Medical Devices Group is your virtual workspace: Ask experts, get answers

There are three subscription packages.

Website only. The Website only package is free and you can use most assets in accordance with our Terms & Conditions.

Other assets require registration, including access to email communications, sponsored content, and the ability to leave comments in our Community section.

The Website only package includes:

• Medical Devices Group on LinkedIn access (requires a LinkedIn account);
• Medical Devices Group communications (messages via email);
• Medical Devices Group webinars;
• Medical Devices Group resources;
• 1,000+ Medical Devices Group discussions;
• two podcasts: the Medical Devices Group podcast and Eavesdropping on Joe Hage; and,
• a medical device events calendar we update at least monthly.

MDG Premium. MDG Premium is a paid subscription service. It includes everything in the Website only package plus:

• Direct message access. 24/7/365 access to any/all Website only subscribers for easy conversation and collaboration.
• Weekly team meetings. You’re invited to our weekly call. It’s held on GoToMeeting, where we can share screens and see and hear one another. A typical meeting features a guest on a specific industry topic and you control the agenda.
• Public consultations. Have a regulatory question? Instead of ‘asking the group’ (old way) and hoping for a qualified answer, let me get expert Rob Packard and Michelle Lott to answer you directly. I’ll invite them to our next weekly team meeting.
• Member directory. You gain immediate access to the entire MDG Premium member directory, including titles, companies, LinkedIn URLs, email addresses, and phone numbers.
• Premium content. Immediate access to the MDG Dropbox with assets available exclusively for paying members. Assets include templates, worksheets, and procedures used by the medical device industry’s most successful companies.
• Discounted admission. 10% discounts to any Medical Devices Group-sponsored event, including our flagship 10x Medical Device Conferences, held anywhere in the world. This alone can cover the cost of your subscription many times over.

I believe this is a valuable subscription, unique to the industry, and worth far more than $49/month. If you agree, join us! I delight in helping others.

MDG Enterprise. Access to MDG Enterprise is highly variable and depends on which customized services you require. These can include everything from product design to regulatory submission to marketing strategy and sales. Please reach Medical Devices Group Chairman Joe Hage to discuss these services.

Your subscription gives you access to carefully vetted, trusted associates I know personally. In many cases, I have used their services or recommended them to satisfied Medical Devices Group members.

Initial conversations over MDG Premium are almost invariably free of charge. You can direct message another subscriber. You can ask questions in our weekly team meeting.

Beyond this, how each group member guards or charges for their time is at their discretion. Many offer a free initial consultation so you can determine if you’d like to work together.

Slack is a cloud-based set of proprietary team collaboration software tools and online services, developed by Slack Technologies headquartered in San Francisco, California. Slack Technologies ($WORK) is a multi-billion dollar, publicly traded company.

Using MDG Premium is like texting on your cellphone. Watch this short illustrational video:

Slack is far more efficient than email because:

• Your email is already overcrowded;
• MDG Premium has no spam (violations should immediately be reported and are not tolerated);
• Emails produce a message in your outbox AND my inbox. A few replies and forwards later, you have 10 copies of the same message. In Slack, there is one continuous string of conversation.

A direct message is a private message between you and one or more subscribers. I cannot see these.

A direct message can be one-to-one or you can invite up to eight subscribers to participate in a direct message.

A channel is a discussion board around a specific topic. The leading hashtag (#) denotes a channel. #careers and #engineering are two channels in the MDG Premium workspace.

Upon registration, you are automatically enrolled in these 11 channels:

• #announcements to make system-wide announcements.
• #baby-pictures to make us laugh.
• #general-interest to share industry-related news.
• #how-to-slack to learn the Slack platform.
• #introduce-yourself to introduce yourself to the community.
• #just-for-fun to warm the community with off-topic videos, hobbies, and the like.
• #meet-in-person to let us know what events you’re attending.
• #our-weekly-call to participate in our weekly Open Mic calls.
• #pet-lovers to share our furry loved ones.
• #what-do-you-need to ask the community for expertise and resources.
• #marketing (my specialty) because I believe everyone is a marketer of their business.

Everything about my business rests heavily on my reputation as a trusted resource serving the medical device industry. Therefore, there is no way to “become” an 🔥 MDG Expert 🔥 unless I’ve worked with you personally, come to know you, and/or referred satisfied clients your way.

