Argentum
Argentum Senior Living Executive Conference
Those of us in senior living—whether that means helping older adults find the best places to live or creating products and services for seniors—need a time to regroup, refresh and share education and best practices. Enter the 2021 Argentum Senior Living Executive Conference & Expo, September 13-15, in Phoenix. It marks a chance to invest in yourself and in what you do, learn from top CEOs and entrepreneurs, and recognize the heroes all around us.
To register for the Argentum 2021 Senior Living Executive Conference & Expo, go to conference.argentum.org. Use promo code SRGSLEC for $200 off a Full Conference Pass!
Share 10 Don’t-Miss Senior Living Experiences
The focus is on people at the Senior Living Executive Conference—those managing communities and leading sectors or companies, but ultimately, the residents of senior living and their loved ones.
This conference is the place where you can be confident that fellow attendees share your mission and dedication and have the knowledge and experience to bring their best. From high-level views to the granular details of practices and approaches, the sessions, keynotes and Expo provide valuable insight into the growing senior living industry.
Here are 10 experiences that can enrich your knowledge, career and mission.
1. Network and make connections
Connect with executives and professionals leading the future of senior living and take home new ideas and approaches to invigorate your own operations. It’s a chance to add to your network, shore up your connections across aging services and meet some people in person for the first time. Argentum has shared a list of some of the many companies attending, updated regularly.
With conditions and circumstances in the senior living world changing rapidly, who better to hear from than the CEOs themselves? At several discussions, panels and presentations, C-level leaders will share their visions for their companies and for the industry. The “Insights from the C-Suite” session sponsored by The Joint Commission is one of the most popular events at the Senior Living Executive Conference each year because of the transparency and the interaction of leaders with different perspectives.
2. Get an in-person look at new solutions and new technology in aging
Whether you call it age tech, gerontechnology, assistive technology or are coining your own phrase, the field of technology for aging has leapt forward in the past year—and even in the past month. We’ve seen advances in safety sensors, communications technology, robotics, AI and machine learning, virtual reality and more. Keeping on top of this blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace has been tough when we were all in our distanced silos.
At the Senior Living Executive Conference & Expo, you can not only find out what you missed in tech to help older adults, but also see what’s next. On the Technology Newsmakers Stage, innovators get 20 minutes to demonstrate what their age tech can do and how it can help caregivers, families and companies move toward better quality of life for people in senior living. The Start-Up Pavilion isn’t only for new technology, but for new companies and entrepreneurs in all kinds of aging products and services to introduce their solutions to the market. You can find the Expo floor plan and search for exhibitors here.
3. Personalize your program with leadership, dining and hospitality, and more
Argentum offers several ways to custom-craft your conference experience to be sure you get the maximum education and networking on the topics and career areas you’re most interested in.
For those interested in dining and hospitality: Argentum and The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) are offering a first-of-its-kind experience: The Argentum Dining & Hospitality Conference with programming provided by the CIA. The CIA will be spearheading this conference within a conference, leading special sessions designed for dining and hospitality professionals across senior living. (The Dining and Hospitality Conference is sponsored by Entegra Procurement Services, Gordon Food Service, Innoserv, Sysco and Unidine.)
Also: On the Expo floor, top senior living chefs will share and demonstrate recipes and trending techniques and ingredients at the Culinary Showcase.
For community leaders who want to sharpen their skills, the Executive Director Leadership Institute (EDLI) is regularly rated one of the best programs Argentum offers. The intensive program scores highly for several reasons: direct small-group interaction with experts in critical topics such as risk management and retention; the chance to build a peer networking group that can help each other for years to come; and the opportunity to earn up to 10 CEUs. This year, Argentum has made it easier and less expensive to integrate this program with your conference experience.
Leaders in investment and development and from major senior living REITs will address the many industry changes that came as a result of the pandemic in the Finance & Development track.
