Home Forums Discussions Feedback and Recommendations National AC Conference

I just spoke with a potential new AC user, Christie McCrory, at the University of Central Arkansas.
We both agreed that it would be great to have a national AC conference at least annually. In my experience, most of AC (fortunately for me) is intuitive and Bert and Brian have filled in for most everything that is not, but it would be wonderful to share tips face to face. It would also be beneficial to have seminars from veteran AC users.
I have facilitated CME conferences for several years for the Greene County Medical Society to Keystone Colorado and to Destin Florida. It was really not too difficult after the first year or two. We all give our own talks on various subjects and receive category I CME as well. A typical meeting would be for a week with four hours of talks (8 a.m. to noon) on Mon., Tues., Thurs., and Fri. The entire fee charged is used for breakfasts, meeting rooms and at least one social event. Everyone is responsible for their own lodging, meals etc., but we reserve a block of condos.
Your thoughts?
Jim

Jim,
We here in CNY are broke and always try to get local CME but it sounds lovely. How much are we talking about and might we try and get this more around a weekend so we don't have to close our offices as much for those of us driving out??? Friday, Saturday kind of set-up or something.

The other thing I really want to do with any such a thing is to try and get Jon and some of his team to tag along so we can all brain-storm together while they clue us in on what can or can not work or is more or less worthwhile to try. Kind of get a synergy kind of thing going here. And I think finally meeting eachother face to face would be really great.

Sounds good to me.

I'm in as long as Bert leaves his chainsaw at home.

Leslie

I love this thread. Looks like we have our conference sites set for the next 10 years or so!! I think this is a great idea and I would love to have someone pick up this ball and run with it....or, for Paul's sake, smack this hockey puck. Jim, what is wrong with congregating in the Ozarks.?....beautiful country there and fairly centrally located.

Leslie

We have always had our meetings within a days drive of Springfield (MO) and the Colorado and Destin trips worked out great. The Summers in the mountains feel good with an average of 70 degrees daytime high and no humidity and the kids love the beautiful beaches in Destin Florida.
I think that we should give preference to Jon, Bert and Brian if they would be interested.
We typically make this a family vacation and, if you drive, you can virtually deduct condo, mileage, meals, meeting fee (minimal). We also attempt to allow plenty of free time (four hours of meeting per day is plenty).
We could also consider doing a regional meeting. A meeting in our area could be in Branson on Tablerock Lake or in the Buffalo River National River area (Brian is closeby). We could also begin with a Friday, Saturday, Sunday if this would be the best for most people. I would say that we could do a regional meeting with a commitment from as few as six AC users (we would have to do a couple of hours lecture each (45 minute talk with 10 minutes for questions). This would result in 12 hours of Category I CME. Such a core group commitment would be enough to assure a meeting with the hope that more would sign on before the meeting. I would say that $100 each should pay for breakfasts and a meeting room. Such a meeting would also be a wonderful recruiting tool for AC.
Your thoughts?
Jim

I love the idea. Tablerock is beautiful and Branson is always a good time. Maybe Bert could do a talk on using Excel in AC? I say let's shoot for this.

Leslie

I talked with my wife last night, and she was interested.

It sounds like we already have a core group of three. Branson/Tablerock is probably the best all around location since there is such a wide variety of attractions (Tablerock Lake, Lake Tannecomo, Branson shows, Silver Dollar City, the Landing etc.). I will check on possible sites. Big Cedar is a conference resort on Tablerock that is owned by Bass Pro. The Chateau of the Ozarks is an upscale Hammons property near Silver Dollar City.

That is a great area. Loads of good stuff there.

Paul, come on! If we do this, you gotta make the road trip.

And, we gotta invite Jon. Perhaps he can give us an in-person demo of version 4.0!

By the way, I checked the Amazing Charts User Map, and found some poor, isolated users in Hawaii and the Caribbean!

If this year's meeting works out well, maybe we can spread the joy to them next year....

http://www.amazingcharts.com/images/pics/image_map.gif

Here is a link to the Big Cedar web site.
I will also check out more economical potential sites for our review, but this would be a first class resort and would allow everyone to bring their families and still deduct the entire amount.
http://www.big-cedar.com/
Jim

Here is a link to the Pointe Royale Golf Community resort that is in Branson. This is a nice facility, but is less expensive than Big Cedar and a bit closer in to Branson. These are privately owned condos that are one and two bedroom. Meeting rooms are available.

http://www.bransoncondoresort.com/

Your thoughts on the time of year for the conference and is a Friday, Saturday, Sunday the best?

