Shout-Out to Valerie Lazzara Mould and ORTA

The Ohio Recreational Therapy Association (ORTA) had their second annual one day conference in Columbus, Ohio on Friday, October 4^th, 2019.

This session allowed attendees to earn six (6) clock hours of continuing education.

 

I wanted to give a shout-out to Valerie Lazzara Mould and ORTA for putting on a wonderful one day workshop.

I had the opportunity to attend and present at this conference.

 

It takes a lot of time, effort, and planning to provide a conference.

I’ve had experience with assisting with many aspects of putting together conferences, including:

• West Virginia Therapeutic Recreation Association (WVTRA) conferences
• American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) conferences as a scholarship winner
• Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia Tri-State area continuing education workshops for Rec Therapists.

 

Here is some of the work required to put on a conference:

• Finding a location
• Setting up a date and time
• Reaching out to get presenters to speak
• Getting sessions approved by ATRA for CEU credit.
• Getting sessions approved by NCTRC for CEU credit too (which is fairly new)
• Announcing and advertising the conference/ workshop so you’ll have attendees
• Keeping the conference/ workshop within the allotted budget without overspending
• Getting all of the certificates to attendees in a timely manner.

The staff (at associations, like ORTA and the former WVTRA) are all volunteers. They are not hired or paid to do the work they do in creating these conferences. It times a lot of time and effort. It can be stressful and the ORTA team deserves a shout-out for their second annual conference!

Please volunteer to serve to help the conference chair for your location state branch of ATRA or with the national ATRA conference.

Your association needs you!

There are a lot of things you could to help your state association with their next conference.

• Present
• Reach out to get speakers
• Help sign-in attendees when they arrive
• Help provide support to pass out information and point people in the right direction.
• Create a handout with a list of local resources for people who traveled to visit your town.

Click here to learn about joining ATRA

Disclaimer: Danny Pettry isn’t a hired spokesperson for ATRA. Pettry isn’t an elected ATRA board member. Pettry is a lifetime member of ATRA who encourages Re Therapists to join our national association.