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Show Notes

“We are not pay-to-play. The stage is not for sale, it’s never been for sale, and you can’t buy your way onto it.” In this final installment of a special three-part interview series on Beyond the Operatory, host John Stamper sits down with Brian Colao, Member and Director of the DSO Industry Group at Dykema. Brought to you by the team at Dental City, this episode pulls back the curtain on the origins, unprecedented scaling, and future of the largest and most influential DSO event in the history of the dental industry: the annual Dykema DSO Conference. Brian shares a deeply candid look at how a masterclass idea born while floating in the ocean in 2013 went from a modest, 41-person dusty room in Dallas to an industry-shaping juggernaut drawing over 2,600 attendees. Moving far beyond basic event logistics, Brian breaks down the strict content discipline required to turn away millions of dollars in sponsor pitches to protect educational integrity, the “Moneyball” analytics behind building highly optimized networking environments, and how the post-COVID “companionship honeymoon” has shifted into a market that strictly demands extreme value and real practice-level return on investment.   In this episode, we cover: Chapters 00:00:00 Born in the Ocean: The 2013 Origin of the Dykema DSO Conference 00:04:13 Year One Realities: Scaling From a 41-Person Room to 2,600+ Attendees 00:11:21 The Discipline of Content: Why the Dykema Stage is Never For Sale 00:16:15 The DSO Ecosystem: Expanding Beyond Legal to Tech and Private Equity 00:22:18 “Moneyball” Analytics: Tracking Demographic Ratios to Guarantee Sponsor ROI 00:33:27 The Future of Dental Events: The Shift to High-Impact Workshop Blueprints About the Guest: Brian Colao is the Director of the DSO Industry Group at Dykema. He is widely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on dental support organizations (DSOs) and has served as counsel to hundreds of dental organizations nationwide. Brian is also the architect behind the annual Dykema DSO Conference, the largest and most influential event in the DSO industry.