You can have fun learning!

I have been back from running the ASET 2012 Annual Conference in St. Paul for a couple of weeks, but have not had time to update my blog in a while.

I am still riding the wave of energy created by the wonderful experience.  There was lots of hands-on learning and lots of positive energy!

We tried a new three-day meeting format, dropping the Wed. afternoon session from years past.  We managed to pack everything into three days, and it seems like attendees gave us a “thumbs up” on this new program schedule!  So, we’ll be continuing on with this next year for the 2013 Annual Conference in Reno.

At this conference, we seemed to capitalize on “hands-on” interactive workshops and learning!  This picture is from the IONM Minimally Invasive Sundown Seminar.  You might call it “You are the surgeon”!  There was a simulated model of an open spine surgery with a full array of surgical instruments.  Techs were able to see and feel what the surgeon feels as the spine is manipulated. (Special Thanks to Medtronic for putting this together!)

We also had a great ICU EEG Trending Workshop!  Every participant with a laptop received a flash drive with trending software worked along with the instructor to trend EEG patterns.  (Special Thanks to Persyst for providing this workshop!)

In other sessions, techs were trying out Trans-cranial Doppler, NCS and all three modalities of Evoked Potentials.

All this and we still had time for the opening reception in the exhibit hall and a great Saturday night riverboat cruise with our own ASET band, “The Dendrites!”

Over the next two weeks, I will be tallying the attendee evaluations from St. Paul.  I  will use the feedback from the comments to help me plan content for next year.  I rely on feedback to ensure that the annual conference program has meaningful learning experiences for our members.

Thanks to all of you who attended the conference in St. Paul!  It was great to see all those smiling faces and I hope to see you all next year in Reno!