By Margery Weinstein
Editor-in-Chief
Review of Optomeric Business
Oct. 9, 2024
When you’re approaching the site of a continuing education and professional networking conference, you expect traffic and stoplights. What you don’t expect is a crosswalk where the pedestrians are elk.
Yet that’s just what those arriving for the 2024 GRT Summit in Estes Park, Colo, Sept. 4-7, were liable to see on their way to the hotel, the Ridgeline Holiday Inn, where the event was held and where most attendees stayed.
Beyond the elk, who were also sprawled across the lawn in public greens in the quaint downtown of Estes Park, there were the Rocky Mountains. Even on a gray day with intermittent rain, the mountains were hard to miss. There was a bridge that ran over a creek that you could cross on a walk into town, about 20 minutes from the hotel, and an array of locally owned businesses to check out when you got there.
The owners of these businesses were sometimes even on-site and manning the door, ready to share stories of the local lore.
In a wildlife photography shop, where the owner took all the photos and created all the works of art on display himself, there were stories of the challenges of the re-entry of wolves to the local area and the perils of humans who got too close to the animals they tried to take pictures of with their phones.
Connecting & Boosting Independent-Minded Optometrists
An environment rich in both nature and independently owned small businesses was the perfect backdrop for the GRT Summit.
“GRT” stands for Grow, Retain, Transition. The conference, which now has two gatherings per year in national parks throughout the U.S., focuses on giving independent-minded optometrists what they need to grow their practices, retain patients (and staff) and then profitably transition out of practice into retirement.
The founders of the GRT Summit, Paul Mormon, OD, Erich Mattei, MBA, and Peter Van Hoven, OD, had an epiphany. Avid hikers and nature enthusiasts, they wondered to themselves why professional meetings usually felt so transactional.
You traveled to an often-undesirable location, where you did nothing but continuing education and vendor meetings in a conference center and then went straight to the airport and back home.
They felt a change of pace to this conference norm was needed. Four-to-five day conferences set in national parks with significant continuing education and vendor meetings–and activities in nature–was the answer.
The several days of meetings that comprise GRT Summits are interspersed with hikes that begin at 5 a.m., drinks overlooking mountain tops at sunset, indulgent dinners and excursions like horseback riding, fly fishing and ATV rides. There are also off-the-beaten path excursions to local attractions like The Stanley Hotel, an allegedly haunted hotel in Estes Park that served as the inspiration for the book and film The Shining.
A Close-Knit Group to Learn & Have Fun Together
“I really love what Paul, Erich and Pete are doing combining outdoor activities with CE,” said Caitlin Reghetti, OD, an ocular health literacy designer. Dr. Reghetti creates customized patient education assets and office forms for OD offices, in addition to practicing herself. “I love seeing people combine outside passions with optometry.”
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Dr. Reghetti, whom ROB spoke to during a morning CE session on ocular surface disease, said she wanted to incorporate more dry eye anterior segment treatment into her care. She said the more intimate setting, with under 100 attendees in total, and fewer in the individual CE sessions, made her feel more comfortable asking the instructors questions.
In addition, Dr. Reghetti said there was a networking value to the smaller group. “The small group also makes it easier and less intimidating to socially connect with other doctors and vendors, helping to naturally build relationships in a way that typically doesn’t happen at larger meetings,” she said.
A Professional Gathering that Welcomes the Whole Family
A distinguishing feature of GRT Summit events is the family atmosphere with kid-friendly activities like barbecues with the roasting of marshmallows to make s’mores.
Marcy Kyser, OD, and her husband brought all five of their children with them, flying first to Salt Lake City and then driving in a van to Estes Park. “Our clinic is dry eye-oriented,” she said. “I was excited to see so much ocular surface disease on the schedule.”
Cecelia Koetting, OD, FAAO, DipABO, who taught one of the sessions on ocular surface disease, said she found the GRT Summit to be unique among meeting opportunities for optometrists.
Dr. Koetting said she and her husband, who attended the Summit, loved outdoor activities. “I appreciate being able to combine what we love with education,” she said. “It goes beyond the walls here,” she explained, noting that she loved that GRT founders Drs. Mormon, Van Hoven and Erich Mattei, followed up after the event with attendees. They made sure that GRT participants were able to successfully implement what they learned in their offices.
For example, after a CE segment on myopia management, Dr. Van Hoven asked how many ODs in the room want to get involved more with myopia management. He said he would put together a study group and “we’ll hold each other accountable.”
Dr. Van Hoven said he also would be happy to organize a study group on clinical trial participation since he has participated in many of these trials himself.
Dr. Mormon offered to have his practice partner, who has become a scleral lens specialist, lead a study group on launching and growing scleral lens services.
