Offical Day 1 of 2011 ASHA

How to begin my entry about complete Day 1 at the ASHA convention...well my roomates for the event did the good healthy thing and got up for a run along the water today on a nice paved path. I chose to skip this event, as I am in taper mode for a marathon on Sunday. One perk about staying at the Embassy Suites in San Diego is the fact that they have cooked to order breakfast. Nothing like starting the day out with getting in all of the food groups at no extra charge. Nothing quite like getting in that first jolt of caffeine before immersing onself in the modge podge of 12000 professionals in the San Diego Convention Center. ASHA elected to have an opening session to kick off the convention. I chose to attend in order to support this concept. I thought the opening session was great It was nice to have the free coffee and hot tea, and to have a greeting to all, a true description of the theme for the convention, and some inspiring presenters to get everyone in the right frame of mind. Following the opening session, I elected to visit the poster session area. I was pleasantly surprise to find the new lounging areas. I had scheduled to meet with some fellow university professors, and really found the faculty/researcher lounge area to be conducive to networking and information sharing. I feel that learning how to navigate and time manage an ASHA convention is a learned art. I have had to take on the motto "if you don't go you won't know what you've missed." The nice part about ASHA is it has "gone green" and handouts for a majority of the sessions are available online to all participants. If I were to try to attend as many sessions I could on topics that I found interesting, which I have indeed attempted in years' past, I get grumpy, exhausted, and wind up not retaining much of the information that was disseminated. Therefore, I try to plan to attend 4 hours of learning sessions a day, at least 1 poster session group, and spend the rest of the time either enjoying the city, networking, or visiting the exhibitors. Ah..the exhibit hall. I may have to save my thoughts, feelings, and experiences about the exhibit hall for tomorrow's entry, or possibly even Saturday's entry. I walked away from the convention today with feelings of accomplishment, growth, and fond moments of laughter with colleagues and friends. I feel that the first full day of the convention went well. I have to really give the planners and coordinators of this years' convention my great applause, as the number of volunteers who are familiar with both the specific location of the convention meetings and the city itself have been so pleasant and helpful. Throughout the entire day I was taken aback by how kind and insighful the people at the San Diego convention center have been. It is awesome to see locals have true pride in their city, and really have a genuine desire to share information and help relieve total strangers frustrations. It is time to rest up in order to make the most out of tomorrow's endeavors.