Can You Outgrow Your Enthusiasm for Conferences??
Today is the second day of the Midwestern Region AMTA conference. I am sitting here, in the hotel room, with about two hours before I want to check out of the hotel and just finish up the conference. I bought my breakfast yesterday evening - it is sitting in the fridge and waiting for me to pop it into the microwave. I have a list of presentations to go to for the rest of the day, and I am going to skip out before the end of the day to get home. I am tired and in pain, so a four-hour drive seems like an eternity to get back to my place and my ear drops (I didn't have an ear infection when I left home on Thursday).
The conference has been fine. It really is nice to be around music therapists, but it is interesting to see what is going on in our region with professional membership. There are lots of students - the president asked them to stand in our opening session yesterday. Most of the 182 people in attendance are students. There were lots of open chairs during the business meeting yesterday which was sad to see. There are lots of familiar faces and just as many unfamiliar faces wandering around, but this has been a student-focused conference. No wonder no one wanted my CMTE. We found out that the next conference will be an online conference. Our region will be doing a rotation every other year - live then online. As someone who helps run an annual online conference, I know that the amount of work involved is less than coordinating a live conference, but there still is lots of stuff to coordinate and work through. Kudos, though, to the current board of directions who are working on keeping opportunities available to all of us.
I went to two presentations yesterday. The first was about songwriting while using the elements of music (most of the ones that I write about on a regular basis, but not all of them) and composing things for children in music therapy. It brought in some research-based reasons for why music should be used in a therapeutic manner for children. We heard five songs - one time through only and there was no real audience participation. We did not put anything into practice, but it was an excellent beginning presentation. I was happy to see so many students there, but it didn't really go into more detail about how the clinician used music in sessions to engage clients.
It is always interesting to hear what someone else has to say about something that I have spent many years thinking about, developing, and writing about in this blog. I had many comments about the presentation, but I was able to sit quietly and listen to what the presenter had discovered. I have some research to read before I can comment more.
The second presentation was outside of my therapeutic comfort zone, so it was just to hear what other people were doing in their areas. I attended a session on a choir for persons with Parkinson's and their caregivers. The choir is called the Tremble Clefs. The presenter was very nervous before the session and kept thanking me for attending (I was the first person there because I like to get settled). By the time she started her presentation, she had about twenty of us in the room. She is my next-door neighbor in the hotel so when we saw each other later, she again thanked me for attending her presentation.
The presentation was interesting. She went through the development of the choir in Arizona and described a bit of information about Parkinson's. Most of the people in the room where I was sitting were professionals - weathered professionals like me! They were less interested in the Parkinson's information and more interested in the therapeutic application and interventions developed as part of this program.
I am not working with anyone with Parkinson's, but I often find a bit more inspiration when I go to presentations that have nothing to do with my current therapeutic focus than when I go to yet another presentation on "the definition of autism." So, I often leave my therapeutic zone to explore what is happening in other areas of music therapy. I also crave presentations that offer direct application to my area of therapy, but I rarely find those presentations - ever. So, I tend to write those presentations. They have not been accepted by AMTA lately. Seems that no one is interested in exploring creativity and sharing TMEs or making materials. The things that are most important for me tend to be passed over these days.
It is time to get a bunch of CBMT paperwork done so I can start to offer the types of workshops that I want to attend. That has always been my plan for life, but other people have no idea I'm out there. I need some better marketing strategies.
This is the type of thinking that happens every single time I come to a conference. I want something that is not present, so I make plans. If nothing else, going to a conference always spurs me into greater creativity - mainly because I think that others want what I want from our fellow music therapists.
My problem is that I can't seem to get the word out that I do this.
With the announcement that we are going to do an online conference next time around, I now get to shelf my exhibit hall plans once again. I may consider doing a sponsorship next year with a freebie digital file offered to everyone via QR code. What can ALL music therapists use?? Hm. Something to think about for a bit.
Perhaps that is the role that conferences play in my life now. I am no longer all that inspired by the information that is shared because it is shared over and over again. I have seen this information many times before, but for some reason, each of the presenters have to "discover" these things anew. We don't really do a great job of sharing information - ESPECIALLY clinical information. If it isn't published, then it has no value, I guess.
I find the lack of clinical information and support available for clinicians very disturbing, but that has been a complaint of mine for a very long time. If you aren't a researcher, then your information is shuffled into a poster session or you are rejected from presenting. The presentations that I have presented on clinical techniques are often well-attended - to the point of having no room at all to walk because people are crammed into every space. That shows me that there is a need for clinical application presentations - things that you can actually do with your clients the day after conference. We have gotten away from that as an organization.
I hope that we move back into considering more than just the academicians and the researchers...
So, I have kinda outgrown my enthusiasm for conference...with an entire day to go. How fun! I am planning on attending a historical presentation today, one on hip hop, and another one on musical function. There will also be a networking/awards buffet lunch and a business meeting. I am going to the meeting to hear the AIAC report. We are looking for a new AIAC representative for our region, and no one is stepping up. We seem to have lost internships in the region as well. That is a problem, and one that concerns me about the region, but I cannot return to the AIAC for many reasons.
The sun is up here. I am going to give myself another hour to stay in the room, then I will take things to the car, check-out of the hotel, and go to the sessions I've selected. I will probably spend some time on the floor today because my back is starting to get finicky. I will also spend some time reading my book - The Manchurian Candidate - while waiting for things to get started. I will smile and engage others in conversation as needed. After the business meeting, I will get myself into my car and head back south to my home.
My weekend is almost over. It has been somewhat stimulating, but not in ways that conferences have stimulated me before. I am feeling old. Very old and somewhat jaded, but that might be my ear affecting my attitude. Who knows??
Happy Saturday!
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