The Ultimate Guide to Attending the AOC Business & Leadership Symposium

Every academic orthopaedic leader runs into the same frustration eventually. The answer to your hardest operational question almost certainly exists—it’s just sitting inside someone else’s department, three states away, in the head of a colleague you’ve never met.

The AOC Business & Leadership Symposium exists to close that distance. The 2026 Symposium takes place October 1–3, 2026, at the Loews Nashville Hotel at Vanderbilt Plaza in Nashville, Tennessee.

This guide covers both halves of the trip: how the program is built and how to get the most out of it, and what’s worth knowing about Nashville once the day’s sessions wrap.

Part 1 — The Symposium

The National Convening Point for Academic Orthopaedics

The Symposium is AOC’s annual flagship event, and its purpose is straightforward. It puts the people responsible for academic musculoskeletal enterprises in the same building for three days and gives them room to solve problems, share what’s working, and move the field forward.

AOC has spent more than 20 years building a national network of academic orthopaedic leaders, and the Symposium is where that network meets in person. Sessions address compensation models and funds flow, access and throughput, the migration of cases to ambulatory surgery centers, staffing and workforce optimization, DME margin, research funding in a shifting federal environment, and so much more. These are the problems that determine how a department performs, and they are rarely the problems a clinical meeting is equipped to address.

When and Where

The 2026 AOC Business & Leadership Symposium runs October 1–3, 2026, at the Loews Nashville Hotel at Vanderbilt Plaza, 2100 West End Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee 37203.

Sessions, forums, and receptions all take place in the hotel’s meeting and banquet rooms, so there are no shuttles to catch and no session across town you’ll miss because the traffic was worse than expected.

Who Should Attend

The Symposium is built for the people accountable for how an academic orthopaedic enterprise performs: department chairs and vice chairs, practice administrators and chief administrative officers, health system leaders, research faculty and research leadership, program directors and division chiefs, and faculty moving into leadership roles.

Attendance is limited to AOC members. Membership is free, and if you don’t have an account yet you can create one before you register.

It’s also worth attending as a team rather than as an individual; the program is deliberately built to reward that. Saturday morning splits into administrative leadership tracks and clinical faculty sessions running concurrently, which means a chair and a CAO from the same department can spend the same three hours in entirely different rooms and reconvene with two very different sets of notes. Enterprises that send groups tend to find that the conversation on the flight home is where the real planning starts.

What You’ll Walk Away With

Three things, in roughly this order of value.

Benchmarks

The first is benchmarks. Comparative data on how peer departments are structured, staffed, and compensated is difficult to generate from inside a single institution, and it’s the kind of information that only surfaces when enough departments are in the room at once. Saturday’s administrative track includes a live polling session where organization-level responses are collected anonymously, compared in real time, and turned into a benchmarking deliverable afterward.

Working Solutions

The second is working solutions. Sessions are built around what departments are actually doing, not around what the literature suggests they might try. Compensation philosophy and incentive design, what’s moving to the ASC and what’s staying, departmental funds flow, DME margin management, and research funding models in an environment where NIH priorities and indirect cost recovery are both in flux. The value in each case sits in the specifics: what was tried, what it cost, and what happened next.

Relationships

The third is relationships, which is the part that outlasts the meeting. What you’re really building is a short list of peers you can call in six months when something lands on your desk that you’ve never handled before.

The proof from 2025: 63 university-based musculoskeletal enterprises attended, and 100% of attendees said they were glad they came.

How the Program Is Built

The 2026 AOC Business & Leadership Symposium is organized around several distinct session formats, each designed for a different kind of learning, discussion, or peer exchange.

Main Program

Main Program sessions anchor the agenda and bring all attendees together for core content focused on academic orthopaedic leadership, department strategy, clinical operations, access, innovation, and enterprise performance.

Rotations

Rotations take place on Thursday and Friday afternoons. These are concurrent, 20-minute facilitated sessions designed for high-level engagement rather than traditional presentations. Attendees choose three from the available options.

The Clinical Leaders Forum and Executive Forum

The Clinical Leaders Forum and Executive Forum are facilitated peer huddles. The Clinical Leaders Forum is designed for AOC clinical leaders, while the Executive Forum is designed for administrative and operational executives. These sessions create space for focused discussion around shared challenges, practical solutions, and peer collaboration.

