Life in the booth at CVC East

This weekend our company hosted CVC East in Baltimore, Md., one of our three national conventions. And as always, I scheduled some time in our booth. There's no other single location where it's possible to meet and mingle with so many of Veterinary Economics' readers, advertisers, sources, and contributors in one place, and even to occasionally introduce them to each other and watch the magic happen.

Usually I spend my workdays interacting with words and images on the computer screen or voices on the phone, so the CVC exhibit hall is a dramatic reminder that this is a world of flesh and blood, technology and innovation—a thriving, buzzing, pulsating world of tangible life. I must admit, too, that it's gratifying to watch veterinarians and team members approach our glossy table full of magazines (Veterinary Economics, DVM Newsmagazine, Veterinary Medicine, and Firstline) and say, “I read these cover to cover. I couldn't run my practice without them.”

The little glow upon hearing that never gets old. Of course, we boothies also have to deal with occasional sticker shock—“Are you kidding? This book costs 89 bucks?”— but that's an opportunity to expound on the value of the content of the materials we produce, something I feel very comfortable talking about.

Come by to see me in the booth at CVC Central in Kansas City, Mo., in August. And if you want to make me really happy, tell me how much you love Vet Econ.

P.S. Did you think about coming to Baltimore? In about a month, we'll be selling the audio recordings in our online store.

You'll get a CD with the mp3 files to load onto your computer or your iPod. So you could still catch some great CE. But if you want the crab cakes with that, you'll have to join us at the Inner Harbor next year.