We need to talk
By Elizabeth Deprey
Updated Wed October 2, 2013
The kitchen table is a pretty integral prop for most families. It's where you go to hear good news and bad news, have holiday gatherings, pay bills, do homework… that one piece of furniture is home to a lot of the business of running a family.
MESA turned a lot of heads when Executive Director Liz Moran decided to take that prop and use it for her fall conference, set for Sept. 17-20.
When I first tweeted the event's addition to the HME News Events Calendar in July, I actually got a couple of replies—that hasn't happened for a calendar event before or since.
“I like what they have to say here,” said one of my followers.
Basically, the event promised to tackle ongoing issues in new ways, on top of new topics, in a new “kitchen table” style format.
Moran got in touch with me this week to let me know how it all went.
Attendees visited experts for eight 50-minute sessions, coming around to join them at their “kitchen table” and engage in discussions.
“The experts sat and talked with attendees,” she said, instead of the classroom-style format MESA used in the past.
The verdict: “Let's do all our conferences this way from now on,” one attendee wrote on their speaker evaluation form.
The speakers liked it too: “There was more interaction and idea exchange,” one said. “They shared a lot of information and good ideas.”
Way to go, MESA, for trying something new and for knocking it out of the park.
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