Steep Challenges in Nature & the Steep Challenges of Independent Optometry
Dr. Mormon likes to say “it’s no coincidence” that things in life come together as they do. That mantra holds especially true for the GRT Summit. A signature feature of these meetings are the sunrise hikes. The hikes offered are of varying levels of difficulty, with the most difficult truly a challenge.
At the first daybreak of the conference, a group of about a dozen GRT’ers set out for the Summit’s “extreme” hike, to Hallett Peak, and it was certainly that.
By the time the hikers reached the end of the trail, it was snowing with substantial wind and then sleeting on the way down. The visibility was poor. Yet, much like the challenge of thriving as an independent practice, there was a sense of fulfillment in making it as far as you could go, whether that was the full summit or someplace short of that.
“It was beautiful,” said Zak Klingemier, the husband of Dr. Koetting.
Brittney Rushton, a sales representative for MacuHealth, one of the participating vendors at the Summit, also found beauty in the challenge. “It’s exhilarating being out there,” she said, “even if it sounds extreme. It doesn’t mean you have to go to the top. At least you attempted it. It’s nice to see how much you can accomplish along the way.”
“We experienced every element Colorado had to offer,” Julie Mullally, sales executive for MODO, said of the Hallett Peak hike, laughing.
Mullally is a highly experienced hiker who has summited all the 14ers in Colorado, meaning all peaks that are at least 14,000 feet above sea level.
Mullally said the GRT Summit was both mentally and physically engaging.
“Every doctor here is very business-minded and cares about growing or bettering all aspects of their practice,” and, she added, “I gained so much industry knowledge while also being challenged enough physically that I felt sore by the end of the week. It was the most inspiring and uplifting industry event I have attended in my career!””
Mullally shared with ROB what she journaled after the hike:
“A lot of what is experienced on the hiking trail can be applied to everyday business. That mountain looks steeper than it really is. You can climb it solo, but summiting that peak as a team is a much sweeter victory. When you push yourself out of your comfort zone, growth is inevitable. GRT does exactly that for your business. You have a supportive team to help guide your business up that mountain.”
And, just like there are many different ways to approach practice, there is always more than one way to approach hiking at a GRT Summit.
A couple days after the extreme hike there was a still-challenging (for some), but not-so-extreme, hike that provided a stunning view of the sunrise on a day with clear, comfortable weather.
Motivated & Focused on Independent Optometry
The heart of the GRT Summit is to help independent optometrists reach their goals, or the chosen “summits” of their careers.
Attendee, Matthew Greene, OD, said the opportunities to learn new ways to build his practice was a big draw. “The ‘G’ caught my attention,” said Dr. Greene. “You come for growth and to be with other growth-minded doctors.”
For Allise Markowski, OD, the Summit also provided a way to gain support from other optometrists, and the vendors serving practices, on how to continue growing her cold-start practice. “I wanted to find a group of eye doctors who wanted to keep us motivated and focused on why we became optometrists,” she said. “I like the camaraderie. The CE is great, but when you get to collaborate with like-minded individuals, you have accountability partners.”
The collegial atmosphere also was much appreciated by Crystal Brimer, OD, a dry eye specialist. “You gain more pearls and insights from this mastermind environment of sharing versus just sitting and listening to CE,” she said. “I love the idea of being able to enjoy the outdoors and being able to create even closer bonds with the people here by sharing those activities together.”
Like the participating ODs, the vendors, who also are an essential part of every GRT Summit, said they find the experience unique among industry conferences. “There is no other event where we can form the kind of close relationships we do here,” said Colton Calandrella of Barti.
“Looking at the meeting itinerary, it’s so different from what you’re used to,” said Jason Bellefeuille of Bausch + Lomb Specialty Vision. “Most of the relationships and conversations are happening outside the meetings rooms, on hikes and dinners,” he said. “It’s that component of it that has been really rewarding.”
Priming the Next Generation of Independent ODs for Success
In addition to helping the current generation of independent-minded optometrists succeed, the GRT Summit sometimes sponsors optometry students to attend the conference.
Baldemar Torres is one such student, who said he was grateful to attend a conference with so much opportunity for interaction and conversation. “I have always been a big fan of attending conferences and expos,” he said. “When you meet someone [in-person], you can start to build a relationship with them.” Torres added that he felt the Summit got the mix of vendors and ODs right. “The ratio between vendors and ODs is really balanced,” he said.
Another student in attendance, Tyler Fisher, said the GRT Summit gave him a taste of what’s ahead for him in his career. “Getting a head start on what’s actually important when you’re practicing,” was one of the ways he described the GRT Summit. “You’re up close and personal [with doctors and vendors], so you get to ask all the questions you have about a presentation. It’s a great networking and learning opportunity.”
Click HERE to learn about, and register for, the next GRT Summit, in Death Valley National Park, Jan. 31-Feb. 4, 2025.
Margery Weinstein is editor-in-chief of Review of Optometric Business. You can contact her at: mweinstein@jobson.com