Research Track

The program also includes several focused tracks. The Research Track runs Thursday morning and is designed for leaders overseeing orthopaedic research enterprises. Topics include the value proposition for research, building and scaling a research program, funding models, and connecting research with quality improvement and learners.

Clinical Operations Track

On Saturday, the Clinical Operations Track and Leadership & Strategy Track run as concurrent administrator-focused tracks. The Clinical Operations Track centers on access, operational performance, benchmarking, and care delivery.

Leadership & Strategy Track

The Leadership & Strategy Track focuses on payer pressure, funds flow, incentives, and strategy across markets.

The AOC Leadership Exchange

The AOC Leadership Exchange is designed specifically for chairs, vice chairs, division chiefs, program directors, and clinical faculty leaders. This format was created in response to repeated requests for more candid, peer-to-peer leadership discussion and fewer podium-style presentations. There are no slides, no formal presentations, and no audiovisual requirements. Instead, participants engage in small-group conversations facilitated by senior AOC leaders.

The Leadership Exchange is divided into two Acts. Act I: Leadership & People focuses on leadership teams, chair contracts, faculty engagement, and difficult conversations. Act II: Strategy & the Academic Enterprise focuses on faculty compensation, department strategy, research, and culture during times of change. Tables are intentionally kept small to encourage practical discussion, real exchange, and direct peer learning.

The Daily Rhythm

The Symposium spans three days, and each day has its own focus.

Thursday

Thursday, October 1 begins with breakfast and registration, followed by a full morning of programming. Attendees can participate in the Research Symposium Track or join Main Program sessions covering Epic, staffing, data analytics, operational performance, pain management, AI, digital transformation, sports medicine, and sports performance. The afternoon includes interactive rotations, Leadership Forums, and peer collaboration, followed by the AOC Cocktails & Networking Reception. A private, invitation-only AOC Technology Evaluation Network Leadership Dinner will also take place Thursday evening.

Friday

Friday, October 2 is a strategy-heavy day focused on academic leadership, ASC opportunities and limitations, access and throughput, clinical operations, the future academic orthopaedic department, DME, faculty compensation, and MedTech collaboration. Friday also includes a second rotations block, additional Leadership Forums and Executive Forum discussions, the AOC MedTech Advisory Council Executive Committee session, and the AOC Cocktails & Networking Reception.

Saturday

Saturday, October 3 is dedicated to focused leadership programming. The Clinical Operations Track and Leadership & Strategy Track run concurrently for administrative leaders, while the AOC Leadership Exchange runs alongside them for chairs, vice chairs, division chiefs, program directors, and clinical faculty leaders. Saturday is built for practical discussion, peer exchange, and focused takeaways before attendees depart.

What’s Included

Registration covers three breakfasts, two lunches, Thursday and Friday AOC Cocktails with hors d’oeuvres and networking, and all meeting materials. That’s five meals and two receptions across three days.

Making the Most of Your Time

The single best predictor of what you take home from the Symposium is how deliberately you use the time between sessions.

Arrive with two or three specific questions rather than a general intention to network. “How are you handling athletic trainer retention?” opens a far better conversation than “what do you do?” Treat the Thursday and Friday receptions as part of the program rather than as optional add-ons, because they are scheduled where they are for a reason. Sit somewhere unfamiliar at each breakfast; three breakfasts is three tables of people you haven’t met yet.

And follow up within the week. The connection gets made in Nashville, but the value gets created afterward.

Part 2 — Nashville: What to Know Between Sessions

Before You Go

Book your room early. AOC has a limited number of discounted rooms at the Loews Nashville Hotel at Vanderbilt Plaza. Reservations can be made online or by calling 800-336-3335 to book or change a stay. Once the block is gone, it’s gone.

The rest of this is the kind of thing that seems obvious right up until the moment you’re standing in your hotel room without it.

