March 1999 was a significant time in our history
for many reasons. The one and only Legoland
outside of Europe opened in California, the Dow
Jones Industrial Average closed above the 10,000
mark for the first time and the concept
for Dentaltown.com was
hatched. Our country was in the
midst of the dot-com boom that
seemed it would never end, and a
dentist in Phoenix, Arizona, was
finishing his MBA degree at
Arizona State University when he
had the idea to stake a claim for the
dental profession online. Of course, that dentist is
Dr. Howard Farran and 15 years later he continues
to lead the company that brought dentists together
online from every corner of our planet.
Today, we are proud to say that we have members
from 206 different countries; essentially everywhere
you would find a dentist, you can find a
Townie. Our membership grows at an astonishing
rate of 45 members per day.1 Townies contribute to
the conversation online at the average rate of 1,740
posts per day. There is no doubt that this is the place
for members of the dental profession to meet and
interact online. While mainstream forms of social
media such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ allow
us to share some information, Dentaltown.com is a
true hub for the profession because we have a robust
library of online CE courses, a vast dental classified
section and a growing selection of dental blogs to
complement our massive message boards.
Of course the magazine you are holding in
your hand or reading on a digital device provides
an additional pathway to
our fellow dental professionals.
While some of the content
from our website is
shared in the pages of our
magazine, the vast majority
of the magazine is brand new content each and
every month. The magazine provides new, useful
content for your practice and serves to spark new
conversations online.
Next month we will celebrate the 12th annual
Townie Meeting in Las Vegas. This annual event
brings our virtual world to life as Townies from all
over converge on Las Vegas for a weekend of education,
entertainment and camaraderie. If you
have not experienced this event in the past, put it
on your list of things to do. We have many returning
attendees.
As we enjoy the passing of another year, I hope
you will take this moment to examine how you
celebrate the passing of time in your practice. Do
you do something special on the anniversary of
your practice opening for business or the day you
purchased the practice from another dentist? Do
you celebrate the anniversaries of your team members?
In my practice, we do both. Our anniversary
is an easy one to remember because we opened
on tax day: April 15, 2002. Each year we do something
for the patients who come in that day as well
as our team. It is customary to order lunch when
one of our team is celebrating an anniversary and
we do the same for the practice anniversary. Use
this special celebration to reflect on accomplishments
and look forward to continued success. If
you need to blow out a candle to seal the deal,
then by all means, order a cake too! If you want to
wish us happy birthday, add it to the comments
after this article. If you want to follow me online,
try Twitter: @ddsTom.
References
- Based on data from the last six months.
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