“Power to the People” seems to be a fitting metaphor for RYAN Associates’ 27th annual national conference, Oct. 21-23, at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel in Nashville. This year’s conference will feature 12 conference sessions (see table) that were determined the old-fashioned way––by asking NAOHP members to vote on their topic preferences.
The process went like this: an initial list of potential topics was sent to NAOHP board members, who in turn reviewed and expanded the list. The expanded list was then sent electronically to all NAOHP members, inviting them to rate their level of interest in each topic on a scale of one to five. The 12 topics that received the highest scaled score were selected as sessions for this year’s conference.
Efforts are now underway to recruit expert faculty for each session. Sessions will last about three and one-half hours each and usually consist of an expert panel discussion followed by a series of short, pragmatic, individual presentations.
Several perennially popular topics such as Developing On-site Services, Revenue Management, Blending Occupational Health and Urgent Care Services, and Occupational Health Sales and Marketing failed to make the cut. “Although these topics do not seem to warrant dedicated sessions this year, they are critically important and likely to be incorporated into other sessions in some manner,” noted the President of RYAN Associates and conference director Frank Leone.
The weekend preceding the conference will be a hotbed of learning opportunities, too. The American College of Occupational and Environmental Health will offer M.R.O. training; the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses will offer D.O.T. medical examiner training; and RYAN Associates will offer its classic “Core Components for Profitable Occupational Health Programs” pre-conference fundamentals course.
The weekend preceding the conference will offer opportunities for our sporting colleagues. We are in the process of obtaining limited tickets for the Vanderbilt vs. Georgia football game on Saturday, Oct. 19, and a Tennessee Titans game on Sunday, Oct. 20. A golf outing is also being planned for that Sunday afternoon.
Building on experience gleaned from producing 26 previous national conferences, this year’s conference will offer the usual array of networking opportunities, mixed-learning modalities, an energized vendor exhibit day, special sessions, and nightly social events. The people have spoken. It is your conference.
