Aug 2003

Symposium 2004:The Quantum Wave

By Suzanne Cohen

The Symposium brochures are at the printer’s and will be mailed in bulk to Directors’ offices during the last week in August. The goal is to get the brochures to Directors and Coordinators in time for distribution at the kick-off events. Here are a few “bullet points” that may help an-swer some questions about the program:

• The Symposium runs four days, Janu-ary 28-31, 2004 at The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, Califor-nia, 949.240.2000.

• The program is all-clinical and con-sists of 20 speakers from around the world.

• Most presenters are “brand new” to the Symposium podium.

• There are a few more restorative speakers than surgical speakers.

• The spouse/guest program includes all meals, evening events and non-dental keynote speakers.

• We have blocked 100 rooms at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, 949.234.3200 (rate is $315/night).

• Our room block at The Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel is sold out and we have a waiting list at the SSC office.

Please let us know if you have an early kick-off event and we will make every effort to get your brochures to you in time. If you have a late kick-off, you might want to con-sider delivering or mailing the brochures to your members in advance of your kick-off.

The Privileges of Membership

By Greg Tice

Ok, so we’re not American Express, but as the start of the 2003–2004 aca-demic year approaches, we wanted to remind you of one of the benefits of be-longing to the Seattle Study Club. Darby Spencer Mead Dental continues to offer an exclusive savings and educational rebate program for Seattle Study Clubs and their Members. This new program, just over a year old, has resulted in sig-nificant savings for many members, as well as educational rebates to the Study Clubs they belong to. Since the institu-tion of this program, 35% more members have purchased from Darby Spencer Mead than over the last 8 years. It looks like they are doing something right!

Darby Spencer Mead Dental is a For-tune 500, privately-held dental supply company which has assisted America’s dentists for over 50 years. Distribution centers in New York, Nevada, and Ten-nessee assure shipments between 1–2 days with a 99% order fulfillment rate.

Don’t let your members miss out on the opportunity of saving considerably on their dental supplies while also sup-porting their Study Club. Darby Spencer Mead will do a free price analysis to prove it to you. If you are interested in more in-formation on this program, or if you want packets to give to your members at your kick-off program this year, please call Marti Farber, Darby’s Director of Sales, to set up a savings appointment with a sales specialist. Marti can be reached at 800-448-7323 and her ext. is 6223.

Tips for Design on a Budget

By Erika Craig

“If only the budget were a bit larger!” I hear this a lot — being a de-signer, I think it a lot as well. Here are some tips to stretch your budget.

1: Invest in a good color printer. The qual-ity is remarkable for what you pay and it saves time and money spent at Kinko’s. Try to find one that will print larger than 81⁄2 x 11 paper, so that you can create bleeds.

2: The dictionary is your friend. Whenever I need a new concept & cannot think of an idea, I head for the dictionary. Sound strange? Abso-lutely! Does it work? Invariably! Try this: grab a dictionary, close your eyes, thumb through and point to a word. Open your eyes, read the word, and start brainstorming. I like this ‘technique’ because it forces me to think ‘outside of the box.’

3: Consider self-mail-ers. Not only are they multi-functional, they also save quite a bit of money on envelopes. Think be-yond the 81⁄2 x 11 page. You can design self-mail-ers in unusual shapes and sizes, thereby adding flair and interest to your designed piece.

CC 2004 in AtlantaBy Dena Taylor

The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia is the site we have selected for next year’s Co-ordinators’ Conference. The edu-cational program will take place May 20-22, 2004, but the fes-tivities will start with a welcome reception on the evening of May 19 so Coordinators should plan their flights accordingly (in on the afternoon of the 19th, home on the morning of the 23rd).

The hotel is located in a vibrant and busy suburb of Atlanta, close to Emory University. It is surround-ed by restaurants, nightclubs and interesting boutiques, as well as two major shopping malls. Once in-side the hotel, the ambiance is one of elegance and class – perfect for our annual meeting! We were able to negotiate a fabulous room rate of $189/night (first/last non-refund-able upon making the reservation) and we have 35 rooms blocked. Room reservations may be made online at www.ritzcarlton.com by selecting The Ritz-Carlton Buck-head location and entering the ap-propriate dates - four nights, May 19, 20, 21 & 22, 2004. (Make sure you choose the Buckhead Ritz, not the downtown Atlanta Ritz.) Enter Group Code SSCSSCA into the Group Code box. You will receive a confirmation number when the pro-cess is complete. If you prefer to call The Ritz-Carlton Buckhead di-rectly, the number is 404.237.2700. Be sure to mention that you are with the Seattle Study Club!

The program for CC’04 will be similar to prior years in that we will separate veterans and rookies into groups. Rookies will spend a day or so with Greg Tice and others learn-ing the basics. Veterans will spend time with Dr. Michael Cohen and others strategizing how to “raise the bar” in our Study Clubs. The

groups will come together for key-note speakers and social events. We hope to get the brochure in the mail by the end of 2003.

Posting Your Schedule on the

WebsiteBy Lisa Blumenfeld

The Seattle Study Club website is designed to be an easy-to-use resource for you and your members. We encourage you to put your 2003/2004 Study Club schedule up on the site. Follow these instructions and let us know if you have any problems.

The first and most important step is to make sure you are listed as the Coordinator on the site. You can check this by log-ging in and clicking on “Clubs”. Scroll down until you find your Club name and double click on it. All of your Club information will come up. You will see there is a section for the Director and then underneath a section for the Co-ordinator and your name should be listed. If it is not, you will not be able to add your schedule and you will need to call the Seattle Study Club office and have us add you as the Coordinator.

Assuming you are listed as the Coordinator, repeat the above steps until you get to your Club page. Scroll down to the “Events” box and click “Add”. A page will pop up with all of the information that you will need to enter your event. You are only allowed to enter one event at a time. You do not have to enter them in any par-ticular order as they will arrange themselves by date. Once you have entered the event informa-tion, scroll to the bottom and click “Add”. Once you have done that it will take you back to the previous page and then you can repeat the steps to add your next event.

If you have any difficulty enter-ing your data, please do not hesi-tate to call me or anyone at the Seattle Study Club and we will be happy to walk you through it.

Stone Cutter or Cathedral Builder?

By Greg Tice

There’s an old story that goes something like this: A priest is walking through the streets in Italy one hot summer day and sees three stone cutters hard at work. He approaches the men and asks the first one “What are you doing?” “Cutting stone,” the first man replies. The priest then approaches the second man and asks “What are you doing?” The second man replies “Earning 100 lira a day.” Finally the priest approaches the third man and asks “What are you doing?” “I am building a beautiful Cathedral!”

While the best answer to the above question involves under-standing and seeing the big pic-ture, there is value in the other viewpoints as well. The first man takes pride in the task he is per-forming. The second man takes pride in the fact that he is providing for his family. The third man derives tremendous satisfaction from the idea that he is part of a bigger pic-ture. While it is certainly important to recognize the areas from which we derive job satisfaction, it is the stone cutter building the cathedral who is less likely to succumb to the heat. He is driven by purpose. As the Italians say, “Il contesto crea il valore” – context creates value.

It’s the same in our Study Clubs. If we keep our eye on the vision of what we are building, we will derive more satisfaction from the work we do every day. And, we’re far less likely to succumb to the “heat”!