Discourse in the Halls: The Pulse of the Annual Meeting Education Experience
By adding your voice to the dialogue at this year’s meeting, you are giving a substantial gift to your fellow attendees, the Academy, and the global otolaryngology community.
Daniel C. Chelius, Jr., MD, AAO-HNSF Coordinator, Annual Meeting Program
As I finish up my final year as Coordinator, I am going to miss the opportunity to get to know so many submitters in these days after the announcements. It’s been a real privilege of this position to personally learn about and participate in the focused dialogue about the frontiers of our field and the passions of our membership. I look forward every year to adding mentorship and learning opportunities for students, trainees, and younger attendings whose abstracts did not make this year’s meeting—to chat with them about their science, their writing, and strategies to hopefully make their next submissions more successful. I have been humbled to work with experienced faculty in deciding when it is time to retire or pass on a beloved didactic offering. I can speak confidently for the entire Program Committee that we take this responsibility very seriously.
And so, whether or not you are presenting on the faculty or scientific roster this fall, please join us in Miami Beach. Please come to the microphone to challenge and sharpen the science presented. Please attend the section meetings to understand how you can advance the goals and progress of your sections over the coming year and where your volunteer support is so greatly needed. Please attend the committee meetings, whether or not you are a committee member. There is far too much work to be done for us to rely only on the committee membership to do it. Please engage in the OTO EXPO to help our industry partners better understand how they can help us help our patients. Please come to the Opening Ceremony to be inspired by our representative leadership and to hear about the most important strategic aims of our Academy in the coming year. Please take time to rekindle friendships, to welcome our youngest and newest members, and to recognize the tremendous impact any of us can have in these brief moments of mentorship in the halls of the Annual Meeting.
We can’t wait to see you in Miami!
Danny