by Miriam McKinney
As the year ends, I’d like to take you on a little journey back in time. In October 2023, the ICEA Board of Directors met for our annual Strategic Planning meeting. At that meeting, we finalized the location of the 2024 conference after weighing our top location choices (Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, and a few others). We all knew that it would be a lot of work, but at that meeting, we committed to putting time and resources into bringing birth professionals together in person.
It felt scary but also exciting. ICEA had not held an in-person conference since 2018, and, as we all know, the landscape of conferences has changed dramatically. In some ways, we’ve learned to adapt. Teaching and learning virtually has made it possible to reach more clients and gain insightful information from our homes. Travel can be expensive and disruptive to our schedules, of course. All that said, as we’ve talked to ICEA professionals over the past few years, the feedback was that people wanted to be together in person, period. You talked, we listened!
We announced the conference dates in the February 2024 Newsletter. We had outlined a budget and a basic draft schedule. We were off and running.
I love lists and, most importantly, checking them off. Being the Director of Conferences gave me ample opportunity to do just that. Quickly, we had a lot of items checked off. Location – check; Dates – check; Theme – check; Logo – check. It was starting to seem “real.”
The conference committee met a few times to brainstorm speaker topics, speakers and sponsors. Talk about some long lists. It was fun meeting and throwing out ideas. Everyone had their favorite speaker, author, blogger, or Instagram educator to pitch. During these meetings, I learned a lot about where my colleagues turn for information and inspiration.
Even with our fairly long list, we were still holding our breath as we posted the call for proposals and reached out to some speakers we hoped would apply. We needed to fill 24 hours of continuing education (amount needed for ICEA recertifications). I thought maybe we would get 30 proposals and hope that 24 were up to ICEA standards. To our surprise, we received over 60 proposals and were able to really delve into curating the “Circle of Care” educational experience we envisioned.
I won’t recount every meeting or decision, but we had more breath-holding moments along the way. Would anyone register? Would we get any sponsors or exhibitors? Would we get approved for nursing CEs? And the answers kept being YES. It was falling into place.
Before we knew it, October 2024 was upon us. Showing up at the conference hotel on conference week was surreal. Not only was it “real” but it was happening right now. Sounds a little like labor and birth, huh? Here we go.
More lists. Did flights arrive? Did supplies arrive? Did the weather hold? Did a few critical supply boxes end up getting shipped back to the airport by mistake? Ha ha. Yes. We can laugh about it now but in the moment it was terrifying. Eventually, they were located. Crisis diverted.
As we started putting up signage and organizing nametags and attendee bags, a lot of the anxieties fell away for me. The connections, the energy, the community building was already starting as the board came together one year later to host this conference. Let the laughs and hugs and learning begin.
The conference, itself, ran smoothly thanks to ICEA’s management company staff (IMI), our excellent A/V guy and the hotel staff. My favorite moments: Just after lunch we squeezed in two 30-minute sessions. Their timing was perfect. Just as we all may have wanted a nap, we were all laughing and dancing to the “milkin’ my ladies” video (https://youtu.be/3i-ZiA7ll60?si=TbbweFAFm8bhSGc9) that Patty Fish showed us (Breast Pumps session) and an invigorating exercise, stretching and posture session from Emily Wannenburg (Keeping Doulas Healthy session). (1)
And I was certainly tearing up and cheering when Amy Nevland referenced Penny Simkins during her session (Birth Plans session), which
closed the conference.
My entire Austin-based hospital parent education team was in attendance (shout out to Shelley, Amanda, Sarah, and Amy). Additionally, one of our former colleagues, who there, is the person who brought me to ICEA over eight years ago. Thank you, Megan Newhouse-Bailey, for being my Postpartum Doula thirteen years ago and for introducing me to this fulfilling work.
As we wrap up the year, the 2024 ICEA board just held our annual Member meeting where we reviewed the past years’ accomplishments and the main goals for 2025. The 2025 board is enthusiastic and motivated, and I know ICEA is in good hands.
It’s been my privilege to help lead the conference committee these past two years and it’s been a “labor” of love to serve on the ICEA board these past six years. Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season and 2025. Hope to see you again soon.
(1) NOTE: ICEA is not affiliated with the Elvie company.
