Conferences - where shall I go next??

It's that time of the year to start planning my activities for the year ahead.  I have been thinking about which conferences I would like to attend, and where I can afford to go.  I also think about the places I would like to visit and see if there is a conference on at a convenient time - unfortunately that hasn't worked out for me yet!

I have been accepted to present a paper at the Loddon Mallee Allied Health Network, which is a small regional conference that will be held in Echuca, Victoria in March 2010.  The theme of the conference is  'Emerging Realities of Allied Health Practice' and I am planning to talk about online tools that can support reflective practice. It sounds like a fun conference.

I have applied to a couple of other conferences.  I am really hoping to go to the International Federation of Social Work conference in Hong Kong in June 2010, but not sure if we will be accepted, and not sure if I can afford it.   Time will tell, and I have a few applications for funding in the pipeline at the moment.

Do you like to go to conferences ? or present at conferences?  Do you have any suggestions for funding?  How do you find out about conferences that are on?  I have found this great website called Conference Alerts and once you subscribe and  choose the topics you are interested in, it sends me a monthly list of conferences all around the world. Do you know of any others?   Now let me see... any conferences  in Hawaii??

Rural Social Work Conference - Geelong

I am in the final stages of preparing for my presentation at the Rural Social Work conference in Geelong next week. I have presented different aspects of my research in a few places recently and I am having trouble working out what to include and what to leave out. The conference presentation is for 40 minutes, which seems like a very very long time to talk, however when I practice timing my presentation the time seems to run away and I worry that I am trying to fit too much in.

It's a challenge to work out what to include however, I think I will start with the basics of reflective practice, some information about me and my research, some information about blogs and my blog, then present some of my favourite blogs. What do you think? Do you have any feedback about this approach or any suggestions? Did you attend the conference and see my presentation? What did you think? I welcome all feedback.

thanks

Helen

Allied Health Network Conference, Bendigo 27/2/09

I have been preparing my first poster to deliver at the Allied Health Network Conference in Bendigo on Friday, 27th February 2009. I wasn't sure what to present, as I am in the early stages of my research and I have lots of options for which direction I might take. I have decided to present my thoughts about Critical Reflection and the use of an on-line blog. I have attached the notes here and I will present the poster on Friday. I welcome any feedback about the poster and I will be back next week to let you know how it went.

Helen