Thoughtful Thursday: Presentation Ideas

The deadline for the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) National Conference call for presentations is this Sunday, April 9, 2018, and I haven't submitted anything yet. This is usual. I usually have submitted way before the deadline, but not this year. This year has been interrupted by lots of other events, so I haven't really been thinking about what I want to propose.

I always propose something, and many times, I propose more than one something for these conferences. It always interests me what is accepted and what is not accepted. I will send off several ideas this weekend and then see if anything is accepted by the folks at AMTA. 

In the back of the notes that I keep every conference, I have a page where I put down presentation ideas. I write them down as I attend other presentations, and I develop the ideas later on. I may trot out some of my ideas from prior years, but I also know that I'll be spending my commute time thinking about what I want to say to others.

My current list of ideas is short - only one idea for development.

I like to talk about what we do in sessions with our clients. I like to talk about therapeutic music experience development, the clinical tasks that we do as therapists, and how to make our lives easier as therapists. I also love watching others be creative in front of me. I think I'll propose some sort of make and take session - maybe for CMTEs? I'll also go back to the most popular presentation I ever gave - one about TMEs for adolescents.

I try to propose sessions that have direct clinical applications because that is what I want from conference attendance - SOMETHING that I can take back with me and implement on my next clinical day. Apparently others want that as well because my presentations are often well-attended. So, I'll rack my brain for ideas about things to share with other music therapists.

Time to wake up the brain and start storming. See you in Dallas??

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