W-a-a-a-y back when I was still a kid wanting to be a writer, I sulked to my English teacher that no matter what I write I discover someone else has already written about it so how would I ever make my mark?
Ah, grown-up wisdom! She explained to me that it's not what I write about but how I write about it. "There's nothing new under the sun," she told me. "But each of us has our own unique way of expressing a thought or an experience and that is how a writer makes her mark."
This holds true, of course, for how we service our clients as well. What we offer in the way of service is not nearly as important as how we handle this service. We each have our unique ways about us and these characteristics resonate and help us build successful enterprises. However, even though it's true that it's all in the "how," the "nothing new" adage is no longer accurate. These days, thanks to digital technologies, everything is new under the sun! As I've said in several columns before, it has turned all of us upside down (think amusement-park-ride upside down) and made all of us students again.
I had the great privilege of being just the right age in the late 1960s. I thought that, historically speaking, it couldn't get any better, but this new digital world is so phenomenal, it trumps the 60s ten-fold. Coming from a former hippie, that's saying a lot!
With all the new things we have to learn and master, there's no time to slack off and grow old. We can't; it's akin to submitting to the Morlocks. (Google that if you don't recognize it.) So, being that September is the start of show season here at LMT--because this is when our industry's educators begin sending in their clinic descriptions for LAB DAY 2012--we chose "education" as our 2012 show-season theme. Dubbed The Education Connection, the next several issues are filled with stories about education in our community, including market trends, news, profiles, courses and more.
About the time this issue arrives in your mailbox, I'll be boarding a plane headed to China for a two-week tour; half vacation, half business.
In November, I'll share some of my impressions of the dental laboratories I visit; it will serve as an update on what we've reported on in the past. It's become mandatory to keep tabs on what goes on around the world; in other words, it's an educational necessity.
To that end, LMT introduced The BRIDGE in May. You will be seeing our own advertising campaign for it regularly now [see page 36 in this issue, for instance] because this is The BRIDGE to the future of our community. It enables you to experience the interactive energy created by LAB DAY, 24/7.
This year, we're making both pre-show and on-site show registration extremely simple: once you're logged in to The BRIDGE, you'll only need to click the "I'm attending" tab to register for the show! Awesome, yes? So if you haven't yet joined us there--at LMTmag.com--do so now. Similar to a Facebook "event" page, once we post all the show clinicians, you'll be able to check in to let others know which seminar sessions you plan to attend. You can even contact the clinicians through The BRIDGE to ask questions or make suggestions about content you hope they'll share during their workshop.*
The BRIDGE is another wonderful educational venue and we think it's pretty cool. It's not just what it is but how it's done! It's all part of The Education Connection and it's all new; everything is new under the sun.
*Initial clinic descriptions will be posted in late October when pre-registration begins.
