As I write this message, we have just returned from the 2020 AASV Annual Meeting. This was the first for which I was solely responsible. I say “solely,” but that is really not true. It takes a village. There are a lot of people that work very hard to put together the Annual Meeting. I was asked numerous times during the meeting, “how’s it going?” My response was always, “well, you tell me.” Our job is to put on a meeting that you find valuable and worth attending in a safe, fun, and comfortable venue. I equate it to making sausage. The sausage maker’s job is to produce a safe wholesome product that customers enjoy and want to experience again and again. If he has done his job well, the customer never has to see how the sausage is made. I thought, however, I would give you a peek into the sausage grinder that is AASV Annual Meeting preparation.
It starts with the AASV President-elect more than a year before the actual meeting. It is their challenge to come up with a theme, identify a Program Planning Committee, and twist some arms to find just the right speakers for the Howard Dunne and Alex Hogg lectures showcased on Monday morning.
The Program Planning Committee meets for a day in May to brainstorm ideas to fill the workshops, seminars, and general sessions. They decide what topics would provide the most value to the membership, identify the speakers they would like to have present, and determine who will moderate each session. But that is just the beginning of their work. They must contact the speakers and convince them to write and submit a proceedings paper to the AASV office by early November.
This is when Sue Schulteis really kicks into high gear. She coordinates all the communication with the moderators and the speakers, collects all the proceedings papers, and contacts the authors if changes need to be made. Sue ensures that the proceedings are in sync with the program booklet and the meeting app. Karen Richardson, publications manager for the Journal of Swine Heath and Production, jumps in to help with reviewing and editing the proceedings. Sue then works with our graphic designer, Tina Smith, and our technology guru, David Brown, to transform this stack of papers into the collection of proceedings that you can access online. In addition, Sue works with a third-party app developer to provide the agenda, sessions, speakers, social events, technical table and poster layouts, and maps necessary to produce the Annual Meeting app.
In the meantime, Sherrie Webb and Abbey Canon are working with the committees to assist them with developing agendas for the individual committee meetings. The committees are the backbone from which a lot of the ideas for Annual Meeting topics and much of the educational outreach efforts arise. They are responsible for helping committee leaders communicate with the committee members and identify the issues of interest to our members.
As the meeting draws near, Sue pulls in friends and family members (Karen Menz, Jenni Patience, and Patricia Hartley) to come into the office to stuff and coordinate registration packets. A lot of hours go into amassing the paperwork that makes the registration process work smoothly at the meeting. The week before the meeting is a flurry of activity at the AASV office gathering all the AASV materials and AASV Foundation auction items that need to be transported to the meeting site.
A few days before the meeting, Lee Schulteis and Dave Menz pack everything into a 16-foot trailer and drive to the meeting venue, planning to arrive on Thursday before the Annual Meeting. The AASV staff gathers at the venue on Thursday afternoon and is joined by a few additional people who help throughout the meeting. In addition to those already mentioned, Joel Burkgren, Miranda Ayers, Kay Kimpston-Burkgren, and Lance Daharsh join the staff to help unload and store all of the materials, staff the registration desk, set up rooms and signage, and manage items for the Foundation auction. Most of these individuals have been helping us out for as long as I have been associated with AASV. They make the process run as smoothly as it can, and they are the ones to thank for all the things that went right.
Me? What do I do? Besides staying out of everyone’s way, it is my job to make sure you had a room to sleep in, a space to meet in, a chair to sit on, a video screen to watch, and food to eat. I am the guy behind the counter selling you the sausage that all these other people dedicated their time and energy to produce.
I hope you enjoyed the sausage we made. If we failed in some way, I hope you will let us know so we can strive to make it better in the future. If we did alright, I hope you will plan to spend a few days with us next year in San Francisco. You are the reason AASV exists and why we hold the Annual Meeting. We appreciate your attendance and hope you found the 51st AASV Annual Meeting educational and entertaining.
Harry Snelson, DVM
Executive Director