Piavita recently “ascended to new heights” at the similarly titled American Association of Equine Practitioners’ (AAEP) 65th Annual Convention & Trade Show. This year’s event was busy and fruitful for our founders and North American team—and we’ve finally caught up with them to hear all about it!
WHAT IS THE AAEP CONVENTION?
According to its website, the AAEP’s Annual Convention & Trade Show is “the world’s largest continuing education event dedicated to equine practice.” It boasts more than 100 hours of continuing education, a 300-exhibitor strong trade show, and several networking and social events.
The event this year ran from December 7-11 and welcomed more than 5,400 veterinary professionals, students, guests and exhibitors. Piavita was there to join other industry leaders paving the way for new and exciting change in equine care and the team was overwhelmed by the turnout and interest.
READY, SET UP, GO!
The team arrived excited to set up the booth at the Colorado Convention Center near downtown Denver but was underwhelmed by the original booth location. This is why it helps to know the event organizer! With a few phone calls, we were reassigned to a prime spot in the middle of the action! And it was all uphill from there.
Among other draws, we were excited to give away 300 Piavita-branded wireless chargers to booth visitors who watched a demo. We also handed out 500 flyers and got to explain what we do and introduce the Piavet System to more than 260 equine practitioners. As our North American Manager, Amy Bullard, said, “We didn’t go longer than 15 minutes during the entire event without [giving] a demo.” Needless to say, the team stayed busy!
Overall, the booth engagement and positive response to the Piavet System was very encouraging. Our US team is still following up with the long list of interested vets from private practices to university clinics!
HIGHLIGHTS AND INSIGHTS
AAEP is and will remain an incredible platform for Piavita. This is largely because, as Piavita CEO and co-founder Dorina Thiess said in a recent discussion, “[The AAEP Convention] gives such inspiring insight on how much is happening in the industry.”
She reported back that the AAEP 2019 proved that the industry is seeking out innovation, something that was widely represented at the trade show. There was a strong emphasis on digitization and data, and distributors seem to be evolving to meet the growing demand for digital solutions to long-time manual processes.
Dorina was pleased to have several booth-side conversations about the positive pressure on companies like Piavita to represent innovation. It seems that smaller clinics and university hospitals alike are craving change. They want to bring the digital solutions that exist in other industries—especially healthcare—to the forefront in equine fields to increase positive outcomes for horses, their owners, and equine practitioners alike.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the event this year was hearing several veterinarians comment on the Piavet System saying, “This is going to be the future of our profession.”
THIS IS GOING TO BE THE FUTURE OF OUR PROFESSION.
LOOKING AHEAD
In anticipation of next year’s AAEP Convention & Trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada (Viva Las Vegas!), we’ve already secured a prime booth location and are thinking of great offers and giveaways.
We are constantly innovating, adding new features, and talking to veterinarian experts both from our team and our customer base about how we can best serve the needs of equine veterinarians. So stay in the loop by subscribing to our blog and following us on social media! That way, you’ll never miss out on exciting offers, product updates, and valuable health and wellness information for both vets and horses.
See you in Las Vegas December 5–9, 2020!
Were you at AAEP and have a story to share? Post in the comments or connect with us on Instagram or Facebook to share your experience. At Piavita, we want horses and their vets to be happy and healthy, so we offer up valuable information on health and wellness topics every month. If you have a question or suggestion, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
