February means it is time for the Impact 360 Summit in Atlanta. Hosted by managing partners Mary Beth Kirkpatrick and Mike Graiger.

I have worked with Mary Beth in particular for more than a decade as she has helped me make sure we are organized within our office. Organization is the key to allow me to spend the maximum amount of time possible with each and every one of our patients. Amongst other things, it is how we are able to have on time appointments 99% of the time. Thanks for the help MB!!

The following is a synopsis of the weekend. I hope you enjoy this little bit of light reading!

Thursday February 16th, 2012

This is my travel day and I wanted to share a very positive travel experience. Not something you normally hear about when people talk about travel but perhaps there is a tip that you can use for yourself. I had a tight time schedule with a 5:30 pm flight to Toronto out of Fredericton and an 8:00 pm flight from Toronto to Atlanta. Last year I picked up a NEXUS card and became a member of the Trusted Traveller Program. Imagine clearing through Customs in Toronto Airport and being through security screening in less than 5 minutes. This was my experience on this trip and consistent with other trips I have been on. So my tip to you is look into getting a NEXUS card. Air Canada flights were smooth and essentially on time. Nice way to start the trip!

Friday February 17th, 2012

The Summit started with an awesome breakfast at 7:45 in the morning. As participants trickled in I was able to catch up with old friends and colleagues and make some new friends as well. I was seated at a table with Dr. Brett Eckley and as his self described ”boss” Melanie Eckley (aka his wife) and with Dr. Lisa King and her senior office manager Phyllis Gamboa. Great seat mates and great new friends made right away.

The morning session started with everyone taking a couple of minutes to introduce themselves. We got right into it with a great discussion on how the internet and social media has impacted orthodontics from the consumers persepctive. Great  discussion on how offices are making sure they are able to reach their folks the very best way possible. Social Media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are where our patients are spending much of their time. We reviewed concepts that will help us reach out to people through this ever evolving mode.

After a break for a nice lunch we were right back into it. We had an interesting discussion about the use of a scanner instead of impressions. There are only a few offices that have a scanner so I was able to speak to the experience of what scanning is like for patients. We were early into this technology and I am excited about what this has brought to our office. Who likes impressions!!!

We then started into my favorite part of the meeting. We went around the room to share what is the best thing implemented in your office in 2011. Terrific ideas, very clever and innovative ideas that I will definately bring back to Hatheway Orthodontics. Stay tuned!!!

After a much needed bio break we jumped right into the latest and greatest in technology. This is where Mike Graiger shines. He is as knowledgeable about technology and how the latest innovations can be implemented in an orthodontic practice as anyone I know. Suffice to say that the advances in technology mean advances in speed. This is very important because we have multiple offices. Speed allows us to view the images and patient data between offices or while I am at home very quickly. We all have been frustrated waiting for something to download to our computers. As the technology improves we work to stay on the leading edge to ensure we can operate as efficiently as we can. Great job Mike as always!!

A quick wrap up discussion of a hodge podge of topics and it was time to wrap it up for the day. Excellent first day at the Summit. Time to hit the gym for a great workout so Omar doesn’t can me as a client!

Saturday February 28th, 2012

Back to work at 7:45 with another fantastic healthy breakfast (shout out to JW Marriott staff). We moved away from study club format to a lecture format this morning. Dr. Leigh Bayer Curtis joined our table for the day. Like myself, she joined her father’s orthodontic practice. Leigh joined Peter in 2004.  

We were blessed to have John McGill from the McGill – Hill group come and present to us about the state of the economy. John is a very well respected member of the consulting community and had great insight into the trends of the economy and how that will influence our lives. It was heavily US based, particularly with the Presidential Election happening in 2012. As we know as Canadians, what happens south of the border has significant influence on us in Canada. I believe this picture tells the story regarding his presentation. Lets just say John didn’t get much of a break!!

After the break John went over in detail the proposed tax changes coming assuming Obama was to win the election in November. The changes that are coming to the American Tax structure are quite significant. It will be interesting to see how this will impact the election this fall.

In order to maximize the time we had remaining, Mary Beth put together a working lunch where we went around the room and talked about the best thing that happened in each persons office in 2011. We started that yesterday and we were able to finish that today at lunch. Great stuff all around.

Time for the final push before we wrap things up. Back to a discussion about many different topics ranging from clinical excellence to ideas on how to team build with the staff in the office. A terrific forum to share terrific ideas.

Thanks to Mary Beth, Mike and all the Impact 360 team members. Another successful weekend with clients. February 8th and 9th, 2013 is marked in the calendar.

Until next time my friends!!

Bob (The Only Canuck)

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