On March 8th and 9th, 134 critical care nurses gathered at the Ritz Charles in Overland Park for the 25th Annual Visions Symposium.  This conference opened with a keynote address by AACN National President Mary Stahl presenting her theme Together, Stronger, Bolder. Other speaker highlights included Barb McLean discussing her experiences in Haiti after their disaster and our local stroke expert Debbie Summers on Stroke Management. This conference had something for everyone whether you work in ICU, Progressive Care or Pediatric Critical Care.

We were honored to have 12 critical care nurses from Joplin Missouri who shared with us their journey since May 2011 when an F5 tornado hit their hospital. I was awed with their stories of courage and heroism although they humbly say that they just did what was needed.

Once again we had a good group of vendors on Friday that gave us the opportunity to shop during our breaks. You could purchase anything from candles to purses and then some. The silent auction provided entertainment as well as funding for the scholarships that Greater Kansas City Chapter of AACN provides each year.

Please plan to join us next year for the 26th Annual Visions Symposium on February 28th and March 1st, 2013.  We plan to continue to grow and improve and would like you to join us in this journey.

The Visions Committee is hard at work again, securing speakers, negotiating fees, planning details, etc. for the 2012 Visions Symposium on March 8-9, 2012 at Ritz Charles in Overland Park, Kansas. 

You may already recognize that putting on a large event costs dollars.  We make every attempt to secure sponsorship from vendors and educational grants to limit the cost passed on to the participants without compromising the quality of the offerings and venue. 

In the spirit of transparency, we thought it would be interesting for our membership base to see “where your registration dollars for Visions go.”   The $22,000 cost for ~130 participants was distributed as follows.  Note that the food represents 50% of the cost.  It is very limiting to us that many venues will not allow outside catering; thus, the food cost is largely nonnegotiable.  This chart also does not include the additional $7000 in educational grants and/or sponsorship received, as well as the additional printing costs covered by a vendor.

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Every Spring, we award one AACN member, a scholarship to attend both days of the Greater Kansas City Visions Symposium, usually held in early March.  This year, the due date for the "Visions Symposium Scholarship" has been moved to January 12th, 2012 (instead of February 9th).  This will allow additional time to review the applications and provide enough prior notice to the recipient.  To apply, go to the Scholarships page....We look forward to reviewing your applications.