Making Waves at Conferences: A Guide for Occupational Therapists in Animal and Aquatic Therapy

 In this episode of the Animals and Aquatics in OT podcast, host Gina delves into the world of professional conferences in occupational therapy. She shares her insights on the importance of attending conferences, strategies for maximizing the conference experience, and tips for balancing conference attendance with other professional commitments. Gina also discusses funding options for conference attendance, self-care strategies for managing conference intensity, and tips for presenting at conferences. Whether you're a seasoned conference attendee or considering your first conference, this episode offers valuable advice for occupational therapist providers incorporating animal and aquatic therapy in their OT practice.  Be sure to connect with Gina at the AHA conference, AOTA conference or at EponaAcademyCommunity@gmail.com 

Transcript

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This week on animals and aquatics and OT, we're going to be talking about conferences. Yes. Conferences. And that's about all I'm thinking about right now. So I wanted to take just a little bit of time and share that information with you. Now let's get started. Welcome to the animals and aquatics and occupational therapy podcast. I'm Gina, your cohost. Mom wife. Private practice owner mama three, adjunct professor at an OTA program and probably a few other things that I'm forgetting. And right now, one of the biggest things that's going on for us is preparing for conference. Not just one conference, but two conferences in March. In fact, March is going to be really busy. And I think it's going to go by so fast. And. I just, I'm needing to get ready for conference and thinking about. All the excitement that will come along with it, all the challenges that come along with preparing for conference. Of course the expenses that come along with it. And I thought just taking a little bit of time with you today to talk about like, why I'm attending conference, how I manage getting the most out of conference. And then hoping that if you're going to be at the American hippotherapy, association conference or at the occupational therapy association conference, that we can connect at conference, because again, This time around I really want to extend that invitation to meet in person as much as possible to connect. To listen and find out what your doing with animals and aquatics in your OT practice. One of the important things that we think about with conference is really being able to say updated with professional development in our field. And. I think conference gives us an opportunity to catch some of that excitement. Again, from. Other people who are doing what we're doing or learning about some of the newest research and learning how we can incorporate that. Into our niche area of practice. When we think about like, Well, why go to conference at all? There's a lot involved in it. And. What are we going to get out of it? Well, Let's just, let's take the American hippotherapy, association conference to start with, since that's the one I'm going to. Soon. And. There are, there are so many things to get out of that. And it's really important for me to attend conference, not just because I'm on the faculty. But also that opportunity to connect and network with others. To find out what other people are doing. And be able to incorporate some of that back. Into what I'm doing with my own clients or at the facilities that I partner with. I think that opportunity whenever you can to attend a conference that is specializing in your niche is really important because it really immerses you in that area for a couple of days. And let you get out of your, like day-to-day practice. And then come back and incorporate the new things. Now, one of the things I've always shared with people when they attend conference. And it's usually after they come to one of my presentations and they have some sort of dilemma in how they're going to incorporate this information when they get back to their home base. And I always say that's one of the great things about conference, because it opens up this door to say, This is something new that I learned in conference, and I feel like it would be really good to incorporate at our facility. It would be really good to incorporate into my OT practice. It'd be really good to incorporate into how we do therapy here. And it's not just you saying it to your team, to your administrators? It's conference. Right? And so it opens the store in a way that it doesn't have to be you bringing this information back. Now when we're at conference, we also have this opportunity to learn about new research, new techniques, advancements in the field that are going on. And they can bring. Both a lot of excitement and a lot of relief, I think sometimes. When you see that other people are doing or struggling with the exact same things that you are all around the country and in some cases, all around the world, And it can just bring that sense of, I'm not the only one that, that is having this challenge or. I'm doing what other people are doing too. I'm on the right track. So that exposure to a lot of different perspectives and different approaches can be really helpful and can be such a value. Of going to conference. Now, when I go to the AOTA conference, it is a little different. I'm going to talk about that as well in how I take that information and then apply it because often there are maybe no sessions at all on. Nature based practice or aquatics or hippotherapy, or incorporating farm animals. Like the niche areas that I'm really special-ed. I specialized in. Often, there's not a lot of. Information in those areas. The good thing is there is a lot for the academic side of my life. So for the professor side, I can definitely brush up on and learn new skills and incorporate new techniques into my teaching. But I also think that. I can take a presentation on social, emotional learning. And. I take like crazy notes when I'm at those presentations in particular, because I need to translate it. And so I need to translate it from a clinical setting, into an niche setting and. I feel like that's part of my job as a coach of other OTs and OTAs is to be able to take that information and then translate it to our specific niche areas. And that ability to take a really wide variety of information in, and then look at how you could apply that or create a program around it or incorporate those techniques and or what needs to be modified