"From Boardroom to Stateroom" - Reimagining Dental Conferences & Live CE (feat. Dr. Devinn Geeson)

What if dental continuing education could feel more like a vacation than a chore? In this episode of The Dental Domination Podcast, Dan Brian sits down with the energetic and inspirational Dr. Devin Geeson—aka The Pep Talk Doc—to talk about how she’s transforming live dental events into unforgettable experiences. From leading the cruise-based Smiles at Sea and the land-based Dental Festival to mentoring rising stars through Dentistry’s Got Talent and the Emerging Speaker Program, Dr. Geeson is on a mission to make CE fun, impactful, and community-driven.

We cover:

✅ Dr. Geeson’s journey from multi-practice owner to industry leader
✅ The MOJO philosophy that fueled her success
✅ Why “live events aren’t dead—unless they suck”
✅ How to get involved in Smiles at Sea, The Dental Festival & Dentistry’s Got Talent
✅ Tips for avoiding burnout and finding your spark again
✅ What’s next for dental CE—and how YOU can be part of it

Check out the full show notes: https://www.dentalscapes.com/reimagining-dental-conferences-and-live-ce/

📅 Upcoming Events Mentioned:
Smiles at Sea Cruise (Feb – 10-Year Anniversary!)
The Dental Festival (Aug 21–23 in Delray Beach, FL)
Dentistry’s Got Talent – Special Editions Coming Soon!

👉 Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a 5-star review if you loved what you heard on the show!

🔗 Learn more and register for upcoming events:
https://thedentalfestival.com/
https://smilesatsea.com/

💬 Schedule your FREE dental marketing strategy call with DentalScapes:
https://www.dentalscapes.com

