Paul Mormon, OD (l) and Chris Wroten, OD.
NEW YORK—The inaugural GRT Summit—a continuing education and practice enhancement meeting for independent ECPs—will be held Nov. 2-6, 2022, in Springdale, Utah, at the Cliffrose Lodge on the banks of the Virgin River and at the entrance to Zion National Park. The design and foundation of GRT is based on the three pillars of independent optometry: Grow, Retain and Transition. The meeting is intended to create enthusiasm for independent optometry and to demonstrate ways to elevate the practice to new levels, resulting in both personal and professional growth, according to an announcement.

The GRT Summit is the culmination of ideas and design by Dr. Paul Mormon and Dr. Chris Wroten, the organization’s founders who graduated a year apart from the Southern College of Optometry. They share a commitment to independent, private practice optometry and to “the advancement of the scope of practice and keeping optometry at the forefront of eyecare.”
 
According to organizers, the GRT Summit is “not a typical transactional education meeting,” where attendees pay registration fees, attend meetings, receive certificates and return home, with “little to no implementation occurring post meeting.”
 
 
“The GRT Summit is intentionally different, as attendees of the GRT Summit, will be engaged through pre-meeting webinars, collaborative sessions while attending the meeting, and enrollment into mastermind study groups which will meet post-meeting to encourage accountability and implementation success,” organizers said in the announcement. 
 
Onsite at the GRT Summit, attendees will attend traditional medical education sessions and practice enhancement sessions. Medical education will focus on new technologies and procedures in addition to emerging eyecare topics, which will be presented as strategies to grow and transition existing offices to a modern medical practice, organizers said.
 
The practice enhancement sessions will be a deep dive into the processes and protocols that will demonstrate the GRT goals of Growing and Retaining, while making Transitions to an additional location, adding an associate, or developing an associate to a partner.
 
While at the meeting, GRT attendees will have the opportunity to attend group dinners and participate in sunrise and sunset hikes, among other events such as a challenging summit hike of Angels Landing and/or canyoneering in the Zion Narrows.
 
The GRT Summit by design is an exclusive, limited-attendance event for ODs. For more information and registration details and the GRT Movement, please visit www.grtsummit.com, where interested ODs can “Link In” to GRT via Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.