As always, the best thing about Congress is catching up with friends and colleagues and making lots of new ones. This year was no exception. Having previously lived in Chicago for 7 years, I was surrounded by friends. There simply was not enough time to catch up with everyone properly.
Thinking of this and always wanting to take advantage of a given situation, I was struck by the fact that as I reviewed all the delegate photos on the eChapter web site, there are still many faces I barely know. Shame on me! It seems that during Congress week we are sometimes rushed from place to place and event to event. While this is not an excuse, it is a reason I did not meet all my fellow eChapter colleagues. Next year I vow to make a concerted effort to meet everyone and get to know eChapter members a bit better.
So, what can we all do to meet fellow eChapter members who attend Congress?
- Attend the eChapter luncheon. I did attend but didn’t “work the room” as much as I should have.
- Deliberately schedule booth duty with someone we don’t know. I did meet a few new people this way this year which was great.
- Arrive at House of Delegates early and try to meet people we don’t know or don’t know well.
- Maybe we could plan a fund raiser for the Foundation during Congress week. I did that last year, raised a bunch of money for the Foundation, and met many new people as a result.
Does anyone else have additional ideas? I am open to suggestions. I also request that each of you hold me to my goal of meeting everyone next year. Here’s looking forward to Denver!
Thanks for the opportunity to serve as an eChapter delegate to Congress. As an eChapter charter member, I can tell you eChapter means a great deal to me and allows me to stay closely involved in AORN from a great geographic distance.