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It’s Who You Know: How VetPartners Members Stay Connected All Year Long

Feb 28, 2024 at 5:45 pm
VetPartners Meetings

Since the inception of VetPartners more than 20 years ago, networking has been an invaluable benefit of belonging to the association. One of the biggest reasons veterinary consultants and advisors join VetPartners and renew their membership each year is because they’re able to connect with others who understand the business side of the veterinary profession.

The VetPartners mid-year and annual conferences are events we all look forward to, not only because of the great content but also because we get to see our friends and colleagues—old and new. Unfortunately, there’s never enough time to have all the conversations we would like during these events. To help remedy this, a new task force has been created.

The Community Connection Task Force

The purpose of the Community Connection Task Force is to foster more gathering opportunities for VetPartners members and to create better networking events within the format of our established meetings. Since VetPartners allows self-promotion only at a member’s “elevator speech,” it can be challenging to know or remember the services members offer unless we can get to know each other in one-on-one conversations. The work of the task force is to make these conversations possible.

The first order of business for the task force was to arrange locations at major veterinary conferences where VetPartners members could informally gather. Our first event occurred at VMX 2023 and was a big hit! We thank our sponsors Provide and Mandelbaum Barrett PC for supporting that first experimental event.

At our 2023 Mid-Year Conference in Denver, the task force made reservations for several small dinner meetups in restaurants close to our venue. This went so well that we decided to repeat it for the 2024 Annual Conference in Orlando last month. We reserved 64 spots at nearby restaurants, and all 64 spots were quickly spoken for. Members could choose from a selection of restaurants serving different types of menus. Great conversations were had by all. Because of the popularity of these dinners, we encourage members to reply quickly to get the restaurant of their choice when the signup list goes out.

Most recently, we organized a VetPartners meetup at WVC 2024 in Las Vegas, which was spectacular!

What’s coming for the Community Connections task force

In the works are research for locations for gatherings at all the major conferences. Many of our members are speakers, attendees, or exhibitors at these conferences, so we have a great opportunity to pull our members together for some casual conversation and a drink.

If you’re a VetPartners member, be sure to sign up for the Community Connection Zoom meetings! We will be inviting members to meet virtually and learn more about each other with some conversation starters provided by our moderators. Not only that, but we will also move attendees into breakout rooms by time zone, so you can meet—and possibly collaborate with—other members who are in your “neck of the woods.”

The VetPartners Mid-Year Conference is coming soon—it will be held August 20–22 in Kansas City—and the Community Connection Task Force has already created some more fun icebreaker questions to get our members to share. We turn the icebreakers into a competition, and the winners with the best stories get a prize. (Our 2023 Mid-Year Conference winner was Anne Tomsic with a hilarious story about her worst job ever. Make sure you ask her about it if you weren’t there.)

Networking has always been one of the purposes of joining VetPartners, so embrace these various opportunities to get to know the talented members of our community. If you enjoy thinking of creative ways to help connect people, the Community Connection task force welcomes new participants. Contact us at [email protected] to join. And, if you aren’t a member of VetPartners and want to avoid FOMO, join the association so you can be part of these incredible events!

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Debbie Boone

Debbie Boone, BS, CCS, CVPM, Fear Free Certified, has worked for the veterinary profession for more than 30 years. After earning her bachelor’s degree in animal science from North Carolina State University, she began as a client care representative and quickly moved into hospital administration. Debbie has experienced the management of small animal, mixed animal, specialty, and emergency practices. Debbie is considered an expert in team communication, creating positive practice culture, and developing monthly paid wellness plans for veterinary practices. Her business, 2 Manage Vets Consulting, helps practices develop extraordinary team communication and business skills, enhancing patient care, improving profitability, and increasing practice value. She strives to improve the lives of animals by using her expertise to improve workplace culture and the well-being of veterinary professionals.

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