Dream Team

THE DREAM TEAM (DESIGNING A RELEVANT AND ENGAGING ANNUAL MEETING)

Have you ever wondered how Oley selects our sessions and activities for conference? Here’s a behind the scenes look at that process.

First, some historical perspective. For years, Oley had a selection process based on the needs of the community and the staff was primarily responsible for seeking qualified speakers on a needed topic. That worked for many years.

For 2024, the Oley Board and staff decided we wanted to move into a new direction for selection. This year we formed the DREAM Team. This stands for Designing a Relevant and Engaging Annual Meeting Team. It is comprised of about 20 members - patients, caregivers, clinicians, and members of industry.

One of their main responsibilities is to be the session selection committee. Other responsibilities include to be an advisory panel on all things conference. They will also serve as volunteers during the conference. Their primary job is to make sure the annual meeting is well, relevant and engaging.

For example, for the session selection, this year, Oley sent out requests for submissions. And we had submissions from patients/consumers, family members, clinicians, healthcare providers and members of industry. The DREAM team was presented with every submission. Each submission was completely blinded so the decision for inclusion/exclusion could be made based on the content alone. This means the entire team had zero identifiers to know anything about the submitter, just the actual content. The team carefully reviewed each submission and deliberated.

We had way more qualified submissions than available slots. What a great "problem" to have. Our challenge became which to include and why. For those we could not accept at this time, we discussed other ways we can use this topic/submission throughout the year for Oley. Afterall, our needs are 365 days a year, not just conference week.

While we cannot ever accommodate everything and everyone, at the end, the DREAM Team believes we have selected a well-balanced program accounting for new to therapy vs experienced, those on enteral and parenteral across the lifespan and for a variety of learning styles.

If you would like to be considered for the DREAM Team, all our spots for 2025 DREAM team have already been filled but we will share the criteria and volunteer application for when slots become available. The Oley 2024 Conference will be held at the Omni Tempe Hotel at ASU.