I’m certainly open to learning more about you, though. Only when I can stake my reputation on you will I consider giving you MDG Expert status.

Many subscribers consider these types of messages unwelcome and spammy. Use your best judgment, respect your colleagues, and report offenders to me at JHage@MedicalDevicesGroup.net.

Potential spammers, I’ll be merciless. This is my home. Don’t waste my friends’ time. We’re here to work. ❤️

MDG Premium is a virtual workspace. Use the same judgment you would use in a professional setting, much as you would in a traditional “corporate job” in an office.

Of particular note, messages you share in a #channel are similar to a “reply all” to the entire company, so use these judiciously. The “entire company” doesn’t want to receive a message saying, “Thanks.” or “Welcome, Theo!” These types of sentiments are best expressed in one-to-one direct messages.

MDG Premium is designed to be “frictionless.” Think of writing a member as you would “stopping by their office” in a physical location. Sometimes they’re “not at their desk.” Other times, they enjoy the interruption. You do not need an introduction. Just being on the network is all the introduction you need.

Back to our “stopping by their office” example, if a coworker seems perpetually unresponsive, please alert me. (This is doubly true if the coworker is an 🔥 MDG Expert 🔥.) I will intercede and may, in a worst-case scenario and in my sole discretion, decide to end a subscriber’s membership. The spirit of MDG Premium is collaboration and members are expected to act accordingly.

Christopher Taylor founded the Medical Devices Group in 2008.

Joe Hage has led the LinkedIn Group since Chris’ untimely passing in late 2011. Joe created MedicalDevicesGroup.net in 2012 and introduced MDG Premium in 2019. Now “Joe” will talk in the first person.

I primarily do three things for a living.

• Consulting. As consultant, I specialize in marketing strategy and communications, lead generation, and website development for medical device and related companies. See https://MedicalMarcom.com for information and hundreds of medical device marketing articles.
• Publishing. As publisher, I lead MedicalDevicesGroup.net and the Medical Devices Group (350,000+ members) on LinkedIn. MDG Premium is a necessary evolution of the group.
• Hosting. As conference producer, I used to host (Pre-COVID) 10x Medical Device Conferences to give the industry a venue to forge and cement relationships in person. You can also hire me to host your event as emcee or engage me as a speaker or keynote. Well, at least virtually, for now.

If “working with” means you like me to promote your webinar, whitepaper, event, or content,” email me and let’s talk about it.

I gladly feature content I believe will educate subscribers. I will not feature anything I personally don’t believe will provide value.

I seek compensation only if you want the names of subscribers who access your content.

No. It’s just little ‘ol me here in my home office, feet up, dog in my lap. I have a virtual team of contractors and trusted advisors with whom I collaborate, if you believe we should work together in that capacity.

If you’re looking for work, give https://medgroup.biz/needs a read. It’s the best way I can help you.

I stopped trying to explain LinkedIn long ago. My typical answer now is simply, “Because LinkedIn.”

They made an inexplicable mess of what could have been an ideal social network for businesspeople.

While groups may have died a natural death anyway, LinkedIn certainly hastened its demise with a series of boneheaded moves. See how LinkedIn destroyed groups if you’re a glutton for punishment.

Silver linings, if there are any, is they brought back polls and introduced a new feature called “notifications” in July 2019. I can “notify” the group of an announcement, but even that’s triply flawed because:

• You have to be on LinkedIn to see the “little red dot” notification;
• If you visit LinkedIn infrequently, you’re hit with potentially hundreds of notifications (in which case you ignore them all, and you’ve likely missed anything timely); and,
• LinkedIn, in its myopia, “decided” you would be interested in the content. The algorithm is, of course, a closely guarded secret – but I can tell you LinkedIn decided my WIFE (who co-manages the Group!) would not be interested. Yes, despite repeated efforts, there seems no way to send her notifications. I’ve come to begrudgingly accept, if something is broken on LinkedIn, assume it will forever be.

Email me! You’ll find I’m very approachable and supportive. I’m an extrovert and get my energy from helping people just like you!

If you got down to this last FAQ, you’re obviously curious about what we’ve built.

Good. Then I’ll see you on the other side in our MDG Premium workspace.

Talk soon.