Guess who's visiting Insulet next week!

Me! Isn't that crazy?!? A few months ago I responded to a email questionnaire from Insulet about former podders. As those of you that have been around a few years may remember, the kids had a really, really rough transition to podding and in the end I offered a bribe to the kids to switch pumps. It worked on one of them, making us a current and former podder household. Anyhow, Insulet contacted me after the questionnaire and long-story-short, we (kids, DH and I) were invited to Insulet. We've all been looking forward to it - I love tech stuff and market research and forums and discussions and am so excited. And the kids have every moment of free time scheduled with all of the sights to see in the area

I'm just throwing this out there in case anyone has anything they would love to be able to share with the peeps at Insulet. The kids have lists of things to ask and suggest, as do I, but there is always another idea or a new suggestion and I would be happy to add them to our list. Just PM me or reply.

And if anyone knows of a great tour, museum, restaurant or sight in Boston, please let me know!

 

Wow, what a unique opportunity!!

 

We're in the Boston area. Happy to give you some ideas... my kids are (almost) 8 and (almost) 13. PM me and let me know how many days you have and what you like to do. Sounds like fun!

 

My daughter is so jealous of your tour.

We saw the Constitution, Revere House, and Minuteman National Park. All were great!

 

Thanks! I just sent you a PM

 

My daughter is so, so excited. She wants to be an endo when she grows up and seeing all these medical people and getting to talk about the future of diabetes management is right up her alley. I printed out the itinerary they sent and she has it on a clipboard so she can reference it and make her plans. She's a hoot

 

I am so jealous! My daughter (and I) both LOVE her OmniPod and would love to check out the operations in Insulet-Land...

Please tell the nice Insulet folks that my daughter and I are happy Pod people, but would like to see the PDM enter the 21st century. Heck, I'd settle for just a couple feet more range; lately it seems like my daughter has to practically swallow the PDM before the Pod acknowledges that it has received commands from the PDM. And if you can score any Insulet tee-shirts, pens, sticky pads, coffee mugs, baseball caps, etc., I would be happy to pay handsomely for a piece of Insulet memorabilia.

Have a great time and tell us all about it after you get back home!

 

Stacy, I just sent you a long message but it's not showing up in my sent folder! Can you let me know if you got it? I pasted it into word so can send it via regular email if you didn't get it - just PM me your email address.

 

Stacy, bumping this to see if you got my message!

 

I did, thank you! Not having my computer, replying was hard. Finally pulled out the laptop

We listened to every suggestion - saved us from a few bad decisions. And the boys loved Fenway and we're all excited about whale watching!

 

Stacy,
Did you and your two kiddos have a great time?
You alluded to some improvements that Insulet might possibly have in the works on another thread. When you get a chance, please tell us about your time in Pod Land (in excruciating detail, if possible!) I am on the edge of my seat...
Thanks in advance!

 

My first box of pods will be delivered today. Count me among those who would very much like to hear about your visit.

Thanks

 

I would be happy to share each and every detail because the trip was that awesome, but I was given a list of things that I can't discuss yet...and that list included all of the really cool stuff.

I can say that we had a blast. Every person I met at Insulet was friendly, forward-thinking and enthusiastic. We were warmly welcomed and able to see some great things. We learned a lot about the current system - how the pods work, how they are made, how they were developed - and the kids loved seeing oversized models and test videos. We saw an R&D lab, which was absolutely fascinating. DD made some high speed videos, which was the high point of her day that day - they even saved them for her so she could bring them home We met some amazing thinkers - including people that actually designed the pods! DS had a bit of hero worship about them - talked about it the whole way back to the hotel that afternoon. I did a Q&A-type talk with employees. Admitting that I have written posts called things like "Why I hate Insulet" was a little awkward, but they didn't give me any grief We saw some things that are in development and were so impressed with them. There was a bit of a a fight over who got to play first because DH and I tried for dibs but the kids, especially DS, kept reminding us that he was the only podder in the group and should therefore have dibs on everything. *laugh* This is where I would love to tell you everything...but I can't. I was so excited about the potential that I asked DD about the possibility of her switching back to pods...and that is a conversation I NEVER expected to have. I had so much fun and am so glad we did this. I would volunteer to be a permanent focus group participant if it ever came up. I'd work there if I could. The attitude of the employees and the overall vibe was just so positive that it changed my entire mindset about pods. And, for those of you that have been around long enough to know just how bad our pod experience was, this is probably pretty surprising.

I'll try to figure out how to post some pics of the trip. And if you have questions, please ask (here or in a PM) but I'll warn you now that I probably won't be able to answer them. And it's killing me because I want everyone to know how cool everything was!

 

I was pretty much expecting that you had been sworn to secrecy about the exciting stuff.

I really do appreciate whatever you are able to share, however, including the pics which clearly show that your daughter and son had a great time!

Just knowing that your daughter might be considering a switch back to the Pod in the future makes me hopeful and excited about changes and innovations that may happen in the not-too-distant future! Thanks for sharing.

That chocolate Pod is so amazing; can't wait to show my daughter the pic.

 

Thanks for sharing. I find it hard to believe that the company would share things with the. "General public" that they didn't want the "general public" to know about. If they shared it with you why not share it with me or Rose or whomever. I kind of understand not putting it on a forum but to not share it with us privately is disappointing.

 

I took my pics down. Figured this was too anonymous of a board to leave their pictures up. I'll PM you with it, though.

 

Well, this part of the general public agreed to confidentiality so it is what it is. They can share with anyone they like, but I cannot.

 

It just seems very odd that a company would bring someone in off the street, tell them these "secrets" and then hope they don't say anything. Unless they had you sign a Confidentiality Agreement. But if not, then it would be stupid of them to give out that kind of information. Very odd. Oh well, whatever.

 

Stacy,

Sounds like a cool trip and thanks for sharing what you can. Since you've been behind the curtain, maybe you can shed some light on something that has always befuddled me about the PDM. Why in the heck is it so big? It's a calculator and a BG meter right? I have a calculator that is the size of a watch. And there are BG meters out there that are tiny, so why is the PDM so darn big? I don't get it. Thanks for any insight.

David

 

I've had the same thought so many times! Why not make something that fits in a pocket?? We talked about the history and intent of the pod shape/size but didn't talk about the history of the PDM so I'm not sure how it was developed.

We did see a possible, future PDM. I can't share any details (sorry, but as I mentioned above, I agreed to confidentiality) but I can say that it was the thing we fought over because we all wanted to check it out so much. Based on what we were shown, Insulet has really listened to users on the PDM and have been taking their comments to heart. Not just with the PDM but with everything we talked about, there was a sense of having been heard. I think this was a huge point for me because that was a big cause of my frustration with them when we first on the pods. I never felt like the person on the other end of the line cared, or even listened. I was just another frustrated caller in a long queue of frustrated callers. After our visit, it was like, "So they actually *were* listening."