2009 Conference Memories and Report
The Board meeting was great, with a good discussion. Nice to see the fellow board members instead of just listening to their voices or reading their e-mails. We talked about some very exciting options to consider instead of a formal conference next year! I think everyone is very motivated after the discussions.
Ed guided the HEA board members through an exercise based on the book Strengths Finder which involves taking an online test geared at assessing strengths in areas of leadership. The goal is to help each of us understand our top five strengths and how we might focus on putting them to use as part of a team. It was a very interesting and useful exercise.
One hour between the board meeting and start of the conference is not enough time...especially in Pittsburgh! It is a very confusing city to drive in, with streets laid out in a very unusual way, lots of one-way streets, and strange intersections. Even with GPS, the driver would end up going in circles or dead ends! (Alan!)
Three cases of ketchup went missing! Hmmm?
Betty was also missing! I thought Billy was joking when he said Betty wasn’t going to make it to the conference! Almost cried at the thought of our Betty being in so much pain that it would keep her from coming to the conference she worked on so hard over the last 6 months. She was truly missed, and things just weren’t the same without her.
Thank heavens for Jenny and Zach (from Phoenix) for taking turns offering translation services for Dr. Alvarez from Colombia! You two were lifesavers! Dr. Alvarez did a good presentation. His PowerPoint slide show helped him give the presentation without an interpreter.
The HEA conference sessions almost always began on time (or within 10 minutes), but it took a lot of work to achieve this. Unfortunately, no one was doing this for ABC in the auditorium, which messed up the schedule a number of times for the whole conference. The auditorium sessions were over 1.5 hours late at some points!
Ed was instrumental in organizing some informal circle chats for the HEA men, including a handful of first-time attendees. These sessions were a highlight for the guys, and we really appreciate Ed for taking the initiative to do this.
Franci and Amy took lots of great photos of the conference, and Franci put together a great slide show that we played at the very end of the conference on Sunday afternoon. Every time I saw Franci, I wanted to give her a hug, sad at the thought of losing her from the board of directors.
Jack, the audio-visual technician, was the most organized and helpful person at the conference! What a great guy! He was always there to offer help at the start of every session and was a whiz at finding a whiteboard, opening a divider wall, etc. He was really amazing. HEA gave him an official HEA travel mug to thank him.
Joan and her family (husband and three sons) were an absolute delight to see. Her children were so polite and well-behaved and mature, and her husband, Ernest, was a very gracious gentleman. Joan, of course, was probably the most beautifully dressed lady at the conference with her colorful traditional clothing.
It was very moving to realize how much many of the ABC folks need the same types of psychosocial support that HEA folks often need. They are obviously affected very much also, and they seemed drawn to HEA’s concern for these issues.
Tiger did a great presentation. The crowd for his second session was so large that we had to open up the back wall and use all three conference rooms to hold everyone!
It was great to see Jim’s T-shirt: “Say it, Don’t Spray It” on the front and HEAINFO.ORG on the back. Hopefully he took a few fridge magnets with the same saying on them back to Chicago with him!
Dr. Kennedy was once again a huge hit at the conference. He is very good at answering questions in a clear and concise manner and is very respectful of people’s feelings and questions. His session ran right to the end, and there wasn’t time for many questions.
Del’s restaurant, near the hospital, was a pleasant surprise! Great service and huge servings (that small pizza was the biggest 10 inches I’ve ever seen!). The owner, Del, and her family were fun Italian hosts to our huge group of people. It was great fun.
Billy and Jim’s penis necklaces were a big hit, as usual. I snapped a great photo of David from the UK testing Billy’s lucky charm out!
Ann and Arlene gave us some great information on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the United States and also some good advice on other privacy issues.
Genevieve from Canada was wonderful to meet in person. She was a great presenter and great at fielding questions.
Of course I’m very proud of our delegation of Canadians! Cherise from Vancouver, plus another Vancouver family from ABC, Barb and Genevieve from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and myself and Barb Ward, the two presidents (of HEA and ABC) and both proud Canadians!
The flags were so nice to see up on the stage for the closing ceremonies and a great backdrop for photos with friends! We are still not sure where the Canadian flag ended up, but the mini replacement did just fine. Remember, size doesn’t matter! J
The “Where are you from?” map was so much fun. Everyone enjoyed staking their mark on the flag. It was cool to see it fill up. It was very unbalanced with Americans from the East and Midwest, but I guess that is to be expected given the location. It was neat to see the flags from the UK and Australia as well as the lone flags in Africa and South America.