© Imelda Maurer, cdp July 31, 2015
ilmcdp@yahoo.com
One of the anticipated excitements of my early childhood was the Sears Christmas Catalog that the mail carrier delivered faithfully. Oh, the excitement of looking through all the pages of toys -- again and again! Years later when I rediscovered the joys of gardening, I had that same experience when the Burpee Catalog arrived, as it always did, in the dead of winter. Oh, the snow peas! The summer squash! The broccoli for the fall garden! Now, in my very mature years, that same sense of excitement is anticipated and experienced when the educational sessions of the Pioneer Network Conference are posted on their website! Oh, the agony of having to select one over the other at times!
ilmcdp@yahoo.com
One of the anticipated excitements of my early childhood was the Sears Christmas Catalog that the mail carrier delivered faithfully. Oh, the excitement of looking through all the pages of toys -- again and again! Years later when I rediscovered the joys of gardening, I had that same experience when the Burpee Catalog arrived, as it always did, in the dead of winter. Oh, the snow peas! The summer squash! The broccoli for the fall garden! Now, in my very mature years, that same sense of excitement is anticipated and experienced when the educational sessions of the Pioneer Network Conference are posted on their website! Oh, the agony of having to select one over the other at times!
For several years I have actively encouraged participation
in the annual conference of the Pioneer Network. I do so because for anyone engaged in any way
in the noble work of serving others through aging services, this conference is
just absolutely the best! It is the only
national conference that focuses entirely on changing the culture of aging and
aging services. Think about that
mission for a minute!
I’m leaving on Saturday, August 1st for this year’s conference in
Chicago which opens with a marvelous full-day pre-conference workshop led by
staff of Action Pact. LaVrene Norton and Megan Hannan are the guides. As is standard within the Action Pact team,
these presenters are superb in understanding how adults learn and in their utilizing
the most effective techniques. The results include not only new knowledge, but experiences
that deepen and extend the cognitive issues presented. There is always a sense
of community that arises from their work.
Sunday will be a wonderful day!
For those of you who cannot be there in person, the Pioneer
Network is offering some of their wonderful conference sessions free to the public via live streaming. You can go to this website to see the specific sessions that will be streamed. There is also a
brief description there of each streamed website and the names of the presenters.
If you are working in an aging services organization, take
advantage of this opportunity; plan to have a live, streamed in-service with
your team members. Invite Board Members to view a selected session to advance
their own understanding of and commitment to transformative culture change for
the elders in your organization.
I hope to have a few minutes to share more of the
experiences of this conference as the days go on.