In civil procedure Rule 16 “pretial procedure...

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As stated in the first section of Rule 16, the purposes of the conference is to accomplish any of the objectives listed (specifically section C(2)).  The court will direct parties to attend this conference and participate in good faith to achieve a more efficient path through the end of the discovery process and up to trial.  Any party called to participate in the conference may raise the issues listed within this Rule, but the Court will also have their own standard issues that they address at every conference.

If there is a particular subsection of Rule 16  that you wish to raise yourself (or through your attorney), this conference is where it is brought up.  There is no need to make any motion or draft any other writing prior to the hearing in order for a particular issue to be discussed.  The judge, when necessary, will then reduce any agreements or decisions made at the conference to a pretrial order.

Let me know if this addresses your concerns or if you have additional questions.

The full text of the Rule 16 can be found here:

Rule 16

Did the clerk give you a reason for not entering the default?  Was it ordered by the judge?

Also, in reviewing Rule 60, it concerns "clerical errors," not errors by the clerk.  These are two very different things.  I do think the court would be very happy to hear that you would prefer ADR rather than a full blown trial.  However, it would be very unlikely that it would be ordered so close to trial unless the other party agreed to it.

I think that the conference would be the perfect time to raise that issue.  I don't see any reason why, if that's what happened, you should not bring it up then.

No, not at all, you're absolutely fine.  I believe you should bring up the default issue at the Pretrial Conference.  I assume that it is already scheduled, correct?