An Inaugural Symposium, AMTA??

Yesterday, the American Music Therapy Association (AMTA) released a short statement indicating that, instead of our annual conference, there will be an "Inaugural Symposium." No other information than date and that this will be completely virtual.

So.

Many.

Questions.

I am glad to see that AMTA is making plans for something to happen this November. Cancelling the in-person conference was a big deal, but I wasn't planning on attending in person. It has been a long time since I have felt that the AMTA conference has given me any benefit by attending in-person. I will probably sign up for the Symposium, but it will depend on how much it costs. I have questions right now, though, that haven't been answered.

Where are the speakers coming from? Are they going to use the proposals sent in by some of us when a conference was a possibility back in April? Are they going to select specific people to speak? How do you get on that list? What types of things are we going to be able to experience during this inaugural symposium? I am curious.

Over the past several months, we have heard very little from the folks that are left at AMTA. I am sure that the Board of Directors is working very hard with our Reorganizing folks, but I would like some sort of update on what is going on. The AMTAS (student organization) is putting out regular updates about committees and that sort of stuff on social media, but AMTA is not doing as much. I am hoping that this will change now that we have something more to talk about.

Over the past three years, I have found that I am very picky when it comes to consuming online content. This is probably influenced by the fact that I have been offering online content via conferences and symposia since 2011, but I am often distracted by people who have little awareness of their environments and how to use their microphones and how to pace and how to make eye contact with the audience. We do training with our presenters for the Online Conference for Music Therapy, Inc. every year to help them present the information in the best possible manner. Other organizations do not do as much of that. So, I am very picky about who I will watch and who I will ignore.

I am glad that the leadership at AMTA has decided to continue to have an annual information sharing forum for the members. It is important that we spend time as a community. I am interested to see what the focus of this symposium will be - will it be representative of the concerns of membership? Will it be overly focused on one thing or another? Will presenters be solicited or invited? I am very curious. For now, though, I am going to move into things to do on Day Five of my break - picking up some new bookshelves, getting something to eat, and organizing my library and music therapy materials room. Five more days until the 2022-2023 school year. Time to start thinking about my quests for this school year...