Transcript

0:00

All right. Welcome back to the dental domination podcast. I'm so excited to be here today. My name is Dan Brian. I am the co-founder of dental scapes, but I'm not here to talk about dental marketing today, actually at all for a change. know some of you will probably be excited to hear that, but in any case, I'm here to actually dig into something that is pretty exciting and near and dear to my heart because I I'm a live events guy. love being there, being part of the action. And today we're going to be talking about live CE events, about dental conferences, about re-imagining what those events, so important for dentists and dental teams out there, re-imagining what those can actually look like and should look like in the future in order to provide a better experience, a more impactful experience for attendees. And I've got a very special guest today that I'm super excited to have here today, Dr. Devin Giesen. Known as the Pep Talk Doc. So I'm excited to get into that story. But Dr. Evan Giesen here in my home state of North Carolina, so excited to have you today. You are the CEO and owner of Smiles at Sea and the Dental Festival and also lead an emerging speaker program that includes a pretty cool operation called Dentistry's Got Talent. And I know that's a whole lot there. We're going to break it down here over the next few minutes. So don't worry folks. But you're also, you know, You know what you're talking about. I'll just say that you were a former multi-practice owner who did some pretty cool things in just a short amount of time with those. So I've been talking your ear off. I want to turn it over to you, Dr. Geason. Thank you so much for being here. And what can you tell folks about your experience and why, why live events? Why, why get out of clinical practice? You know, what's your story? Dan, thank you so much for having me. This has been a journey getting to this podcast. I know we've been working on it for a long time. I'm so excited to be here and share so many of the things that we're doing with your listeners. First and foremost, yes, you asked me who I am. I'm Dr. Devin Giesen. I did build and sell three practices in under five years for around a 10x multiple. That being said, I'm the dental unicorn, that's what folks call me, or the pep talk doc. And I got that name really from a million morning huddle mojo talks. And mojo was a word that I'll tell you about in just a minute. It was kind of the DNA, the fiber of our very being in the practice. But I just believed in taking the team to church first thing in the morning, know, amen. Can I get a hallelujah? Let's talk about this day. Let's talk about how we're going to come out on the other side, you know, and win. That's how I got the pep dog um Yes, morning huddles were absolutely my jam. And we used to call it, like I said, morning huddle mojo. And it's because initially, you you come in, you're trying to figure out how to, how to do well, how to inspire a team, how to take good care of the patients. And I found that we were kind of just doing it the way that everybody else did it. And that's not what I wanted. I wanted to be different. I wanted to set ourselves apart in this competitive marketplace. You know, I had this beautifully written eloquent mission statement and I would go down the hall and I'd be like, what's our mission? And they'd be like, oh, well, you we're going to do good dentistry and we're going to take great care of our patients. And I was like, no, that's not what it says at all. I mean, it does say that, but that's not, that's not the big piece. That's not the harp. Right? So I went home one weekend and I said, okay, I've got to figure this out. And for some reason, the word mojo came to me that weekend. And I came back on Monday and I said, okay, this is what we're doing. Morning huddles are about mojo. Patient care is about mojo. Everything that we do is about mojo. And they were like, well, what's mojo? And I said, mojo is, it's like, it's it's our, it's magic. It's our secret sauce. Mojo means make a difference, offer an exceptional experience, just go the extra smile and outdo the competition. And now I was able to say to them, how are you going to make a difference today to your team, to your patients? Heck, how are we gonna make a difference to the community? How are we gonna offer an exceptional experience with every single thing that we do? How are we gonna just go the extra mile and how are we gonna outdo the competition? Morning huddle then? the morning huddle then, you know, the dawn of the pep talk doc? It was. Absolutely. I said, Dr. G is here with one of her pep talks. Get ready guys, know, saddle up, fasten your seatbelt. That's awesome. And that became just, I think, one of the main reasons that we were able to do what we did in such a short period of time. It's about inspiration, motivation. It's about growing the team, synergy, all the things. But the other thing, and this is where some of the magic happened. I was looking for a way to reward them. Because every time I set a goal, damn, they correct it. They didn't just correct it, they went far past the goal. And I was like, God, these girls are just fire. How do I reward them? And I'm a new practice owner, so there's a lot of debt, there's a lot of things coming at you sideways every day. And I remembered that when I was a single parent raising my two children, the thing that we leaned into was cruises. Cruises, were an opportunity to, you know, get the kids some culture. There was something for everybody. They had all the food that they wanted, ice cream, you know, whatever it was that we were looking for as a family for vacation. I could afford to take those kids on a cruise. So it kind of hit me. Why don't I look at cruises? And each year after my team blew away the goals, I started taking them on a cruise. Now, back then, by the way, Smiles at Sea was in. Now I really want to be in your huddles. My gosh. Back then Smiles at Sea was in business, but I had no idea who they were. This was the vehicle with which I chose to reward and inspire and grow my teams. And it worked. It worked beautifully. Like I said, three practices in under five years, a 10X multiple. You know, when I made that exit, I really didn't know