The Social Media Workshop Express

I’m sitting with Brenda Tassava, CVPM and author of Social Media for the Veterinary Professional, having coffee, reflecting on three whirl wind days of education in Social Media.

For those of you that did not attend, this workshop was an intensive learning session. Our speakers, Brenda, Phillip Barnes and Brie Messier, both of North Star VETS gave all students a thorough immersion into the world of Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Blogging.

The BAVMA group listening to Brenda Tassava's Key Note Speech

Aliza Dubois, Phillip Barnes, Brie Messier and Dr. Jen Tsung

Dr Sally Haddock of St. Mark's Veterinary listens in

Each session was part of a partnership with a State’s practice management association.  In New York we coupled with the Big Apple Veterinary Managers Association a group that boast some 60 interested members, though it is still under one year old.  We met at Pace University’s modern Small Business Development Center, next to the quickly rising Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan.  In New Jersey, we were at Northstar VETS, a truly remarkable veterinary facility and winner of the 2012 Veterinary Economic Best Referral/Emergency Practice Award.  Here we collaborated with the New Jersey Veterinary Hospital Managers Association, a group  I started some 4 years ago and which has grown robustly since.  Some 160 practice managers in the State of New Jersey are now associated with this dynamic organization and attend its quarterly state-wide meetings.

Lee Coudrai of Winslow Animal Hospital, Dan McCann of Marne and Lisa Brezecki all the way from Pa and Newtown Veterinary!

Jerry Rouvrais of Middletown Veterinary and Candi Pisano of  Seagirt

Lastly, we dropped by the Ron and Carlos Hodges’ practice, Valley Central Veterinary Referral in Whitehall, Pa.  Anyone who has not had the pleasure of meeting these two gifted and caring veterinarians needs to make a pilgrimage soon.  They both embody sincere, loving care of animals and a great, happy regard for all of their clients.  They, along with their tireless Administrator, Allyson Tolliver, are a paradigm of what all of us strive to be in this profession.

The good folks of Bloomsburg and Whitehaven Veterinary enjoy coffee before the start of the lecture

Charlene Wandzilak and Christine Britton of the PVMA take notes and listen in

The discussion Brenda and I share is about the education we provided, about the success of each round table, about the prospects of doing another class… but mostly it is about the joy we had in learning this material with all of the attendees…the fun they had…the laughs…the total satisfaction of working with each other to figure something out, making friends along the way and turning a day of work, into an extremely fun (albeit exhausting!) productive day of education.

Charlene Wandzilak, executive director of the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medical Association, was on hand to discuss the new non-dvm membership category of their prestigious organization.  During the lunch break, all of us hung out with Charlene and talked about her ‘sky’s the limit’ vision for the PVMA…no longer just an association of doctors, but of all veterinary team members… doctors, technicians, client care reps, assistants, kennel attendees and groomers… eager to lift the entire profession to higher and higher levels.  Here’s to all of you who pushed us a little closer to Charlene’s vision.  Here’s hoping that you and Halow Consulting can make many more of these great opportunities happen soon.  Thank you NYC, NJ and PA for a great three days!  You’re Tweet…(sorry)

Great Night at the 'Ole Veterinary Referral Center

Well hats off to the Stacey Simpson-Camelli of Antech, Amy Shields and the entire team at Animal Critical Care and Specialty Group of Malvern, Pa for hosting our discussion Financial Oversight and Pricing for the Busy Practice Manager.  What a terrific evening we all had discussing our pricing, markups and Key Performance Indicators with fellow colleagues from around the south east part of Pa. 

Take a look at this facility, would you? 

You know I’m a big stickler for service…well VRC seems to have it down.  When I entered their lobby, every Client Care Service person looked up and smiled and gave me a hearty hello.  Signs were already in place directing attendees to the conference room and once there, we were all treated to a delicious catered meal.

Okay, so I should have had everyone pose…

Thanks to all who expressed an interest in a stronger Pennsylvania State coalition of managers.  And how great was it that Dr. Ron Kraft, Secretary Treasurer of the PVMA was there to tell us about the New Membership Category for managers through their organization?  I’ll be sure to follow up with Dr. K in the upcoming weeks and contact all who expressed interest in our group to see what venues we can use to bring us together better.  I’ll also reach out to Dr. Mary Bryant and Deborah Harvey of Vetstreet.  I have a feeling that between these very supportive industry veterans, we’ll be able to come up with some great resources to make our jobs more enjoyable and successful.   Anyone else have an idea on who we should contact or a direction in which they would like to see us move forward?

I had lots of inquiries about the formulas I discussed as well as my online classes.  I’ve listed these on a separate blog page to make it easier for you print out and have on hand.  Also, check out the live online classes that I’ll be offering in the month of April.  These are 40 minutes long…just enough time before things start melting down and you everyone has to go back to their prospective posts.  Here’s a breakdown of how the classes work.

1.  Send me an email that you are interested in having your staff attend.  I need one email address for each terminal that you plan on using.  Please note that your staff members can log in from home too.  There is no additional cost, just an honor system that you are paying for your staff alone and no other practice.

2.  I’ll send you a link to make a payment of 35 dollars through Paypal.  Make the payment and you’ll receive an invitation-link for each of the email addresses you sent to me.  Remember 35 dollars buys your entire staff access to the webinar.

3.  Log onto the webinar at the designated time, sit back and watch.  Ask any questions you like during the live broadcast either by raising your hand, speaking or typing me text in a private chat window.

4.  At the end of the class, each participant will receive great, user-friendly handouts that can be placed into your training manual or that can be the start of one you have yet to create!

5.  Remember, these are excellent classes for Client Services and Assistants alike.  They not only train the medicine, but they train the language we should use when talking with our clients.  They are designed to make a direct impact on your patient and client care and consequently improve your bottom line.