Jim

Jim,
There is something one must always remember about supposedly writing off expenses as tax deductions..... One must have a positive enough income to need and benefit from such a deduction. I'll never forget this Young, overly pushy, MidMark Ritter Rep. trying to get us to buy this obnoxously expensive power table for our little solo FP office because he had all this stuff to show how we would be able to write so much of it off, that it would only cost us for about $1500 in the end for this $4-$6K table (I think, it's been a while now). Anyhow, one can only write off so much before they have nothing left to write off or save. Vinny are you listening my fellow struggling friend???

Now, I have an Idea. Set up the conference at a reasonably priced place, but those of us of truly limited means could always stay near by in a cheaper place if need be. But rooming together so we can all have other social bull sessions would be sweet, so let's all keep our options open. It's all about the cost.

Nancy seems to be a little resistant to the idea, but we shall see. This is why I was previously suggesting the regional meet thing. Like Roy and Donna on the West side, may or may not be able to make an East Coast or Midwest type thing. Those who can travel or want to travel more can always attend another region's meet. This is how my old Slant-6 of America Club did things. We never had national meets, but folks who liked to travel or drive a ways were always welcome at any regions meet. We even had an award for "Long Distance" for the Mopar that traveled the furthest to get to a meet. I frequently would travel to NY meets when I lived in New England or to New England ones when I moved back to NY for example. So me and my Dart or Scamp would frequently get the Long Distance one.

Also, I'm not so sure about Jon and the AC guys paying for a gang of his techs and developers to travel too far, so my thoughts were always for something more on the eastern side of the country closer to AC central. Someone on Jon's good side should contact him and AC at some point and see what works for them.

Same idea, I feel that such a get together without "Vinny" our secondary programmer and Board Moderator, or Bert "Mr. Work Around" who is also a bit of a program developer himslef would just not be as good. Now Bert you seem like you are willing to travel at the drop of a hat, so that is in our favor no matter where this ends up. On a selfish matter, this would make it much more doable for us. A half a day's drive would be a whole lot better. Drop the kids off at my Mom where she summers in the Berkshires while on the way to RI, Maine or Saratoga or what have you. but this must work for the majority of folks, not just me and Nancy here in CNY. But I do believe that if we could try and do something around this side of the country we would be much more likely to get Jon, Carlos, other AC team members and developers, Bert, and Vinny all together at the same time and place. I do love Mount Desert Island, Arcadia National Park, lobster traps and all the trimmings.... Hint, Hint.

But do what is best for the whole gang not just Village Medical (Sniff, sniff)
Paul

As I just said in another post. My hat is off to Jim. We have so many people on this board who sit and watch while a few of us do the heavy lifting around here.

Whether or not Nancy and I can attend, this is some very serious and very nice heavy lifting here. Way to go Jim!!! Thanks.

Paul

Though the thought of a regional meeting would be beneficial in some ways, to me it's the whole idea of meeting all of you face-to-face and getting to know you better and more personally. It will be an awesome task to get this all arranged, but a weekend might be doable. Although I might be moving to Sacramento in the next several months, I would love to think I could still visit this site and keep in touch. Maybe I could offer something in the way of billing/coding tips... As we've seen over the past several months, it's so easy to be misunderstood when you're posting and can't see the other person's face to know how to really interpret that thought. Oh my God, my posts are starting to get as lengthy as Paul's! (Don't worry Paul, you're still the King)

Hi Paul and Donna,
These type of meetings are really not that difficult.
I am also in favor of the more reasonable centrally located venue. There are many other lodging possibilities in Branson and the area and it would be fine for anyone to stay wherever they wish of course. I certainly understand the comment about not purchasing something just because it is deductible, but my point is that, if you drive and rent a condo, you can bring the family without significant additional expense and still deduct the trip.
If we do have the meeting in Branson it will obviously be a regional event that anyone is encouraged to attend and may set the stage for a more ambitious location for a week long meeting.
I do think that it could be very productive for marketing AC if that is a consideration.
Best,
Jim

Jim,

At this point I am grateful to just be alive so I am ready for anything. I deserve it...can't afford it but what the heck. If you can get a consensus to do anything, anywhere, I am with you. Maybe Bert can help you set up an online poll of users.

