All types of nurses hold membership in professional nursing organizations. At a conference, you can have staff nurses, nurse administrators, nurse educators and nurse researchers sitting in the same room sharing information and ideas. I think that’s absolutely amazing! In our normal day-to-day jobs as nurses, we may not have the opportunity to come across nurses who work in other areas of nursing. But when we take the time to attend a nursing conference, the opportunities to engage with brilliant nurses are endless.
I love the fact that, at a nursing conference, everyone is on a level playing field. Staff nurses aren’t intimidated by nurse administrators, which is often not the case at work. Everyone takes every opportunity to learn from others. There is no feeling of superiority. Novice nurses fit in perfectly with expert nurses. The career ladder is virtually flattened at a nursing conference, and I love that!
I also love that I have the opportunity to travel to different states, and I get paid time-off from work to do it. As a single woman, I look forward to traveling, but sometimes it’s challenging to gather my friends to come with me. Traveling to nursing conferences, however, gives me the opportunity to travel alone without really being alone. The more often I attend conferences hosted by the same organization, the more I get to see certain nurses. It’s really neat to meet up with the same people one time each year. It begins to feel like a reunion.
One of the best things about attending conferences is the opportunity to meet and engage in conversations with world-renowned leaders in nursing. I have had the chance to meet nursing leaders in academia and hospital administration, those leading in the clinical arena as well as those making breakthroughs in nursing science. I have gotten used to meeting the nursing authors who write the textbooks I am required to read or those who edit the nursing journals I reference in my papers. And the best thing of all is that meeting them at a nursing conference takes away the pressure of trying to “say the right thing.” More often than not, these chance meetings occur during receptions or other non-formal gatherings. There is no pressure to put on your academic hat and speak as if you are reading a portion of your thesis; you are free to be yourself in a non-threatening way.
If I could, each year I would attend the national conference of each nursing organization to which I belong. Knowing this is not possible because of time and money, I have to make the difficult decision of deciding which conferences to attend and which to bypass. I typically attend the conference with the most relevant and interesting topics and, most often, it is either geared toward women’s health or nursing scholarship. Regardless of which conferences I attend, I am never disappointed. The new knowledge I return home with and the connections I make at nursing conferences is well worth the flight layovers and hotel stays.
If you are not a member of a professional organization, I highly suggest joining at least one and, since you’re reading a blog written for Reflections on Nursing Leadership, the online magazine published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, that organization is the perfect place to start. The benefits of attending nursing conferences as a member of the hosting organization are too numerous to list. If you are already a member of a professional organization, but do not attend its annual or biennial conference, I suggest you make plans to attend.
If money is an issue, don’t fret. Oftentimes, your employer will provide tuition reimbursement and, if nothing else, if you’re in the United States, you can itemize continuing education-granting conferences on your income tax return. If you are looking forward to a career in academia, or if you just like to disseminate interesting information, you can also submit poster, paper or presentation abstracts to the conference you plan to attend. You may receive a discounted registration rate for serving as a presenter. In addition, presenting at a conference is a great thing to add to your résumé or curriculum vita.
My hope is that you get as much out of nursing conferences as I have gotten. And if you see me at a conference, don’t be shy. I love meeting new nurses!
For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International.
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