exactly what was next for me. Initially I said, I'm going to drink pina coladas on the beach for about three months. And that got boring. I couldn't believe it that it did get boring, but it did. You could have fooled me, knocked me over with a feather kind of a thing. But I started having the desire to speak. And I came into contact with Dentistry's Got Talent. And the first time I took the stage, I made the finals out of 50 people. There were 10 chosen and I was in that group of people. And I was like, my gosh, this is my thing. It was so exhilarating to be on the stage. have the opportunity to share something that you're passionate about, which by the way, we talked about morning huddles, we talked about how to grow practices. And it really came to my mind that I did something pretty special. The unicorn thing was real, but maybe there was somebody out there that might want to know how I did it, what I did. And the second part of that is having the opportunity to lift up, inspire, motivate the next. the next group of healthcare professionals that come from behind, right? My God, healthcare is getting so hard. It's harder every single day. The landscape is changing so fast. We can barely keep up with it. But somebody being there to support them, they're not an island all on their own. you know, they might have to wear all the hats, but we can stand next to them and tell them which hat is the one to put on right now. But lifting up those people, giving them something to look forward to, a cruise, an opportunity to learn, an opportunity to grow, or even better yet, an opportunity to take much needed time off so that you can be at your best each and every day with the team and the patients and everything that comes out. Now you got involved in dentistry's got talent. It's amazing. You were already taking your team on these cruises, which is awesome. You said now then, you know, smiles at sea, the dental cruise had started, but how then did you transition to ultimately getting involved with all of these organizations yourself? And, and now in fact, actually leading them, how did that happen? So, Dennis P Scott Talent, where I took the stage that very first time, was founded by Elijah Desmond, a hygienist out of Ohio, which by the way, he grew up 10 minutes from where I grew up in Ohio. Okay. And now he's made his rounds, Hawaii and all over the place. I'm from Michigan, so the Ohio that that may pose a challenge in terms of joining the huddle, but it's It's not, it's not. I'll tell you why. I always thought Dan that I would go to Ojai State, but things just didn't play out for me when I was younger. I lost my parents very early on in life and I did become a dental assistant back then and had a really great group of people in the practice to be honest, that just adopted me and took care of me. And that's a whole different story. But I'll tell you that later on in life, when I ended up in North Carolina, I had the opportunity to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It's still an amazing dental school. And I'm so glad that I'm part of that tradition, part of that history. And I know that you're there in Chapel Hills. We're going to be in this morning huddled together, right? That's right. That's right. But needless to say, Elijah Desmond founded Dentistry's Got Talent, Smiles at Sea, and the Dental Festival. When he did back in 2015, you know, he was taking teams on, teams and dentists, on Destination Dental Continuing Education. And I had no idea. I was over here on a different cruise, but what a great, I mean, what a great thing to build in not only something for everybody, fun, food, excitement, travel. Culture, mean it was it just spoke my language. So Elijah and I became good friends we started you know speaking and traveling all over the world together for a few years and As Elijah has grown He's now brokering practices and he's doing this thing dental pitch brokerage, which I can tell you about at the end but he kind of is he was transforming right and He needed somebody to take the helm at the at the you know, smiles at sea and the dental festival And we talked about it one day. said, you know, the reason you're spread so thin is you've got all these tabs open. You're like a computer, right? So many tabs open means you're operating slower. He was like, you're right. I really need to find help. And three weeks later he came and asked me to do it. And I had to kind of sit back and think, is this for me? And once I did, I thought, gosh, this is literally what I built my fortune on. This is how I built my fortune. But also going back to that dental practice in Ohio. The dentist there, I told you he adopted me. There are times in my life that this dentist contributed to me. I don't mean financially, I mean mentally, spiritually. And he, he drove me to become a dentist. And just a couple of years ago, we lost him. And the legacy that this man left behind was unbelievable. They didn't have a service, but it was all online. And there was just pages and pages and pages of all these patients and people that he touched. And it hit me that legacy is something nobody can ever take away from you. And the legacy that I leave behind in dentistry after an entire, you know, almost 40 year career, it's really important to me. Dentistry carried me at times in my life when I couldn't carry myself, like right after I lost my parents. want to be the person that helps carry somebody else. I want to be the person that is part of their journey for no reason that it benefits me. for nonetheless to just contribute to you. So let's talk about that legacy. How are you, how are you carrying that out through your leadership now of Smiles at Sea, the Dental Festival, Dentistry's Got Talent. We've got so much to talk about and you know, first of all, and we're going to give, we're going to give folks all of this information in the show notes, but please, please, please go check out the websites for these amazing programs. Check those out. We'll have them in the show notes, but yeah, like where do you want to start here? after you took the helm, so to speak of Smiles at Sea and the Dental Festival. Where did you start and how are you, guess, you you and I both have talked offline about how a lot of dental CE