to use it in our area. I think those are some of the real opportunities of attending professional conference again, whether that's aha, whether that is the AOTA conference. And. Like I said, I'm kind of right in the thick of getting ready and. To really maximize your experience at a conference, whatever conference you might be going to is to think about getting ready before conference and setting some goals for yourself. Of your purpose for attending conference. So if it's networking with other people, if it's gaining a certain skillset, What types of information do you need to be looking on the lookout for while you're at conference? Are you going to be trying to take some short courses rather than just introductory topics? Are you trying to really broaden your perspective on things? Do you want to network with certain people you want to be introduced to certain people? Those are really good opportunities at conference. To network or to talk to other people who are at a university near you. Those are great opportunities for conference. So looking at the conference agenda, the sessions, the speakers. And really figuring out like what your flow is. And I'm going to talk a little bit about. Getting like overwhelmed at conference as well. I'm an introvert and conference can be really big and loud and bright. And there's a lot of sessions that I want to attend. And of course, you're always thinking about getting value for the money that you're paying to go to conference, but also how to keep it manageable, I think is important. And then going through like your travel arrangements, accommodations. All of that. I am the absolute worst at that. I have literally showed up, like to conference with like, just the plane ticket. Like I have my plane ticket, I've paid for attendance and that's it. Like, I don't have an Uber. I don't have a rental car. I don't know how I'm getting from the airport to the conference location. And I'm just like, okay, I'll figure it out. When I get there, that's the kind of traveler I can be. And it doesn't really bother me. I can figure things out, but. Certainly when I'm traveling with family like that doesn't fly. If I'm traveling further away, it's probably wise, I would say to make sure you have all your accommodations figured out. That way you're not worrying about that. It's not going to take time out of attending the conference, which is what you're there for. And then preparing any material that you want to bring to share with others while you're there. Now, one of the fever my favorite things is bringing some little token to give to people that I meet or they just surprise me in a particular way. And I love having a little token, a little something. To give, so thinking about that. Networking piece, like how are you going to connect with people? Are you bringing business cards? Are you going to have a QR code? Do you need to bring information about your private practice? All that staff can be really helpful in preparing for conference. Now. I briefly touched on the expense of conference and, looking at these two conferences back to back, they're both in March. It is definitely the budgeting piece, is a big piece to it. And. There's a variety of different ways. We can look at funding. Budgeting it into whether it's your own private practice or to your employer, that you need to maintain your continuing education. You have continuing education requirements for licensure. If you're HCB certified or an HBCs, you need that continuing education in hippotherapy, like specifically. So you can seek your reimbursement rate for conference expenses from your employer. And it's wonderful when your employer will support you in conference attendance. So for the AOTA conference, my employer. As a professor, they are supporting me in that. So that way I can go along with our team and, be part of that experience. Now we can look for scholarships or grants. There's not a lot that I've seen out there. I don't think that's a huge area. For attendance also crowd crowdsource, crowd funding. And fundraising for a conference. Now that definitely has a better potential because you're drawing on, people who maybe already know you and support you. But the biggest way that we all do it right, is utilizing personal savings. Budgeting. Strategies to cover that expense from within the business or again, from your employer. And it just really is part and parcel of doing business. So knowing, for the American hippotherapy, association conference that happens every other year, So I just need to budget that and I need to set aside that money. And, having a rough idea of what those expenses are going to be is important. Not only do we have the financial side of things, but we also have conference attendance and are like financial losses or professional commitments that are coming with that. And that means like additional time management. So I need to time block ahead of conference to batch things, make sure everything is done. Tidied up and ready to go. And then I also need to time block after conference for the things that I've missed out on and need to catch up on. Planning ahead communicating with supervisors, colleagues, clients, about time off the fact that there's maybe not going to be any services or if someone is coming in and covering for you that they've had a chance to come in and see the clients ahead of time. All of that goes into. Managing conference attendance. And when we think about. What responsibilities you are, maybe not going to be handling while you're at conference. That can be really important, especially when it comes to horse care or animal care facility, maintenance, things like that when you're not going to be around for those. Three days to a week for conference and. You don't really want to be getting that call when you're at conference that something is going on at home and I think I've sat at enough breakfast tables to hear people trying to deal with those calls or deal with those client calls. And it really does take your focus away from the purpose of being there and being at conference. So. Thinking about how you can delegate those responsibilities. For that time being while you're gone. So somebody answering the phone, they're managing any, animal emergencies, anything like that. So that way you've planned for that. And you really can be focused on conference when you're there and really get the best out of it, you can be making the most of your conference experience. When you're getting ready to go to the sessions that you've signed up for your workshops. And