at AAOS, we were vying for surgeons' attention, and it was very difficult to commit them to a meeting. We were one of 200+ vendors trying to get time with surgeons. With Orchid, our customers are eager to hear what Orchid can do for them. It feels like a collaborative relationship where our success is mutually dependent, and they want to meet with us. Because of that, our booth is different than an OEM's booth. An OEM's booth is full of products. We do have a display case to show our capabilities, but our booth mainly consists of seating to meet and have private conversations. Someone was constantly stopping by our booth for a conversation or collaboration. It was true solution selling.”
The AAOS Annual Meeting is always a great opportunity to network, learn industry trends and continue to build relationships with our customers. We are always striving to help our customers optimize or reduce complexity and allowing them to reallocate capital to invest in the next big thing — digital features, robotics and more.