AMTA Conference: Here's to the Frundraisers!

Mid-November brings what is easily a highlight of my year, the American Music Therapy Association Conference. I always say that I'm lucky enough to work in a field that feels like family with conferences that feel like family reunions. I find this to be more true with each passing year as friendships grow and evolve. This year's conference was held in Jacksonville, Florida -- a perfect warm escape as Texas was blasted with a nasty cold front.



We were treated to this spectacular view each night

We arrived in Jacksonville on Wednesday afternoon and immediately found ourselves in a shuttle with some of our favorite North Dakotans -- Meganne, Natasha, and Emily.  Texans and North Dakotans...sounds like an unlikely pairing, who knew we would be the best of friends?  Turns out that running and music therapy also go hand in hand as we have established a diverse group of Music Therapy Frunners.  We scheduled runs each morning of conference and I made it a goal to be at all of them.  This would be quite a feat with sessions starting at 7:30 and evening activities stretching long into the night. 

Kicking conference off frunner style w Meryl, Deb, & Emily (photo: Meryl)

My conference started before the official Opening Session as I serve on the Student Affairs Advisory Board (SAAB). Sounds pretty fancy, right? I will spare you the long explanation...the SAAB is made up of a student and professional from each region of our association. I have served on this committee for many years now and I LOVE it. I always tell the students to find their "niche" and serve it the best that they can. This is totally my "niche". This has to be one of my favorite committee meetings of the year. If you want energy, go to a music therapy student meeting. These kids are so smart and so tech savvy and I am thrilled to know that they are the future of our profession.

SAAB Committee -- you are looking at the future of music therapy

I love the energy that opening night of conference brings.  It is hard to believe that conference is finally "officially" starting as I have been in meetings and busy all day.  This might have been the latest night with festivities scheduled until 11:00 pm and beyond.  I could already tell that this was going to be one of my favorite conferences.  I had the honor of serving on the official conference Social Media Team.  It was so much fun to live tweet various conference events under the official conference Twitter handle.  I loved this opportunity and I hope that they continue to have it at future conferences.

These statues were a hit!  Thanks to CJ for one of my new favorite pics.

The MT Frundraisers were buzzing with excitement on Friday morning as we had a very special announcement to make at the business meeting.  As you know, I have decided to "give" my annual marathon to AMTA via fundraising.  This idea came about last year when the Chicago Marathon was the same week as AMTA conference, which was also in the Chicago area.  I would have never dreamed of running to raise money for AMTA until Andrew, who was also running the Chicago Marathon, brought it up one day.  We had a spirited "competition" between regions (which I won) and ended up raising $3,338 for AMTA.  Click here for more of that story and a hilarious video.  Our efforts were such a success that Andrew had the brilliant idea to expand our efforts and create a team of frundraisers (frunner + fundraiser = frundraiser).  We amassed a team of 16 dynamic, creative, and energetic music therapists and raised a total of $6,670 between our kickoff in August and our conference in November.  This brings our two-year total to just over $10,500 -- I am so proud and a little overwhelmed!  These projects are ongoing, so be sure to check out FirstGiving to see who is still hard at work and give them your support and watch Andrew's video to meet the Frundraisers and hear a little of their stories.  It was an honor to work with and get to know these Frundraisers better over the last few months.  I can't wait to see what is next for our group!

"What They Didn't Teach You in College" with Stephanie, Mary, & Carolyn

On Saturday morning Mary and I represented our internship in the Internship Fair.  It is so fun to see so many music therapy students shopping for their ideal internship experience.  We met so many students who were interested in our program and eager to come and intern with us.  I hope that they all apply, but it is going to be hard to pick just one!  In the afternoon Mary, Stephanie, Carolyn, and I presented "What They Didn't Teach You In College: Internship and Employment Tips" to a full house.  We had a great time sharing our experiences with students, young professionals, and interns -- we hope that they learned a little something and had fun too.

A visit with Touchdown -- the Jacksonville Jaguar

Our frunner group had a great time too.  I managed to make it to all of the morning runs, as many in our group did.  It is amazing how I can feel so tired when the early alarm goes off and then so alive once I start running.  I think that the daily runs really helped me to feel more alert and "with it" and I plan to continue my conference run streak in the future.  It is a relief  to know that we have established this great network and I will never have to hit the streets of a unfamiliar city alone again.  Jacksonville afforded us some terrific running and we visited Touchdown, the Jacksonville Jaguar mascot, twice during our time in Florida.  I should note that the notoriously bad Jags have gone on a 3-game win streak since we visited Touchdown.  I'd like to think that we had something to do with that. You are welcome, Jacksonville.

One conference run with Andrew, Meryl, and CJ (photo: CJ)

The whirlwind that is conference always seems to come to an end too soon.  It is a blessing and a curse to have created such great friendships with music therapists from all over the country.  I am so lucky to know all of these people, but I always start to miss them before I even make it home.  It just seems unfair that we only see each other once or twice a year.  Until then I will look forward to our Southwestern Region Region conference here in Big D in late March and, of course, the next AMTA conference in Louisville, KY.