For the last couple of years, VPP has led full-day continuing education workshops in partnership with MWI, BI & AAHA. The basic premise behind the day is that when a practice owner looks at the universe of “advice” out in the veterinary market, there is a large swath that comes from the consultant community. We’ve listened to a lot of what has been advocated for and are dismayed by a couple of things: the lack of pragmatic, actionable advice, downright bad strategies, ideas that no practice can actually execute without hiring the consultant, and an overall lack of experience with execution. It’s this last one which we’ve felt has led to the most disruption in that many practice consultants have never actually worked in a practice and fully implemented the advice being offered. Suffice it to say that in many instances things are never as easy to see through as they sound.
In contrast, we live and breathe practice management every day. We’ve tried a lot of innovative ideas and we’ve seen which ones succeed and which ones fail. We’re not afraid to share the good and caution the bad. We’ve also learned a lot about how to efficiently implement new strategies and programs. It was for these reasons that we started the workshops and to date the feedback we’ve gotten has been as expected: a valuable, full day of tips and tricks that any practice owner can take back and implement without fuss in a short period of time.
In 2017, we made some modifications to the curriculum and heading into 2018, feel like future attendees can look forward to an even better experience. During the day we cover a bunch of pertinent topics: a behind the scenes look at the dynamics shaping the industry for private practice; a stripped-down, “these are the handful of metrics that really matter” look at practice performance measures; an eye-opening look at what really drives practice revenue and how you can see long-term improvements without spending a lot for it; strategies for building long-tenured, highly productive staffs that, like fine wine, get better with age; and a real-time look at the fast-changing Corporate space and how practice owners can best position themselves in the rapidly moving market.
A constantly evolving group of content, the curriculum features even more implementable ideas than in the past. We tested some hands-on tools around staff scheduling, DVM productivity analysis and staff development plans that attendees got to take home. We even tried out offering “office hours” with presenters in which practice leaders could have one-on-one time with members of our executive leadership team to get advice on how best to improve their individual practices.
As we finalize the locations and dates of 2018’s workshop series, we invite all of our Practice Edge readers to remain on the lookout for updates. In some respects, all of you stand to get even more out of the workshops than most as you’re already engaged in learning how to improve your practices and will be able to glean greater insights during the day given your readership of this site already.
If you are interested in the Workshop series and would like to receive updates when the 2018 schedule is released, please click here to provide your information and we will be sure to keep you informed regarding the series and future CE opportunities we have in development to help practice leaders improve the performance of their businesses.
