‘Tis the season! No, not the trick-or-treating, costume-wearing, Halloween candy-eating season. And not the family-feasting, cranberry sauce-making, pumpkin pie-baking season. Not even the candy cane-crunching, tree-decorating, stocking-stuffing season.
‘Tis the music therapy conference season.
This week marks the 14th annual conference of the American Music Therapy Association (#AMTA13), thousands of music therapists from the US and abroad will descend on a single city (Jacksonville, Florida this year) for a week of learning, inspiration, and networking.
It’s that last bit that is the most valuable aspect of attending a conference—the networking. That makes sense for me given how regularly I attend AMTA conferences. It’s my one concentrated chance every year to develop, build, and nurture my professional relationships.
But I found the networking bit to be valuable even when attending a new (to me) conference, this summer’s Society for Music Perception and Cognition meeting. See, even though I learned about new research and new concepts, I wasn’t there to learn those things . . . I was there to learn from the people presenting those things. I was there to develop and build new professional relationships and learn from the leaders in the field.
Speaking of networking, if you are attending #AMTA13 this week and would like to connect with me, here’s where you’ll find me:
- Friday, 11/22, 2:00-3:30 pm I’ll be co-facilitated a roundtable discussion with good friend Deborah Layman called Is the Work-Life Balance a Myth? A Roundtable Discussion.
- Saturday, 11/23, 9:00-10:30 am I’ll be presenting on my PhD research. The session is titled Music Therapy and Emotion Regulation Development: A Conceptual Framework.
- Saturday, 11/23, 10:45 am – 12:15 pm I’ll be co-presenting an advocacy session with colleagues and friends Dena Register and Judy Simpson titled “Are You Kidding Me?” Keeping Your Cool in the Heat of Advocacy.
- Saturday, 11/23, 1:30-3:30 pm, Come find me at the research poster session! I’m in slot 8 and my poster is titled A historical overview of emotion theories, current perspectives in neuroscience, and the role of music: Where are we now?
- There are several receptions I will be attending, so come say hi if you’ll be at the Florida Music Therapy Task Force Recognition Awards breakfast, the CBMT 30th anniversary reception, the Musicworx 15th anniversary celebration, or the AMTA/CBMT State Task Force reception.
- You will also find me at the AMTA business meetings and Dr. Andi Farbman’s Bitcon lecture. I wouldn’t miss a chance to support and cheer on my colleagues and friends who are getting recognized for the amazing work they do!
- And if I’m not at a session, meeting, or reception? Then you’ll find me in the Exhibit Hall, hanging out at the Music Therapy Pro booth or the AMTA/CBMT advocacy booth.
Won’t be able to attend the AMTA conference this year but still want to keep up with the latest happenings? Check out the AMTA conference blog, follow @AMTANatCon on Twitter, or keep up with the #AMTA13 hashtag. And of course you’ll also find me live tweeting from conference as well 🙂
P.S. Does the networking part of conference freak you out a little? My good friend Michelle Erfurt (a.k.a. the Music Therapy Tween, creator of the Boom Tote, and overall music therapy rockstar) just published a book on networking (the ebook and Kindle versions will be available soon). Check it out!
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