Leslie

Jim,
In no way was I picking on you for the tax thing. I just smile when people suggest that we can write things off. We have had so much red ink here for the first few years that we have no need or use for these. This might be the first year that the company finally pays a few dollars in taxes to the gov't. And even that may not be needed because we have lots of losses and multi-year things to use in our little sub-S way.

I just really wish we had the type of profits to justify and need lots of write-offs. It kind of hurts after all we have gone thru to make a great doc out of Nancy.

Anyway, as I said before, Thank you Jim, really, really for doing some serious heavy lifting here. None of us have gotten this far yet. You are to be bought much Beer, desert and wine if and when we all get together for your good work. Thanks again.
Paul

Jim:

This area would be especially gorgeous in the Fall, but I think we just need to meet sometime before cold & flu season start, and after we have gotten the new release (4.0) and have had a little time to check it out.

Of course, if we invite any of the corporate dudes out, we might have to work around them a bit.

Fri, Sat, Sun would be good for me.

Hmmm.... both facilities look nice. I will have to think on it a bit.

Jim,

Thanks for spear-heading this. I think the idea of an annual AC user group meeting is awesome. I know I won't be able to attend anything this year (baby due very soon, building project, etc) but I look forward to the chance to meet this diverse (and sometimes perverse!)group in the flesh.

Okay, I rrreeeaaalllly tried to let this one go, but speaking as one of the perverts (you know who you are), I don't take offense at this at all. And it would be swell to see all of you great people in the flesh (except for Bert's main squeeze of course).

Well, I don't think you can hold one of these things without an overly sensitive and controlling workarounder. I think the Postmaster has to be present for any tax writeoffs to occur. So count me in. Of course, this means either Adam comes and I don't or vice versa as he is the only one who can cover my practice.

I will be the one with a chain saw in one hand and Paula in the other. I have no idea where this PVC fiance` came from, but I don't think I can ever live it down.

Now, what would be fun since I believe only Vinny among the regulars has posted his picture on AC, would be guessing who the hell is who. Of course, I doubt Paul would be tough to figure out.

I could alway give a lecture on my newest book:

Back up Your Backups
Obsession with backing up 1s and 0s

But, before you buy it, I should warn you it is encrypted.

I would also be interested in this, its great to get extra tips on making our use of AC more efficient and beneficial.

Thanks Jim, and all - for pushing this!

I've been very interested in doing something like this for quite some time but keep getting delayed in organizing it with the release cycle. Depressing as it is, I see you talking about the pending V4 release back in July - and this is the story of my life.

New features, changes, biting off more than I can chew - seem to inevitably lead to releases coming out after I envision them to be released. Thus far, thankfully, most folks are happy with the ultimate release - and I suspect V4 will also be worth the wait.

That said, I would very much like to organize an annual national meeting. I think we need to plan it in an accessible region of the country, one that the majority of us could get to with one non-stop flight. Also, picking a more affordable place (e.g., not NYC) will likely be important.

Personally, I would like a good part of the conference to be about what you - the most involved and active users of AC - need in the the program. I had a small meeting a few years ago in Seatle - and the 7 or 8 people there really had a large say in what projects took priority.

Another option we've been considering are regional cocktail meetings during the various Pri-Med and other shows that we attend (Boston, Anaheim, Baltimore, Ft. Lauderdale, Houston, and NYC for Pri-Med and the annual AAFP). But I suspect that a 3 day conference might be a lot more fun, and really allow time for users to get to know each other as friends, and share their own secrets, while we all sit down and hammer out the priorities for the program.

