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President's Message
Survey Says...
By
John J. Riggs, OD, FAAO
I remember watching “Family Feud” once when the category was name an occupation that requires good vision, Richard Dawson said, “Survey says:” and along with policeman and fireman, one of the answers was optometrist. I also remember hearing COA Executive Director Elizabeth Brutvan speak about data driven decision making at a COA presidents’ council and leadership conference. Her topic was leadership and she showed examples of successful associations using data to make their decisions. It was with this thought of data driven decision making that I proposed a survey of the membership, which was in our April Bulletin.
There were two main questions in the survey. First, are you happy with the Handlery Hotel, our new meeting place? I am happy to report that one hundred percent of the responses were positive in regards to exhibits, food, parking, and audio-visual. Eighty-eight percent said the new hotel was a convenient location. One person requested a meeting place in either La Jolla or Carmel Mountain. Having surveyed over twenty hotels last year and placing a dot on a map for every member, I found out that the Handlery was by far our best choice if we wanted to keep six, two hour CE’s per year free to members. In the La Jolla area, dinner prices were easily $20 more than in Mission Valley. Another key piece of data was that forty percent of the membership had San Diego as their COA address. That means they either worked or lived in San Diego making the area between the 8 and the 52 freeways the most central. For most of you, you’ll be happy to know we will be staying at the Handlery in 2009.
The second part of the survey dealt with the schedule of our Thursday and Sunday continued education. The three options were: a) keep it at three, five hour Sundays and six, two hour Thursdays, b) three, five hour and two, six hour Sundays, and c) five, five hour Sundays and one, two hour Thursday. The results were a: 76 %, b: 12 %, and c: 12 %. I am again happy to report that we will have three, five hour Sundays and six, two hour Thursdays of CE in 2009.
The rest of the survey asked about volunteering at either the Vista Community Clinic or the Lions Optometric Vision Clinic; possible locations for the Holiday Party; and preferred CE speakers. The results were quite varied. For example, some said they already volunteered or that one of the clinics was too far. Some of the hotel requests were the U.S. Grant, downtown, Mission Valley, or La Jolla. No CE speaker was named twice. There was one that requested practice management and one that specifically requested no practice management. While we can not please everyone, the data suggests we are pleasing most.
Last Updated by Admin on 2008-06-01 01:48:42.