Everyone else has done such a great job recapping specific moments of Medtronic’s Diabetes Advocate Forum that it would be foolish to think I could add anything else to that narrative. But there has been one prominent, lingering theme that I’ve taken away above all others: listening makes all the difference.
Medtronic made it an early mission to articulate that they have heard all of the feedback surrounding their launch of the 530g with Enlite, specifically the problem with calling a device an Artificial Pancreas Device System: Threshold Suspend with an audience that will only read/hear “Artificial Pancreas”.
They also did an admirable job of hearing our feedback. Most of the time a simple “we hear you” is all you will get out of Presidents, Vice Presidents and other similarly impressive job titles. But we got more than that. Instead of slides and “any questions?”, we were interjecting thoughts and feedback throughout the day’s conversation. Topics that were worth revisiting, of which there were many, were added to the “parking lot” and given follow up time at the end of the first day.
A Consequence of Hypoglycemia. 