Delivering on the Value Equation
for staff, membership satisfaction is job one                                                         

Dennis Jeanes
Special to the Canadian Orthopaedic Association

"We're small but mighty," says Doug Thomson, who as CEO of the Canadian Orthopaedic Association, comprises one third of its full-time staff. "At the last Annual Meeting in Halifax, some COA members saw Cynthia, Trinity and me and assumed that there were a bunch more of us back at the office holding down the fort. They were quite surprised to find that, no - there's only the three of us."

The staff member with the longest history at the COA is Cynthia Vezina, who started in 1999 when she was hired as a Membership Services Coordinator. One of her projects included the quarterly COA Bulletin, which at the time, consisted often of memoirs of things past, anecdotes of exotic travel experiences but very little focus on what was going on in the profession today. Newly arrived in an organization where gowns and ceremony were very much part of the formalities at Annual Meetings that could last up to five days, Cynthia (who had a degree in communications and creative writing) chose wisely to break slowly with editorial tradition: "For the first year or so, we left things as they were. We cleaned a few things up and made some minor changes." However, gradually certain Bulletin fixtures quietly disappeared, replaced by new features such as the Point/Counterpoint debates on surgical issues, as well as reinvigoration of the Themes and Info sections. Design changes included a two-column page with larger type and restricting colour production to the covers and paid advertisements - "all in response to membership feedback."

Bulletin content is okayed by editor-in-chief Dr. Emil Schemitsch, who also comes up with some article topics, but much of the conceptualization of the scientific sections is done by the scientific editor Dr. John Antoniou and Cynthia, as well as contributions by Doug Thomson on various professional and political issues. "The whole editorial team has its ear to the ground to see what's going on in the profession and what should be covered," says Cynthia. "Dr. Schemitsch has a real knack for knowing who's doing what in orthopaedics. If we want an article on a very specific technique, then he'll know who is doing that type of surgery in Canada. Dr. Antoniou and I usually get together in November or December to plan out the scientific topics for the year." Cynthia then does all the assignments, sending out e-mails to surgeons inviting them on behalf of the editor-in-chief to contribute to the Bulletin: "Contributors are more likely to say, yes, when they're given significant time to write the article," she notes. And since articles are submitted directly to her, it's her responsibility to shepherd them into the editorial fold: "It can take a lot of prodding, a lot of stalking," but, once corralled, the results get high marks from COA members. "The surgeons love the Bulletin. There are members who pay their dues just to receive it. We have an on-line version now, but I think the print edition is still more popular."

In addition to her duties on the Bulletin as managing editor, Cynthia writes the monthly COA Dispatch, updates the COA web site, as well as provides administrative and event-planning support to CORA for its Annual Meeting. She also keeps the COA database as current as possible - following members throughout their residency, fellowships and into their orthopaedic careers. "It's a lot of work trying to keep tabs on a membership of over 1500 orthopods that move around a lot early on in their careers. I'm always afraid that they'll get tired of receiving so many e-mails from me asking for career and address updates." Currently, she's working on an on-line directory of fellowship opportunities in Canada in response to the directors' recent concerns about a slight dip in applications from Canadian candidates. And, of course, she provides on-site assistance during the COA's Annual Meeting.

"Ah, the Annual Meeting!" As Doug Thomson notes, "About 70% of our resources go toward putting on the Meeting. Months and months of work all come together, and it all happens in three days. You could say it provides us with focus. It sure makes it intense."

Cynthia, Doug and Trinity

Not surprisingly, Trinity spends the majority of her time organizing and supporting the Annual and Mid-Winter Meetings; however, she also handles the COA's office administration and coordinates the arrangements for the Association's travelling fellowships programmes. She begins planning for the Annual Meeting by assisting the surgeons in distributing the call for abstracts, putting together the scientific content, tracking registrations, and printing the preliminary and final programmes. She also works with a marketing team to distribute e-mail and print promotional pieces to surgeons and industry partners. In addition, Trinity coordinates the process of reserving exhibit spaces for the trade show, as well as some sponsor relations with regards to the programmes and delegate bags.

Multi-tasking is something that Trinity (who has a degree in exercise science, with a certificate in marketing) has more than a little experience with. After graduation, she did volunteer and contract work in a variety of event promotion and planning positions, from sports to cancer research to singles events. But what probably prepared her more than anything for the rigours of coordinating a COA Annual Meeting was her stint as an emergency room coordinator at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital, where she directed the transfer of patients to other departments and hospitals, managed test results and assisted doctors, nurses and patients' families.

As for this year in Québec City, Trinity is looking forward to the benefits of extra help because the event is combined between the COA and American Orthopaedic Association. "There will be significantly more staff on site, so we'll be able to divide the tasks a little more easily," she says, but it still sounds as if she's going to be pretty busy: "This year's programme is jam-packed with academic and social activities, and our registration numbers continue to grow."

"Were doing more and more on our own," says Doug Thomson. "For this year's Meeting, we didn't contract with an on-site meeting management service, because Trinity's knowledge has grown to such a point that she can handle the process herself. She'll hire some on-site help, but she can manage most of it, and that is how we anticipate we'll operate in the future." Doug notes that members who attended Annual Meetings over the last four years have rated the scientific programmes and the overall meetings very highly, and that registration numbers have climbed steadily in the last five years, as well: "The metrics are very positive."

On the 362 days when he isn't in the thick of things at the Annual Meeting, Doug is the public point person for the Association, its visible presence and voice at continuous rounds of meetings with government and partners, at the same time wearing his hat as the Foundation's CEO: "Its often difficult to separate my duties between the Foundation and Association, because so often they go together." Since the COA relies on a virtual network to overcome geography, committee work (often done at night to accommodate schedules and time zones) and staff meetings are conducted by telephone and followed up with e-mails. The virtual set-up also means that all three staff need to work independently. "Both Cynthia and Trinity are endowed with a sixth sense for knowing when they need help and when they can go ahead and make things happen," says Doug. "I believe that they also both have a strong feeling for how they should support the membership. All three of us enjoy working for surgeons. We wouldn't be doing what we do if we didn't. Surgeons have a choice - they do not need to belong to the COA. They should feel that, when they write their cheque for their dues, they're getting value for the money. We understand that, and hopefully we will continue to deliver that value."