2023 Summit Recap

As many of you know, last weekend was arguably the most significant annual event in the DPC community – the DPC Summit.  With over 300 in-person attendees and over 150 virtual attendees, this was our largest DPC Summit ever! And I’m really underestimating these numbers.

This year, we began the event on Thursday, with an entire day of pre-conference skills workshops. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday saw our traditional “start your practice” and “grow your practice” sessions, but we also had an enhanced “clinical knowledge” track this year (something we started last year). The energy and excitement were off the charts. The sheer volume of people thanking me for the courage to start their practices was incredible.

And if the education sessions weren’t amazing enough, the Saturday evening DPCA Social definitely exceeded all expectations. We had the perfect weather, great food, a fantastic atmosphere, great friends, and the nation’s best DJ (he paid me to say that).

I want to take a moment to give you all a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes; all the work that goes into planning and executing the Summit.

The Summit Planning Committee, chaired by one of the most incredible, reliable docs you’ll ever meet, Dr. Jeff Davenport, met weekly beginning late September thru about 6 weeks before the event, when we spaced them to every other week. Countless hours were spent blinding and pouring over proposals, developing 3 schedules (one for each of the rooms), ensuring a smooth layout of the sessions, dealing with logistics, and securing all necessary supplies.

The committee also worked on developing a new “on-site” mentoring program, where we assigned a more veteran DPC physician to provide some leadership and mentorship on-site to budding or DPC-curious physicians. Over 100 people signed up to be mentees and over 50 volunteered as mentors. Clearly, this demonstrates a need/desire that has been overlooked for far too long. As this was our “beta-test” year, we have great ideas in the works for how to improve it next year or two so stay tuned to see how this develops.

Meanwhile, the party planning committee was hard at work ensuring the best possible Saturday night social. They contacted a handful of possible venues, toured a few, and eventually settled on Crave due to the beautiful rooftop setting and the amazing food (plus their ability to have a rainy-day option).  Dr. Lassey even upgraded his PA system in preparation for our party!

Once the agenda was finalized, speakers all confirmed, and slide decks all submitted, all that was left was anxiously awaiting the start – right?  WRONG! Staff and several DPCA leaders showed up on Wednesday to set up registration, ensure everyone’s name badge was ready to go and filled with the proper tickets, do trial runs of the virtual platform, and ensure the rooms were set up according to our specifications.

Once the conference starts, employees and volunteers help ensure each room runs smoothly, on schedule, and without technical failures. Volunteer leaders also devoted their time to staffing the DPC Alliance booth, where people were able to ask questions of the DPC Alliance leaders, pick up some swag, sign up to join, or just be social for a short while.

And who could forget the DPCA party? 2 hours before the party started, I and 6 dedicated volunteer leaders headed over to Crave to set up the sound system, do sound checks, ensure the venue was set up correctly, and enjoy 1 brief moment for a toast before the true fun began. Having eaten at Crave a few months before, the quality of the food was surprising even to me.  It was excellent when I ate there, but you know how the quality typically drops when it's buffet style? I was beyond surprised when the buffet food was just as excellent as the food I’d eaten months before.

The only disappointment of the entire event was that about half of the in-person participants had to miss Dr. Neal Douglas’s amazing closing speech due to early flights. I highly suggest those who missed it, watch it once the videos are available. You will not be disappointed!

The 2023 DPC Summit was a huge success and Dr. Davenport has left very big shoes for next year’s chair, Dr. Creig Shute, to fill. I have every confidence that Dr. Shute will lead us to another fantastic Summit next year.

We will hold a committee debriefing in the coming weeks to review what went well and what can be improved, and we start planning for 2024 immediately (in fact, the committee application goes live tomorrow).  There will again be a call for presentations, likely in late September, so if you are an engaging speaker and feel like you have DPC or medical education expertise to share, please be ready to submit a proposal!

I am truly humbled by how many of our friends and colleagues came together, and volunteered their time and energy, all to ensure an amazing event! If you see/speak with these people, please take a moment to thank them for all of their hard work to ensure a successful event:

DPCA Planning Committee Members:

• Jeff Davenport
• Tiffany Leonard
• Jennifer Allen
• Kenneth Qiu
• Adriana Raus
• Rob Rosborough
• Jill Scherer
• Creig Shute
• Debbie Sutcliffe
• Tammi Waters

DPCA Social Event planners/setup:

• Tiffany Leonard
• Amanda Primesberger
• Anand Mehta
• Vance Lassey
• Shane Purcell
• Luke Van Kirk
• Jack Forbush

AAFP Staff:

• Bethany Burk
• Ashley Poole
• Annie (sorry I don’t know her last name)

ACOFP Staff:

• Steve Legault
• Lyndsey Aspaas
• Emily (again sorry I don’t know her last name)

And if you see these people, please thank them for helping represent DPC Alliance at our booth (I’m probably forgetting people – SORRY!):

• Vance Lassey
• Anand Mehta
• Debbie Sutcliffe
• Jack Forbush
• Doug Farrago
• Debbie Farrago
• Tammi Waters
• Shane Purcell
• Tiffany Leonard

Thank you everyone for your help!

Tiffany Leonard

P.S. I was forced to include myself in those lists - I didn't want to.