Still recovering…
It’s been a little over 24 hours since I touched down in Kansas City. I spent the last half of last week attending the 2011 American Music Therapy Association conference in Atlanta GA.
WHAT A WEEK!
Top 17 AMTA11 Moments
It seems nearly impossible to share just a handful of highlights, so I opt instead to list, as briefly as possible, my top 17 AMTA11 conference moments (in no particular order):
- Having over 50 people attend the tweetup (and telling the bartender that I thought that–I don’t know–there may be 10 to 15 people coming?)
- Seeing musician Ben Folds attend part of the conference to learn more about music therapy and share his thoughts with us…which was made all the more sweet because he was there solely due to connections made on Twitter
- Attending the 2nd annual State Task Force reception and having the opportunity to honor and recognize task force members from across the country
- Hearing that the profession is finally seriously considering moving to a masters-level field
- Watching a room full over hundreds of music therapists learn and dance to Taiko drumming with drummer Iris Shiraishi
- Listening to Dr. Ken Bruscia talk about the need for an integrated approach to therapy and it’s implications for not only clinical work, but also leadership in the field and our education and clinical training
- Meeting and putting a face to people I’ve met through email, phone, and social media
- Having the opportunity to meet Sen. Mo Denis (NV) and Sen. Lois Delmore (ND), who are both passionate champions for music therapy and were instrumental in passing the first 2 music therapy licensure bills
- Watching the amazing Twitter feed from conference attendees using the #AMTA11 hashtag
- Attending, although too briefly, a reception hosted by the Georgia State Task Force and getting and opportunity to meet local legislators, including Sen. John Albers, and other local music therapy supporters
- Facilitating a panel of AMAZING music therapy bloggers and podcasters: Bill Matney, Sarah Sendlbeck, Matt Logan, Kat Fulton, Meryl Brown, Rachel Rambach, Michelle Erfurt, Michelle Strutzel, and Roia Rafieyan
- Getting to reconnect with friends from Fort Collins/CSU and the University of Iowa, to see friends and colleagues from CBMT and AMTA, and to socialize in a non-classroom-sort-of-way with fellow UMKC students
- Recording a special episode of the Music Therapy Round Table podcast with guests Dr. Natalie Wlodarczyk, Julie Guy, Natalie Mullis, Meryl Brown, and Ginny Darnell
- Having multiple opportunities to talk about advocacy and the many ways and forms in which it can happen
- Presenting once again with dear friends Rachel Rambach and Michelle Erfurt
- Being in the AMTA Business meeting when two major national awards were given to former professors and mentors of mine: Dr. Kate Gfeller (Research Award) and Dr. Mary Adamek (Award of Merit). It was a good weekend for Iowa!
- Getting the chance to hear from members of 6 different state task forces about their legislative journeys
It seriously feels like I’ve lived two weeks in 4 days and I’m still processing all the events and information from this past weekend. So there may be future blog posts inspired by this incredible weekend…
Goodies for You
In the meantime, I invite you to download my handout from the “How to Build an Online Presence” presentation with Rachel and Michelle:
Click here to download a handout (pdf) from this presentation
Finally…
Here’s wishing you and yours a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving holiday!
orcid.org/0000-0001-8665-1493
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
i’m still in “music therapy heaven” after this weekend!!! all of your info about using social media/internet in general to promote ourselves and our field was extremely helpful! I’m looking forward to having some time once my internship ends to dive into the blogging world!! Also, thank you for posting that hand-out! Was unable to attend that session!
Yes! So glad this is helpful. I look forward to reading our blogs once you dive back in 🙂 ~Kimberly
OMG– what a terrific conference! It’s always so inspiring and motivating, and hopefully the momentum will be enough to keep me working strong through the craziness of the holidays! Luckily, I think I came home with enough new ideas and concepts to last me several months. 🙂
I’m so sorry I didn’t manage to track you down, though, and introduce myself in person. 🙁 I also couldn’t attend the concurrent session you did with Michelle and Rachel (too many awesome sessions at the same time– argh!!). Is it possible for me to get the handout from your presentation?
Super fun weekend in the ATL =) Great to see you, albeit short! Loved reading this because you went to events that I didn’t, so I feel like I’m getting a more well-rounded perspective. Woo hoo! Welcome home!
Wow, #4 is my favorite. It sounds like a wonderfully productive and energizing conference for sure!
Sounds like conference was a blast!! I wish I could have attended, but hearing about it makes me all the more excited for next year when I will definitely be in attendance!
Since I wasn’t there, #4 on your list has me intrigued. Can you tell me a little more about what was discussed?
@Kat and @Rachelle Thank you for reading and for your feedback! @Allison I’ve heard chatter about this for years, but it looks like AMTA is seriously considering moving to a Masters-level field (whereas now we are currently a Bachelor-levels field). I wasn’t able to attend, but my understanding is that there was discussion during one of the Assembly meetings and the Assembly will be voting on it next year. I’m not sure of any other details, but I would bet we will continue to hear more about it. Hope this helps! ~Kimberly
This made me want to cross the border in the next year or so to visit y’all down there. Last AMTA conference I attended was Los Angeles – 1997ish (plus World’s in Washington).
There has also been rumblings in CAMT to move to a Master’s level discipline.
To connect at a conference with my peers is one of favourite things to do. We are a small yet mighty group and when we get together it seems a little like family. If anyone is interested in joining the CAMT Conference in Montreal at the beginning of May we would love to have you cross north.
Interesting…I didn’t know about the Master’s level rumblings up north. Thank you for the invitation to cross north! I would love to head up your way sometime soon 🙂 ~Kimberly
You must log in to post a comment.
{ 1 trackback }