There have been many blogs posted recently about the Townie meeting and what a great, fun learning experience it is. So, I won't bore you with more of that. This year is my fifth Townie meeting and it will be a very different and special one for me. For the last four, I traveled out from New York to Las Vegas with my dental school roommate and long-time friend Pete Gardell. This year, I am still traveling with Pete and also decided to bring along my entire staff and my wife, who is also my office manager.

I wanted to do this for several reasons. First, as a thank you to all of them for their hard work and loyalty to me over the years. My wife has been working with me since I started my practice over 22 years ago; two others have been with me for 12 years and another for six years. Many months ago I presented this idea to them and they all knew of the great times I have had at the Townie Meeting every year. They rearranged their home schedules and agreed to come along (one will even be away for her and her husband's wedding anniversary). Secondly, from a staff development perspective, there is a fantastic speaker lineup. There is a nationally recognized practice management consultant, an insurance guru and some great motivational speakers.

So, at this point, so far so good. We are all on the plane and will be landing soon. Tonight is a free night. A nice wine and cheese reception and then dinner and gambling. Tomorrow is a long day, culminating in a Cinco de Mayo costume party. This has been a great thing for everyone. They banded together to come up with a group costume and made it from scratch. We will be a six pack of Corona, complete with foamy tops, limes and a six pack holder made of boxes. We, however, are a group of five so we adopted Pete for the night so that the six-pack will be complete.

I promise to write a blog about the overall results of this trip on the flight home. I can't see it as anything but a fantastic experience for everyone. Keep your fingers crossed for me. I may even post a picture of our costumes if they look good. I have made myself one promise going into this. I will never introduce them as "my girls." In my opinion, we all work together toward a common goal and are colleagues. Stay tuned...