Your thoughts?
Jon

Hi Jon,
The discussion so far seems to favor a three day meeting in Branson Missouri and this would be very easy to set up.
Branson has a lot to do for families (the shows, Tablerock Lake, Tannecomo trout lake, Buffalo River National Park, Silver Dollar City etc.). We already have a small core group of four or five of us and can obtain CME Category I credit hours through our local Greene County Medical Society. Hopefully; the group would expand to at least a dozen or so. Brian is close by and he and I can research an acceptable venue and report back to the group. We would want one that is reasonable pricewise, but would still like to choose one that would be worth the trip for those who have to travel by air. The closest nonstop flight would be to Tulsa, St. Louis or Kansas City (all are approximately a three hour drive on all four lane). You can also fly to Springfield MO (30 minutes from Branson).
Another alternative would be a week long (5 day meeting) in Colorado. Fly into Denver and we can set up a meeting in Breckenridge, Vail or Estes Park (all within an hour or so drive from Denver airport. My wife and I have set up meetings for the Greene County Medical Society for many years and it is not much trouble; we are very appreciative to you for developing AC and will be happy to donate our time.
It would be especially great if you could attend and do a presentation or two. Those who would be willing to give a talk can fill in the rest of the presentations. I would suggest that we consider 10 hours of CME for the three day project or 16 hours for the 5 day project.
Either one we choose could be done this Summer and establish a template for future conferences for AC.
I think that we would need to begin with a vote concerning preference for a three day meeting in Branson or a five day meeting in Colorado (or a preference for somewhere else) and proceed from there.
Your thoughts?

Best,
Jim

Thanks Jon,

Nice to hear from you. And, you should feel good being in the company of Microsoft when it comes to releases.

Not to tip the apple cart or whatever the saying is, because it souunds like all of the places sounds great. Just to go on record, if I had a choice in where to go, it would somewhere like the Grand Tetons or Brynce, somewhere in the southwest given that I have been wanting to get back there for eons and Adam and I have talked about it. Granted, it is not very centrally located, but I have no issue with a layover. Just my thoughts.

Hey, Jon!

It is always great to hear from you on the User Board. Thanks for stopping in!

If we can pull this thing together, we would love to have you along.

I realize this will come off as self-serving, since Jim and I are practically neighbors, but...

I recommend that we give Jim broad discretionary powers to set this up. He is a busy doctor like most of us, and it will be a lot easier for him to organize this if he is able to stick with venues and areas he is familiar with.

Having an experienced hand at the tiller will maximize chances for bringing us together to pass after years of discussion.

If this meeting is successful, we can branch out and try some other venues.

The above being said, I will offer my opinion that a shorter meeting will be more easily attended by most of us.

My impression is that Amazing Charts users are usually solo docs who might have trouble leaving their practice for a whole week.

YMCA of the Rockies, in Estes Park? Lots of things to do, lots of meeting space and fairly cheap lodging.

www.ymcarockies.org

Isn't there an Elton John song like that. Or an album.

I can't take credit for sure, but I pinged tech support about the new Quest thing and told Claire to let Jon know we were talking about all this, so perhaps she passed the word along. Thanks Claire!

Anyway, yes it is good to see you come up for air Jon. Hope all is going reasonably well for you and your team. Anyway, I would really love to try and do both. The national based thing would be great to really get the greater, whole gang together to discuss the bigger picture and issues. While I could see the regional type thing helping to build a good sense of community among a smaller but hopefully tight knit group of users.

Again, something too far away or expensive may or may not be doable for us, but please go forward with whatever works out well for the great gang. And the idea of this old stagehand getting to see Branson while getting Nancy some needed CME wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Question: If we try to make this some sort of family affair, what kind of daycare, child entertainment is there if let's say some of us, duel spouse families both want to attend. I know we are not the only Husband and Wife, Doctor and Practice Manager Team out there. So even if we did bring the whole family, we would then have the issue of either, she goes or I go, or leaving them home with someone, or leaving them alone to trash the room (not a viable option). Now when we just went to Disney they had a Kid's Club that we left the kids at while we went out to dinner one night for our anniversary. It was a bit pricey but at least we did get one night for a few hours to ourselves. Any ideas on that Jim? Sorry to be such pain but it is the real logistics of the thing.

Thanks much,
Paul

Leslie,
I just really re-read the last few post that went up while I was caught up with some patient insurance business. I'll be dipped, there's a YMCA in Estes Park! I haven't been there since I was about 12 years old, riding in the back of my parents '73, 225 Slant-6, Dodge Dart. I love that place, what a sight!!! What a park! You guys are making this very hard on me. I've always wanted to take my kids to Estes. I've always wanted to get me back to Estes. Well at least I know of a good cheap place to stay if and when I do get a chance to get out there....

