3 minute read
Highlights from PENS 2020 National Conference
from PENS 2020 Reporter
by KellenComm
The PENS Virtual 2020 National Conference was the first of its kind in the history of PENS, and we hope that those who attended during the ‘live’ conference days were able to learn and connect with others! As a reminder, for those who registered for the conference, all of the content will be on-demand for 90 days from the start of the conference. Although we could not all meet in person in our original location of San Antonio, TX due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the virtual conference was well attended, and participants were able to interact virtually in real-time. All of the sessions were pre-recorded; however, speakers were also present in real-time to answer questions after their respective sessions. We even were able to keep our Wednesday evening social event, with many of our members joining the live virtual line-dancing event! We saw some great dancing and enthusiasm!
The transition from the initially planned in-person conference in April 2020 to a fully virtual conference in November 2020 was a challenge that the conference planning committee took head-on. We did our best to ensure that all time zones across the US could participate at an acceptable hour and worked to reconstruct the conference to limit the time spent online and prevent “Zoom fatigue”. We were very lucky in that almost all of the speakers were willing to transition to a virtual setting!
This year, there were 288 attendees (including exhibitors) with up to 162 attendees logged in for the ‘live’ conference. There were 20.5 CE credits offered via 23 sessions including a variety of endocrine and diabetes-related subjects.
The initially planned pre-conference workshops for the 2020 National Conference were unfortunately not suited to transition to the virtual setting, therefore this year, preconference workshops were not offered, however be sure to look out for the offerings for the 2021 National Conference!
We were very fortunate to have continued support from many sponsors. This year we had 23 exhibitors, as well as 3 product theatres. This year’s conference planning committee included Sheri Luke as chair for the 2019-2020 season, and myself for the 2020-2021 season, along with Josie Hong, Christin Morell, and Amanda Patterson. Jane Torkelson was a valuable committee member for the 2019-2020 season, and Jennifer Anisko joined the committee in the spring of 2020 for the 2020-2021 season. Thank you to Cathy Flynn, who has been our incredible board liaison. We are also so grateful for the assistance from both Christie Ross, PENS educational program coordinator, Caitlin Arnold Condie, PENS meeting manager, and JerrieLynn Kind, PENS Executive Director. Thank you to everyone who put in an enormous effort to make the PENS Virtual 2020 National Conference a success!
Please do not forget to complete your 2020 conference evaluations! As always, the feedback that you provide in your evaluations will be thoroughly reviewed and will help the conference planning committee to ensure that we do our best to put together future conferences with content that you want to see. You also will receive your credit for continuing education from the evaluations.
With the 2020 Conference completed, the Conference Planning Committee is now working on planning the 2021 conference. The call for presentations and case studies was sent out in September 2020, and the deadline extended to November 30, 2020. The call for abstracts for poster presentations was sent out in October 2020. We are close to selecting a keynote speaker and have identified two potential pre-conference workshops.
Please remember to mark your calendars for our 2021 National Conference, which is scheduled for April 21-24, 2021 in Baltimore, MD at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor, and be sure to tell your endocrine & diabetes colleagues!
Wishing you health and happiness, Leigh Pughe, RN, CPNP 2020-2021 Conference Planning Committee Chair