events, a lot of dental conferences, we don't even have to get into the drama that is SmileCon right now. But a lot of these events have, I would argue in some ways to varying degrees become a little bit stale. And so how are you re-imagining that experience for dentists and dental teams and what's your vision here as you chart the future for these events? gonna say something really edgy, are you ready? Live events aren't dead. Unless they suck. That's the reality. People are sick of the dusty old board rooms, and I do mean board. They are sick of the same speakers on the stage every year. They are sick of not having an experience. That's what people, you know read something in the Harvard Business Review of a few years back and it said that the battleground for any business, not just dentistry, not food, not continuing dental education, but the battleground for any business is in staging experiences at this point. And the word staging sounds a bit, well, is it fake? No, it's not fake. It's just orchestrated and made to happen down to the last detail perfectly. And I really believe that our events because they are on cruise ships. have staterooms instead of boardrooms, right? And a view that is breathtaking. And it makes you reflect on all of the gratitudes and all of the blessings that you have and all of the people you've been able to help. You think about so much when you have time to actually invest in yourself and that time to balance some learning and education, some fun, and just let go. and find a way to live your today. Because again, healthcare is not getting any easier. And if you can't balance the rigorous mental and physical necessities, you're going to struggle and that's where burnout is coming. That's where the rise in suicide and all those things are coming from. So I really believe that taking time off every 45 to 60 days, get a week in the way, go on a cruise. come to an event where you get to learn, but you get to relax. You get to also be with people that are in the same place that you are. So yes, I just believe that if you take the time for you every 45, 60 days, 90 days at the most, that you are going to be prepared to manage the mental and physical necessities that this healthcare, you know, uh, machine that we are running each and every day necessitates. But you know, contributing to you as well as your learning, your growing, all of the things that will make you better to manage those rigors is just a win-win. Hey guys, in a text deductible, don't forget. Love that. Can't argue with that. So yeah, so you know, you have these amazing new programs. You're reimagining what these live events are like, and they are not dead, by the way, uh when they don't suck. And so again, I would encourage everyone to check out the show notes and see, see what's going on with Smiles at Sea and the Dental Festival. But you've also got this really exciting program, the Emerging Speaker Program. What is, what is that all about? And how does that tie into everything? Yes. Well, as I told you, once I sold my practices for a moment there, I really didn't know exactly what my next endeavor was going to be. And then the dentistry's got talent, uh, came across my Facebook page and I said, gosh, this sounds fun. Let me check it out. Well, dentistry's got talent is an operation where we bring to the stage, you know, 25, 30, sometimes up to 50 contestants, if you will, that give a 10 minute Ted. head style talk and they speak their truth, their passion, whatever it is, whether it be inspiration, motivation, restorative techniques, hygiene, practice management, whatever it is, they get to take the stage, speak about it and it's judged. And what we've done now is we've brought together scouts and meeting planners from events all over the nation to be the judges. And guys, last year was magical. We had like 25 of those scouts and meeting planners in the room. Oh my gosh, I can't even talk. I'm so excited. Opportunities were made for these speakers from the stage. There were people that got to go all over the nation this year. And so many of our previous contestants are already out there speaking all over the nation. They're getting paid, right? So, you know, I just believe that there has to be a stepping stone. There has to be a hand given back. to the people that want to come up. And those dusty old boardrooms filled with the same speakers every year. Well, this is where new, engaging, inspiring, motivating and driven talent comes from. An opportunity, a 10 minute opportunity. And we're so excited because what we did is we built an emerging speaker program around that event, Dennis P. Scott Talent. So we're looking to not only find that talent and put them on stage. We're now helping them develop everything that they need to develop to succeed on the stage. We're helping them with their one page, their speaker packet, an opportunity to author a book. And that makes you almost immediately the expert. Yeah. And so when they get on stage with the scouts, the meeting planners, they command the stage and they get opportunities. And Dennis, he's got talent by the way, is also on the move. We did a special edition of Dentistry's Got Talent at the Florida Dental Association Conference here just this month. And we will be at Yankee Dental Congress the end of January with a huge special edition of Dentistry's Got Talent with, I mean, I think there's going to be probably close to 40 speakers. There's going to be, you know, 300 to 500 people in the room. The energy will not be matched anywhere at Yankee. So if you're there, you've got to make your way into that room and visit with us. That's amazing. That's awesome. you know, so many incredible programs that you're working on and so many opportunities for folks who, like you said, want to just take the next step and, uh you know, maybe get out there. It sounds like, you know, getting on the stage and talking and being able to share your experience and that journey that you had was transformational for you. And it can be for so so many others out there. But you just wrapped up the most recent cruise for Smiles on Sea or Smiles on Sea. How was it? It was amazing. oh This last cruise was on one of the largest ships that Royal Caribbean has in their fleet, the