For years I’ve been saying that conference education should reach out in new directions; and while I see all the veterinary conferences playing with different styles of CE, the CVC unconventional conference achieved another level of learning this year in embraceable San Diego.
CVC San Diego Innovative Learning
Firstly, the Innovative Sessions really hit their mark. To be honest, I don’t know if they were ever off
their mark by much, but certainly the one I did with Dr. Heidi Lobprise and veteran educator, Vicki Byard (filling in for the equally talented Annie Mills) couldn’t have targeted its audience better if it had used laser guided sights. In our session, the border between the instructors and the audience all but disappeared and the room flowed effortlessly with relevant dialogue, questions, answers, and humor for the full hour. When the session ended, you couldn’t tell…no one left!
Real Discussions Real Solutions at the CVC
I also had a chance to participate in the Real Discussions Real Solutions forum. Did you attend any of these? In ours we had the input of five, that’s FIVE experts: attorney Douglas Jack; CVPM and SHRM certified Debbie Hill and Andreas Pahl; psychologist Dr. Karen Rentas; and Dr. Happy himself, Steve Noonan. What made this learning experience so exciting was the multitude of perspectives that it brought to an intense HR case study…input that not only came from different angles, but came in different media forms. Andreas hung out on a live Google line and connected with us from his office in NY; Dr. Rentas provided pre-taped, three-minute-long, power lessons on handling emotional employees and essential HR communication steps; attorney Jack weighed in with some concise directions on the more legally dicey sections of the study; Debbie Hill discoursed from the middle of the audience itself; and Dr. Noonan stayed on the far side of the room and lobbed these great workplace culture concepts at us like he was tossing idea-water balloons. One classic: “Putting up with these low-grade, chronic HR issues is much like death by a thousand cuts.”
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Veterinary Continuing Education and Audience Participation
But as I try to finger the real reason why this unconvention stood apart from so many other conferences that I have attended, I alight again and again on the audience. Not only were they present (in record numbers no less); but they were more eager than I have ever seen and too, more sophisticated. I can’t recall a time when I’ve seen so many CVPM’s in a non-VHMA conference. At the end of my sessions yesterday, I had no fewer than six certified practice managers in attendance and one CVPM candidate eager to take her qualifying exam next spring. (It was great to see the CVPM’s immediately welcome this newbie into their fold, invite her into the CVPM California Managers group, and help her prepare for her upcoming exam.)
Find out more about the California North and South Counties Hospital Manager Associations.
Veterinary Continuing Education 2016 and Beyond
By the way, lest everyone forget, the CVPM designation was the brainchild of a handful of veterinary management pioneers including Mark Opperman, who after all these years, continues to wow CVC practice management attendees. Many of this year’s management instructors discussed the value of vision as part of an overall competitive strategy. How apropos that one of the CVC’s most popular instructors, Mr. Opperman (as well as his colleagues), ‘saw’ a future of veterinary management some twenty years ago, a future in which smart, ambitious, talented individuals would understand the value of knowledge, collegiality and regular forums to seek both out. I was on hand at CVC San Diego 2015 to see that future come true.