Studer Group conference to bring crowds
STAFF REPORTS Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

Studer Group, an international health care consulting firm based in Gulf Breeze, hosted one of its popular seminars, “Taking You and Your Organization to the Next Level” (TYYO) on Pensacola Beach, Nov. 29-30. A second seminar will be held early in 2007 on Pensacola Beach on Jan. 17 - 18.

The sold out seminar, presented by Studer Group founder and CEO Quint Studer and Studer Group coach experts, are expected to bring 325 participants and their families from all across the nation to the Gulf Coast, including 25 health system CEOs, 21 medical directors and physicians and three health care board trustees. Over 65 hospitals and health systems from over 25 states and Ontario, Canada will be sending their leaders to learn more about successful organizational change.

“We are delighted and pleased to be able to expose such a large number of people from all across the country to the beauty of our region and everything the Gulf Coast has to offer,” said Studer. “Pensacola has such a rich history, beautiful beaches, and great people - it’s the perfect place to hold our seminars. With the passing of the Maritime Park referendum this past September, we hope to bring even more seminars into our area.”

This large influx of people to the Gulf Coast will bring with it a large number of tourism dollars and is expected to be a big boon to the tourism industry in Northwest Florida.

“This is usually the offseason for Pensacola Beach hotels, but we’ve [had] hotel rooms completely booked the week following Thanksgiving at both the Hilton and Hampton Inn on Pensacola Beach,” said seminar organizer Judy Harrison. “Many of our attendees [stayed] through the weekend and enjoy[ed] the beach, tour[ed] downtown and the Naval Air Museum, [ate] at our local restaurants and [got] their Christmas shopping done early at our malls and shops.”

Seminar attendance is not just limited to national organizations. Local organizations, such as the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, Covenant Hospice, the Pensacola News Journal, and the Home Builders Association of West Florida, will be sending their leaders to learn more about successful organizational change as well.

Buzz Ritchie, president and CEO of Gulf Coast Community Bank and president of the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, is planning to attend.

“The principles that Quint Studer teaches can be applied to just about any organization - from fast food to banking and everything in between,” said Ritchie. “Businesses in our area have the unique opportunity to drive just a few miles down the road and learn skills that have the potential to dramatically change our business operations for the better. What other small town can boast of an internationally successful company right in its own backyard?”

The TYYO seminars focus on the keys to successful organizational change through hands-on sessions that provide the strategies, tactics, and tools necessary to create a cultural transformation within participants’ organizations. Attendees will learn evidence-based leadership principles, known as Studer Group’s Nine PrinciplesSM, and the application of the Five Pillars, which are the heart of service and operational excellence.

Studer Group is a health care consulting firm devoted to teaching evidence-based tools and processes that organizations can immediately use to create and sustain outcomes in service and operational excellence. Partner organizations see clear results in the areas of higher employee retention, greater patient and customer satisfaction, healthy financials, growing market share, and improvements in various other quality indicators. Studer Group has

worked with hundreds of health care systems, hospitals, and medical groups since the firm’s inception in 1999 and additionally is operating in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

For more information on the Taking You and Your Organization seminars, please contact Judy Harrison at (850) 343-0211 or email at judy@studergroup.com.