The Secret Weapon: How the T C T Quality Roundtable Google Group Is Supercharging Professional Connections

The TCT Quality Roundtable < https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/bmt-quality-roundtable > was conceived during the 2009 BMT Tandem Meetings as an independent forum for quality and/or accreditation specialists to discuss quality, performance improvement, accreditation, and compliance. Sixteen years later, with over 950 memberships since inception, it is still autonomously managed by volunteers and although receiving promotional support from FACT and ASTCT, the group has no official sponsorship or outside affiliation. The authors intent was to evaluate if the Roundtable virtual networking hub fosters high-trust relationships that enhance TCT quality management, peer learning, resource sharing, and problem solving. They also investigated whether sharing good practices is of value to participants in addressing quality issues and improving performance. The authors reviewed membership records, finding 952 total members. In August 2025, a survey of current members (n = 857) yielded 86 responses, for a 10% response rate. Membership trends and demographics are shown in Figure 1. Survey participants had varied service scopes and TCT quality management experience. Most learned about the TCT Quality Roundtable through colleagues; others first encountered the Roundtable during FACT sessions or Tandem Meetings. The membership timeline illustrates these events and the evolution of the formal Quality Manager role in FACT Standards. As displayed in Figure 2, 96% of members survey participants revealed high engagement with shared content, with 95% of participants rating it as relevant to highly relevant. Two post types, requests for collaboration (49%) and debate-driven topics (42%), were identified as key drivers of member interaction (Figure 3a). Also, 70% of participants reported ignoring some discussions due to misalignment with their interests and 30% cited post length as a barrier to engagement. Most survey participants contributed to the Roundtable at least quarterly, but 19% have never contributed and 29.1% have never started a discussion (Figure 3b). 48% of the 25 who reported never starting a discussion stated that seeking advice or input on a specific challenge was the top reason they would be encouraged to do so. Since its inception, the Roundtable has supported colleagues by sharing resources, knowledge, and facilitating special interest groups (e.g. onboarding commercial CTs) to reduce isolation. More can be done to further publicize the “secret” of the Roundtable and benefits within the TCT community. Improvement opportunities: • Increase membership by promoting the group on relevant networking platforms and social media. • Develop a resource to help members navigate previous posts more efficiently. • Encourage increased active participation among members.