• Pack for layers. Early October in Nashville brings warm days and genuinely cool evenings. Bring comfortable shoes, too. Three days of sessions and standing conversations go better when your attention is on the room rather than on your feet.
• Make dinner reservations now. A lot of us will be in town at the same time. If there’s a Nashville restaurant you’ve been meaning to try, book the table today rather than the week before.
• Bring business cards. Still the fastest way to make a connection stick.
• The hotel itself is full-service, with a concierge desk that handles reservations and transportation, a fitness studio on site, and a pet-friendly policy if you’re traveling with company.

Where to Eat and Get Coffee

Three dinner options sit within easy reach. The Row Kitchen & Pub is the casual choice, with burgers, Southern drafts, and live music. Adele’s does farm-to-fork takes on American dishes. And Marsh House is where to go if you’re treating yourself or a colleague to high-end seafood.

For coffee, Maisonette Patisserie & Coffee is just inside the hotel doors and is your fastest option before a morning session. Verna Cafe and Bar is a short walk away if you want something less conventional, and The Proverbial Cup is a few blocks out with a strong tea menu. There is a Starbucks, but it’s roughly ten blocks away.

Getting Around

Nashville International (BNA) sits about nine miles from the hotel, roughly 12–20 minutes by rideshare or taxi depending on traffic. A pre-booked car is the low-friction option if you’d rather not think about it on arrival.

Once you’re there, more is walkable than you’d expect. Vanderbilt’s campus is directly across the street. Music Row is about 10 minutes on foot, Centennial Park and the Parthenon are 10–12 minutes west, and the Midtown restaurant cluster along Division Street and Elliston Place is 5–15 minutes away. Hillsboro Village, about 15–20 minutes south, is worth the walk for Pancake Pantry, Fido, and the Belcourt Theatre.

For downtown, rideshare is the simple answer, but the hotel happens to sit on one of Nashville’s better transit corridors. WeGo Route 3 “West End” stops essentially at the hotel’s door and runs straight downtown with no transfer in roughly 10–15 minutes. Tap a contactless card or mobile wallet on the onboard validator; $2 buys two hours of unlimited rides, capped at $4 a day.

If You Have an Extra Day

Nashville rewards arriving early or staying late. The Grand Ole Opry is country music’s biggest stage and the obvious first stop. RCA Studio B is where Elvis, Eddy Arnold, and the Everly Brothers recorded, and it’s a short visit with a long history. And if you want somewhere quiet to walk after three days of conversation, the Gaylord Opryland Garden Conservatory offers nine acres of lavish indoor gardens.

Register for the 2026 AOC Business & Leadership Symposium

Three days, and a room full of the people working on the same problems you are.

October 1–3, 2026 · Loews Nashville Hotel at Vanderbilt Plaza

👉 Register Now!

Questions about your account? Contact membership@aocmembers.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where is the 2026 AOC Business & Leadership Symposium?

October 1–3, 2026, at the Loews Nashville Hotel at Vanderbilt Plaza, 2100 West End Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee 37203.

Who can attend the AOC Symposium?

AOC members only. Membership is free, and you can create an account before registering. The program is designed for department chairs and vice chairs, practice administrators and CAOs, health system leaders, research faculty, program directors, and division chiefs.

What’s on the 2026 program?

Eight formats: the Main Program, 20-minute Rotations, the Clinical Leaders Forum, the Executive Forum, a Thursday Research Track, a Clinical Operations Track, a Leadership & Strategy Track, and the Saturday AOC Leadership Exchange.

What is the AOC Leadership Exchange?

Saturday small-group discussions for chairs, vice chairs, division chiefs, program directors, and clinical faculty leaders. No presentations, no slides, no AV—two Acts of three 25-minute rotations, with tables kept deliberately small.

Are meals included in Symposium registration?

Yes. Registration includes three breakfasts, two lunches, Thursday and Friday AOC Cocktails with hors d’oeuvres and networking, and all meeting materials.

Is there a hotel room block?

Yes. AOC has a limited number of discounted rooms at the Loews Nashville Hotel at Vanderbilt Plaza. Reserve online or call 800-336-3335.

How far is the hotel from Nashville International Airport?

About nine miles, or 12–20 minutes by rideshare or taxi.

How do I get downtown from the hotel?

Rideshare is fastest, but WeGo Route 3 “West End” stops at the hotel’s door and runs downtown with no transfer in 10–15 minutes for $2.