Estes Park is a great place. My family spent many, many wonderful summers there before it became a popular vacation spot. We also use to joke about "our little cubbyhole in Durango". Go and try and find anything that remotely resembles a cubbyhole there now!! Although I have never stayed at the YMCA, several of my relatives have and my niece actually was a counsellor there for a few summers. I feel pretty sure they would have activities for kids while the adults meet. If not, I suspect we could wrangle someone's spouse or companion to watch a few kids while we talked AC. I am even considering taking two of my office staffers with me wherever we go....both for the fun and for the education. Luckily my spouse would stay home and feed the dogs and donkeys.
As I said, I am up for anything the majority decides.

Leslie

By the way, Paul. Are you aware you can fly from NYC to Denver more cheaply than I can from Louisville? Just thought I'd throw that in. Distance is not always equal to cost.

Leslie

Jon, Brian, Bert, Leslie, Paul, Donna, Francisco et al,

Please post your first and second choices for an AC conference to include:

1) Place: Branson, Colorado (Estes Park, Breckenridge etc.)

2) Time: Summer, Fall etc.

3) Length: 3 day Weekend or Week.

Please also feel free to give me a call to visit and share your thoughts:

Home 417 833-3831 Cell 417 830-9286

or e-mail jimblaine@aol.com

Best,
Jim

Branson, 3-day weekend, Summer or Fall equally good.

Branson, 3 day weekend, spring or summer

Leslie

Gosh, I'm away from the boards for a few days (been tooooo busy), and look at what you've all done!

Of course, when Jon mentioned Seattle, I thought...easy, I'm there!

I love the idea of the Southwest...Bryce is fantastic...but so is the entire region...so I'll throw in one of my favorite places...Santa Fe, NM.

Question for Jon and AC if you are there in the next few days to read this:

Do you have any requests, ideas or suggestions on any of this? Again I think all of us would love to meet you and your team, buy you all a round for all you've done for all of us, and have at it for some great creative brainstorming. No less finally get a better idea of what it is like for all of you back on the inside at AC central. I think I can speak for most of the group when I say that it would be great and that this is a good part of what all of us would like to have happen. Communing with the Mothership. So what might work well for you and your folks so perhaps you guys could come and join in???

Hello all,
It seems as though the consensus for an inaugral venture for AC will be a Friday, Saturday, Sunday in Branson Missouri.
Brian and I spent a couple of hours on the phone this evening attempting to put together a game plan and will volunteer our time and limited expertise.
My wife, Barb, and I will head to Branson this weekend to check out the possibilities. Pointe Royale seems like one logical choice.
http://www.pointeroyale.com/?gclid=CPmYte6_pJECFQ6WHgodBDm-rQ
It is reasonable and has privately owned one to four bedroom condos for rent. It also has a nice conference facility that will hold up to 50 people. Attendees would be free, of course, to stay in any one of the many accommodations close by ranging from opulent (Chateau of the Ozarks) to log cabins. The Branson area has a lot to offer in family entertainment (Tablerock Lake, Silver Dollar City, the Shows, Buffalo River National Park etc.).
We would suggest that we have approximately ten hours of Category I CME (four hours Fri., four hours Sat. and two hours Sun.). Hopefully, Jon will be able to attend and honor us with a couple of those presentations. The remainder will have to be presented by the AC members. We would estimate a reasonable $100 meeting fee all of which will be spent on daily breakfasts for the attendees (the meeting room is comp if we purchase the breakfast buffet); any funds left over can be used for a social function etc.
We would like to shoot for sometime in June, but please let us know your preferences. We only need a total of six core commitments to pull the trigger and make this a reality and I think that we are close to that now.
We realize that there are a lot of exotic places that we can do in the future, but we think that we are going to have a great time and come away with a boatload of pearls (most of which will undoubtedly come from outside the formal conference).
It is going to be fun just deciding which one of us is Bert.
Please give us your thoughts on content, requested dates etc. and let us know if you are on board.
Best,
Jim