Utopia. Guys, this is not just a floating ship. It is a floating city. It is huge. There is something to do for everyone. There's water slides. There's little go-karts. There's, you know, rock climbing walls, jogging, gym, spa, casino, good gracious shows. uh Anything in the world that you want to eat and It's done beautifully. Royal Caribbean has knocked it out of the park with this ship. had close to 255 attendees. And I mean, we just did tons of amazing dental CE, great speakers. And, the thing that I will tell you about our events that I really think sets us apart, aside from the fact that it's the state room, not the boardroom, exciting new speakers, all the things, but you might come as strangers. but you leave as friends. We do networking, close, almost like speed dating, right? Networking the very first day of every event. And you meet people that you're gonna be on this trip with for three or four days. And it's a whole different ball game then. You're seeing friends by the pool, you're grabbing a mimosa with somebody, you're going to play games with somebody else. And like I said, we're building community. We're building collaboration and we're making it such that you realize quickly that you are not that island of one out there. So not only are we doing continuing education and trying to grow you, your team, you know, all the people, but what we're really doing is building a community. Yeah, absolutely. I love it. And you know folks want to get in on that action. There is another cruise coming up I think in February, correct? Yes, this one is our, I mean, this one is going to be our 10 year anniversary. It is the most affordable cruise we've ever done coupled with the most clinical education. And this one, have to tell you, we have knocked it out of the park with our speakers. We've got Tom Viola for opioid training and some other pharmaceutical training. We've got the NASH Institute from Charlotte, North Carolina. If you are not familiar with Deborah and Ross NASH, they make smiles for all of the Miss North Carolinas and the Miss Americas. mean, they're out here building beautiful smiles every day. They're going to share their secrets with you. Demystify full mouth reconstruction. We've got a huge program with some of the top hygienists in the nation that are going to come together and talk about the state of the union, right? Then I mean the state of the union with Dennis and hygienists, along with anything you need to scale up your philosophy, right? anything to build your periodontal program and your practices. And we've also got a huge practice management thing going on at this event, land event, full day before the cruise. It is going to be off the chain. It's going to be amazing. And not only that, but you've also got the Dental Festival coming up in August, and I will be there. I'm super excited. ah Thank you for having me. You know not the havoc that you brought. ah I can't wait. But yeah, so you've got that event also coming up in August. What can you tell folks about that event in Delaware? Yep, so the Devil Festival is our land event, Delray Beach, Florida, August 21st through the 23rd. You're gonna be on land, it's not a bad place to be. eh Exactly, you know, you can ride your golf cart around town. It's such an eclectic cultural just hot spot of amazing beach town and We've brought together some of some really also amazing speakers We've got dr. Grizzel Martos on injection molding which is a technique by the way that every dentist should have in their armamentarium It's it's a sweet spot between veneers and big money treatments and nothing And it's something that you can utilize. We also have with us, Kyle Summerford from Dental Office Managers Group on Facebook, got one of the leading and hugest followings on Facebook. He's got amazing things to share about treatment presentation and treatment acceptance. And then I'll be there talking about what I like to call periopalooza, which is just a deep dive into how we manage perio in our offices. The fact that if it's a duck and it quacks like a duck, You got to treat it like a duck man. No more. Cozy mills guys. We have to do what is right for our patients. And sometimes that takes a hard conversation. So we'll be talking about some of those conversations as well. Yeah. well, that's so awesome. And everyone listening, if you're interested in Smiles at Sea or the Dental Festival or the Emerging Speaker Program, Dentistry's Got Talent. We'll have the links to all of that in the show notes. Dr. Giesen, I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed this conversation. I'm super excited to see you in August. um And mark my words, I'm going to get on that boat somehow, some way in February as well. ah But yeah, I'm so excited for what you're up to. I think it's needed. I think it's time. I think it's uh a really fresh take on on live events that I think are so important. They just need to be done better, and I think that's exactly what you're doing. So thank you so much for sharing your experience, your background with listeners today. Thank you for sharing about those opportunities. ah I would love if I have my way about it. I would love to drag you back gently. on the show sometime in the future to talk more about this stuff. There's just so many things that we could explain. Yes, I would love to come back and chat with your listeners. I can tell you this has been so much fun. And I agree. think, you know, where we're headed, we've got we've got the course of the ship plotted for the next couple of years. And we're just we're just excited to have folks join us. I love it. Well, Dr. Geason, thank you so much and thank you listeners. Everyone that tuned in today. If you enjoyed what you heard, if you enjoy the dental domination podcast, please take just two seconds and leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts or Spotify or YouTube, wherever you listen to your shows. Yeah. And, um, I really appreciate it. It is, it is honestly just the best way for us to reach more folks and help more people. Um, and that's exactly what we want to do. So anyhow, thank you all for joining us. Really enjoyed the conversation today, Dr. Geason. Thank you so much. Thanks again for having me. Have a great day. All right See you soon