Note from the Associate Editorial Director: San Antonio bound
By Melissa Varnavas
It’s hard to believe that in just a couple of days the ACDIS staff will step onto a plane bound for San Antonio. It’s hard to believe it’s that time of year again. And yet, this same time next week, we’ll be packing it all up and heading back home again.
This year we will once again be joined by roughly 2,000 attendees—more than 120 speakers for 60 breakout sessions and three keynote addresses, more than 50 exhibitors, more than 40 poster presentations, and dozens upon dozens of networking opportunities.
We often liken the conference to planning a wedding. It’s a multi-year process and takes the volunteer efforts of dozens of ACDIS members and staff. We pick the venue, plan the entertainment, review the educational sessions, and excitedly make the rounds—table after table, person after person—learning and engaging as we go.
And then, a mere three days have passed and our event comes to a close.
But, while 2,000 CDI related professionals are lucky enough to join us this year, we know so many more stepped back this year so that another staff member could experience the event and bring those experiences and education back from this year’s event.
That’s really what this year’s conference is all about. ACDIS Director Brian Murphy dubbed the 11th annual event the year of “One Thing,” meaning that every attendee has the opportunity to grasp at least one new concept, take home one important policy change, meet at least one person to network with and learn from. If every one of the 2,000 attendees can do that, we can truly bring fundamental growth and innovation to the CDI profession. We can truly share this amazing experience not only with those attending the event, but with all those who were only able to attend in spirit.
ACDIS members, too, should remember that even if you cannot attend in person you will have access to the slide presentations within a few weeks under the resources section of the ACDIS website as well as a complete recap of the event in the conference special section to be published this summer.
And while there’s nothing quite like the energy and enthusiasm of the ACDIS conference, members know well how that educational experience continues all year long though our local chapter events, online learning, bi-monthly Journal, ACDIS Forum, and a host of other resources.
I never tire of saying it or overhearing it said by those in the CDI field—ACDIS is about community, all about sharing what we learn with one another so we can all succeed.
For those coming to San Antonio, I am so looking forward to seeing you! For those who can’t make it, I’m sure we’ll share a virtual hug and some CDI stories soon.
Editor’s note: Varnavas is the associate editorial director of ACDIS. Contact her at mvarnavas@acdis.org. If you’d like to share your story and expertise with the ACDIS community, consider volunteering to be featured in a Meet a Member article, contributing a guest post to the ACDIS Blog, or sending us your forms and tools for publication in the ACDIS Resource Library.