you want to, as much as possible be present, be an active participant. If you have questions, stick around afterwards, ask those questions. I certainly always love when people come up to me afterwards and ask questions. Presenters are there to share their experience, but. Getting feedback from the audience is the best, like one of the best parts of presenting. And that really helps you get some confirmation on what you're thinking, what you're planning. How your thoughts fit into what the presenter is presenting. And. Take some time go to the exhibitors hall. Looking see, support the exhibitors that are there. Ask same thing, ask questions to them, find out about what their products are. If they could help you in your business. I think one of the things that I really enjoy about conference and I make A priority to do it is to sit at different tables. And to try to meet and talk with different people. It's super comfortable for me to hang out with the people I know, but I know that I'm going to gain much more insight and I'm going to hit some of those goals that I've set for myself. If I mix it up and I try to sit with different groups at each. Mealtime we have, and that just gives me such an opportunity. So certainly it comes, sit at my table. If you see me at conference, I would love to chat with you. When we get to those breaks at conference, we can think about how we can incorporate breaks and self care. Into managing how intense conference can be. Again for me. It can be very overwhelming. There can be sensory overload. Fatigue is an issue. It's that like, well, I'm only here for a couple of days. Like I want to stay up. I want to talk to everybody. We're going to go out to dinner afterwards. Like I don't want to miss out on those opportunities. Versus like, I'm just really tired. Okay. And then any stress that comes up again, that could be stress from home things that you're managing from a distance or just the stress of learning a lot of new things. So you want to take time to. Take a break. If you need to go back to your room and your room is on site that's that can be a really good thing, even if it's just like 10 to 15 minutes. It can allow you to reset yourself. Making sure that you're trying to keep up some of your routines that you have from home. Staying hydrated, eating. Getting enough sleep. Those things can really go a long way. I always find the eating thing a little bit challenging because often you're kind of on conference schedule or routine. And so. I don't have access to food in the same way that I would have at home. And that can be really tough for me. I try to like sometimes I just pack snacks. In my carry on. So I have them with me. Now. If you're thinking about being a presenter. Or you are presenting. There. I love presenting. Absolutely love presenting. And so this is actually one of the first years that I am not a presenter, at least not that I know of, but I'm always good for a backup. I'm not presenting, but when you do present. It's great to come prepared. Have that opportunity to get up, to speak to everybody. Conference presentations that are engaging in some way or active in some way. I think really help keep conference attendees attention and having a real good starting and ending point. And although it may seem that you are repeating things, if you're covering topics more than once within your presentation, often your audience is hearing it for the first time. So when you're thinking about presenting at conference, Take some time run through your presentation ahead of time. So that way, roughly how long it takes you remember if you're nervous and you're speaking quickly. To take breaks. Slow down. It's okay. If you don't know the answer to a question. Just say, I'll get back to you. That's really interesting question. They actually have to look up more about that. Thanks for asking. And it's not the end of the world. Right. So practice your presentation. You can do it in front of your coworkers or in front of your family. That way they can give you some feedback and you can get the timing right for it. So as we went through today I thought it was really important to talk about preparing for conference, managing your responsibilities at home. A little bit about funding and how you might pay for conference. And. Looking at that schedule, making sure you're balancing self-care. The actual knowledge piece. And then the networking piece. So those things are really. The three things I look at as I'm coming up on, like almost back-to-back conferences here is I want to make sure I get everything in. Right? And to me. That's kind of everything. And then. I'm going to take those presentation, handouts, those notes, those things that I have. And that's when I'll really start to. Pull that information together and then put it into practice. And again, I have that opportunity to come back and say, this is something I learned at conference. I would like to try to incorporate it into our sessions and get your feedback on it. It might say that to families. I might come to my husband, Ryan and say, Hey, this is one of the things. That I learned at conference. I want you to take a look over this and see if it's something you think we could incorporate into our private practice. Like, what do you think about this? And. As we have this opportunity. And as you go to conference, Right. This is a great opportunity to pull in new knowledge and start to figure out how you can incorporate it into your niche. Now, if you're just getting started and you've just listed to our getting started series, that may be a bit of a bigger jump to make of I'm just trying to figure out how to get started. I'm not at that point where I can incorporate and synthesize those new materials in and that's okay. Okay too, because there, there are people like me. Out here. That are doing that for you that are getting those new. Ideas and innovations and then translating them into areas that are a niche practice. And I'm really hoping that after conference, maybe we can all do a meeting together on some of the key takeaways, again, that opportunity to connect. And two. Get questions and do some Q and A's or a hot seat after conference would be something that would be a lot of fun. So. I just want to thank you for listening today. And I hope this was helpful if you're going to be at conference, be sure to reach out. The easiest place to find me as an opponent academy, or you can email me at opponent academy community. At gmail.com. It'll be in the show notes. Thanks for listening. See you next week.