For those who want more on workforce issues, quality, or design, Deep Dives offer several hours of learning and interaction on topics such as engagement, designing for health and apprenticeship. The Women in Leadership Deep Dive, sponsored by Arena, includes the “Ask Me Anything” session that was one of the highest-rated programs of the 2020 Senior Living Executive Conference.
4. Gain inspiration from memorable keynote speakers
First to take the Mainstage is Oscar-winner, author and Alzheimer’s activist Marcia Gay Harden. The actor and passionate advocate came to her mission in 2009 when she became her mother’s caregiver; she brought their stories to life in her memoir Seasons of My Mother and went on to deliver congressional testimony. At the Senior Living Executive Conference, she will serve as the emcee for the Argentum Awards & Heroes Work Here Celebration, sponsored by Benchmark.
Setting the tone for Tuesday will be Mark Bertolini, a national thought leader in health care and former chairman and CEO at Aetna. In his keynote on “Mission-Driven Leadership,” he’ll share lessons learned about culture change. On Wednesday, Robert Richman, creator of Zappos Insights, will give an inside look at that company’s culture of innovation.
5. Invigorate your senior living community sales and marketing strategies
Recognizing the occupancy challenge brought on by COVID-19, most presenters at the Senior Living Executive Conference are including sales and marketing perspectives in their education sessions.
In addition, a track on Sales & Marketing will have sessions on lead generation and closing and digital marketing. The Operations & Occupancy track looks at the issue from another angle, including sessions on “Occupancy Growth Success Stories” and consumer confidence.
6. Learn strategies for recruitment and retention of direct caregivers and more
To address the important issue of recruiting, hiring and retaining workforce, the conference offers two focused groups of sessions. Both feature leaders from major providers and industry products and services companies who have depth and breadth of experience in overcoming workforce challenges.
The Deep Dive on Workforce Management, sponsored by OnShift, addresses exploring new sources to find workers, including apprenticeship and older workers. The HR & Training track tackles top-of-mind issues for leaders right now, including coaching skills, preventing and mitigating burnout, and making diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives part of the culture.
In addition, keynoters Robert Richman, once culture strategist at Zappos, and Mark Bertolini, former Aetna CEO and author, bring in fresh ideas on engagement, culture and mission—all of which play a major role in workforce retention.
7. Understand best practices in infection prevention and control
Greater understanding of infection prevention and control processes and practices helped many in senior living keep COVID-19 rates under control. Sessions at the Senior Living Executive Conference offer an opportunity to consolidate that knowledge and add important changes and to achieve healthier communities through design.
8. Be part of essential conversations on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in aging services
Improving diversity, equity and inclusion takes a great deal of knowledgeable guidance, interaction and conversation. Sessions, keynotes and small-group discussions in The Hive, sponsored by Willis Towers Watson, on the Expo floor give participants the chance to give and receive knowledge, viewpoints and experiences to take back to communities, companies and workplaces—and to reap the many benefits of a better culture.
9. Earn continuing education credits (CEUs)
Argentum is a certified sponsor of professional continuing education with the National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards (NAB) and a vendor of continuing education with the California Department of Social Services (CDSS). NAB/NCERS CEUs and RCFE CEUs can be earned by attending sessions at the 2021 Senior Living Executive Conference & Expo. See the CEU page on the conference website to get registered so you can use the simple badge-scan process to get your attendance recorded.
10. Celebrate the heroes of senior living
Actor Marcia Gay Harden emcees the Argentum Awards & Heroes Work Here Celebration, sponsored by Benchmark. The event gives a chance to join in recognition and appreciation for the extraordinary dedication, innovation and effort displayed by so many who worked against the odds of an unprecedented pandemic that threatened our nation’s most vulnerable. These heroes brought comfort, protection, compassion and sunny times to residents throughout senior living communities.
To register for the Argentum 2021 Senior Living Executive Conference & Expo, go to conference.argentum.org. Use promo code SRGSLEC for $200 off a Full Conference Pass!
This article is brought to you by Argentum.