Tips for AAO 2022—Ms. Collins: "Your Practice Will Reap the Benefits If You Invest Some Time in Networking"

Stephanie Collins, COA, MBA, OCSR, is CEO at Austin Retina Associates in Austin, Texas. The retina-only practice has 10 physicians, 17 locations, and 200 employees. She serves the AAOE as its Board Chair and on its Content Committee.

My first annual meeting—2011. I think my first annual meeting was Orlando in 2011. The Academy and AAOE are constantly trying to keep the meeting content relevant, so I enjoy seeing all the new speakers and topics each year. 

My tip for getting the most out of AAO 2022—go out and network. I love the camaraderie at the annual meeting. This is a great place to establish connections with people who are in the same specialty and experiencing many of the same challenges. Later on, when you are in a bind, they can provide you with great advice or a shoulder to lean on. We can truly relate to each other and turn to each other for ideas and tips to better serve our practices, staff, and patients. The people you meet here can help you throughout the year.

Best lessons I’ve learned at AAOE presentations—anything to do with lean. At our practice, we have really embraced the lean approach to process improvement, and I love to hear how others are using it. They are utilizing the same lean tools that we use but applying them in different areas.

Biggest rookie mistake—overbooking yourself! I have made the mistake of booking days of back-to-back classes, leaving no time to network and meet new people. We can only absorb so much information in a certain amount of time, so make sure you take a break.

This content is excerpted from the Subspecialty Day edition of AAO 2022 News, the newspaper distributed at the convention center.

Read more news about Subspecialty Day and AAO 2022.