Verona, Wisconsin – XGM At Epic

April 27 – May 1

After a nearly three year absence, I made my triumphant return to Verona, Wisconsin, for the Epic-hosted eXpert Group Meeting, or XGM.

In 2023, I made my first visit to the Epic System’s Intergalactic Headquarters in Verona, Wisconsin for a certification in Care Everywhere. I got to see much of the Voyager building, the large, horseshoe-shaped building where many of their learning rooms are. I also got a chance to explore another building where there was a Stairway to Heaven, and an Elevator to Hell, but aside from those two buildings, I saw little else.

Fast forward to 2025, I Was asked to attend XGM as a representative of our Phoenix module. Budget constraints prevented me from attending, but in early February, a new invitation was extended by my director. I accepted and made arrangements for a hotel room and to drive myself up to Wisconsin.

After working a half-day on Monday, April 27, I departed for the 4+ hour drive, arriving at the Wyndham Garden hotel in Fitchburg around 6:20 or so. I checked in, settled in my room for a moment, then headed across the parking lot to a Pick N Save grocery store for some healthier dinner choices for the week.

The next morning, I got up, did my workouts and headed downstairs to the hotel lobby to wait for the 7:25 bus to the Epic campus. I was taken aback by how cold it was in the area. For some reason, I had it in my head we would be experiencing high 60s or low 70s while I was there. Come to find out, it would only hit the low 60s at the highest, but it spent most of the week in the upper 50s. I didn’t have a jacket with me so I sadly spent most of my time indoors.

The Epic Campus

The bus took us to a different building than that I had visited during my last visit.

We entered the campus and wound our way through the rolling, green farmland, complete with farm buildings, like silos, barns and farmhouses. These buildings were either existing when Epic took over the property and retrofitted for their purposes, or were built by Epic for specific purposes, and designed to fit the aesthetic.

Construction was taking place during our time there- cranes towered over many of the existing buildings as the framework for new buildings began to take shape nearby.

Back on the bus, we approached a large building with a natural rock-looking facade, complete with waterfalls.

As I exited the bus and headed toward one of the sets of double doors into the building, I passed by a huge tree troll greeting us just off the bus.

I went in, got in line to register my arrival and was given a tote with a printed agenda and a hard-backed notebook, and a large badge holder with a pen and a folded up map/brochure thing with printed transportation information and such.

We entered the building, which is called Deep Space, on the Magma level. Doors from the different levels of the building led to a massive auditorium that sunk even lower than the Magma level we were on, and was hence dubbed the Core level.

Escalators and stairs led up from Magma level to the Rock level, then on to the Dirt level, then the Grass level and finally the Sky level.

From there, I walked through the open space and soon found myself in the familiar Voyager Hall, their Learning Campus.

Between Deep Space and Voyager Hall is a large area referred to as Epicenter, home of three large theaters (much smaller than the Deep Space auditorium but larger than the smaller classrooms) as well as a handful of classrooms.

All of the theaters and classrooms between Epicenter and Voyager Hall were host to the various committee sessions that took place over the 2 week XGM event.

In the apex of the U-shaped Voyager Hall is a large open area referred to as Mir Commons, filled with tables and chairs. This is where I spend the few days eating breakfast and lunch during my 2023 visit.

So, now that I’ve explained the geography of the buildings where I spent my week, I will tell you about what I did while I was there.

Activities

I had signed up for all of the sessions for the Transplant Advisory Committee which were contained within Thursday and half of Friday, but my lead asked me to go Tuesday and Wednesday as well to see what other sessions I could sit in on that might be beneficial. I scoured the agenda, with my lead, even, and could not find anything that I found interesting or useful. Tuesday, I spent pretty much the entire day just wandering the campus.

On the Sky level, I found the High Score Cafe, or something like that, where I found a pair of pinball machines, video game cabinets, ping pong tables, and a table with a handful of board games. I played more than my fair share of pinball on Tuesday.

The transportation schedule was locked in: departing my hotel at 7:25 am each morning, then departing from Epic to return at 5:30, and a second bus at 6:15. By 2:00, the caffeine from the single cup of coffee I’d had wore off and I suddenly got very sleepy and started to develop a headache. It looked like I was going through caffeine withdrawals. I sat comfortably and quietly while I drank a coffee to try to stave off a total crash and, at about 3:10, I found a little blurb in the XGM Pocket Guide that was tucked into my badge holder that Epic offered off-peak hotel shuttles to get to my hotel if I didn’t want to wait for the 5:30 bus, all I had to do was go to the transportation desk and ask for a ride… before 3:15. Sadly, I was way too far from the transportation desk to make it there by 3:15, so I was stuck, but was happy to know I had the option for the next day. I sipped my coffee, the headache settled and I was moderately OK to take the bus back to the hotel a couple hours later.

Upon my arrival back to the campus Wednesday, I did find a session that I thought might be helpful so I sat in on the 40 minute session, came away with a few ideas to take back home then had the rest of the day to meander as I’d done before, so that’s exactly what I did. I had a lunch session scheduled with my TS, so I had lunch with him and once he left to go back to work, I was left once more to my own devices. I wandered some more, taking pictures and videos, and finally taking advantage of the early ride back to the hotel just before 2:30. Once I got back there, I opened my laptop, worked for a bit, then ate and hit the sack.

All day Thursday and until noon Friday were the TRAC sessions so my days were filled with those. I met back up with my TS who sat with me through all of the presentations. We offered ideas on how the presented material could be integrated into our own system, had lunch at 12:30, returned for a focus group, more sessions, the 5:30 ride back to the hotel, then did it all again Friday.

The last two sessions on May the first were of absolutely no use to me so I told my TS I was going to duck out to grab a few more pics and vids before taking off. Sadly, the off-peak transportation Epic was offering was not available on Friday so just before noon, I hailed an Uber to take me back to the hotel so I could get a jump on heading home. After THREE piss breaks on the four hour drive, I got to the house right around 4:00, and was home long enough to exchange suitcases for our next family adventure…

Which will be on the next post.

Conclusion

My second trip to the Epic campus was just as wonder-filled as the first, plenty to see and do, even during the massive amounts of downtime I had. I met a few colleagues, my TS, and came back with some great ideas on how we can improve our workflow for efficiency and improved outcomes.

Pics from this visit to Verona are up on my Photo Diary, be sure to check those out, then come on right back for my report on my next trip to St. Louis!

-Phil