If you weren’t able to make it out to Optometry’s Meeting in San Diego, or missed some speakers if you were there, this article offers a glimpse into a few of those speakers who were mainly directed towards optometry students. Hunter Chapman (AOSA SCO Trustee-Elect) recaps comedian Karyn Ruth White, while Keylee Brown (AOSA IAUPR Trustee) offers her notes from Dr. David Kading’s and Dr. Mile Brujic’s TVCI lecture.
On Thursday, June 27, AOSA welcomed all student attendees for Optometry’s Meeting to the AOSA General Opening Session, lead by AOSA President James Deom. After introductions, speeches, and awards presentations, a comedian entertained the large crowd of students.
With powerful and hilarious insights into our always-interesting world, comedian Karyn Ruth White catered to the optometric crowd by illustrating ways to reduce stress with laughter. In order to uplift a day that is constantly beaten down with stress from academic and personal matters, White humorously lead us through her acronym of LAUGH. For the “L,” she taught us the importance of finding any and every way to laugh at our “humanness.” No one wants to live in a world without humor, so don’t guard your laughter! Instead, use it to brush away your human mistakes.
For “A,” ask yourself two questions, 1) Is there anything funny about this? 2) Am I going to let this ruin my day? For the first question, it’s difficult to laugh at ourselves if/when we forget to take out our working distance after retinoscopy during a practical (you think I would make this up?), but it can be pretty hilarious when someone else does it. The point is to gain a holistic perspective of your scenario to find humor in it. For the second question, if someone merges in front of you on the road and makes you slow your car, don’t let that ruin your day. Guess what, he’s not coming back, so get over it!
“U” stands for undoing stress in the moment. We all have stress in optometry school, and thus we all need ways to manage the stress we accrue each day. Some students play intramural sports, run, or lift weights. If you can help eliminate stress from the source, find a way to do so. For example, sometimes negative people can cause stress for you, so surround yourself with those who bring out the best in you – not those who sour you with their frequent pure negativity.
“G” stands for get really good at complaining – not to complain all the time but become better at it. If there is nothing that can be done to change a certain situation, you can easily be humorous with a friend about your complaint without starting World War III by sparking some unnecessary and meaningless confrontation. She included this quote in her standup, “Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way.”
She ended her talk with “H,” saying “humortunities” are everywhere. On average, kids laugh hundreds of times per day, while adults only laugh dozens of times per day. Therefore, there truly are humortunities all around us, and we have to be cognizant of them in order for us to have a better outlook on each day throughout the journey in our academic and professional careers. So the next time you wake up in the morning and begin to face the day, always remember to L.A.U.G.H.
During the TCVI lecture on Friday, June 28th, 2 entrepreneurs from Optometric Insights were featured, Dr. David Kading and Dr. Mile Brujic. This was not a typical lecture – it was more interactive than most. First, they told students to take their phones out and like their Facebook page. Then they gave out their phone numbers for people to text in questions to them during the presentation. They gave a lot of helpful insights to different practice set ups due to their slightly different experiences. One did a residency and one did not. They also live in two geographic regions that differ slightly: one lives in Ohio and the other in Washington state. The two men had a funny dynamic of playful joking and banter back and forth.
As they explained the dynamics of their practices and gave advice on what works best for them, Dr. Kading said one thing he recommends to do when owning your own practice is to outsource tasks in your office when possible. For example, you can hire a third-party service that can take care of things like payroll. If you had it done in your office and had staff turnover, it would be a problem. Outsourcing creates consistency and takes more work off of the owner and manager of the office.
They gave lots of good advice and based part of their presentation on a book they recommended called It Starts With Why. They said if you make a slogan for your company, do not explain what it is that you sell but instead why you sell what you sell. This was a very interesting tidbit on marketing for your own practice. The lecture as a whole was very informative and helpful for future decision making after we graduate from school.
What speakers and events did you find the most educational, fun or interesting?
