COT Annual Conference ---- and Occubuzz

Today sees me trying to return to "normality" following 3 days in Glasgow for the COT annual conference. Sarah and I were in attendance having had a number of abstracts accepted for poster facilitations, a seminar and an innovative technology stand. At the time of submitting abstracts (usually September time) it feels such a long way away to the following June - however it crept up on us and with the usual last minute flurry of activity ensuring posters were designed and printed, presentations were ready and we had material to make our stand "stand out".

Highlights of the 3 days:

a) Meeting so many people in "real world" that we had met and connected with through our social media networking - in particular a number of our Post graduate students on our online MSc programme that we have never actually "met" before. Watching people move and hearing them speak is a fascination that never wanes - so now, when we return to virtual space we can have a more rounded picture of our connections. So if you came and found us to say hello - thanks - we loved meeting you.

b) Of course catching up with everyone was great.

c) Introducing Michael Iwama to Occubuzz and almost having a preview of his dance moves perfected for the evening's gala - Michael -we may not have been there to see them - but we now have eye witness accounts and photos - so we know it happened - and good reports have been filed :-)

d) Coming away with potential collaborations to explore further including being approached both by a publishing company to consider writing a book and a USA recruitment agency interested in our online training capacity and capability.

e)

OCCUBUZZ - the interest generated out-performed our expectations. We were swamped everytime we were on the stand by people wanting to talk about the app and it's potential. Our "sticky bee" stickers became cult with people coming to ask for one - however they had to listen to our spiel before we would give one out.
You can find out more about this on the Occubuzz tab at the top of the page. Please download the app and play with it - it is a prototype and there are some gremlins but your feedback is vital to our development of version 3 which we are then hoping to use in some research with practitioners and the general public. We hope to have a blog and a facebook page just for Occubuzz coming very soon......



f) Attending the Student presentations where 2 of our students were presenting their experiences of a volunteer project using occupation as the focus for a Carer Support group we have worked on with a local Trust. Sam Tozer and Louise Hesketh - you were great, professional, clear and extremely interesting in your reflections and what you shared -great experience for the CV. (Of course not forgetting Helen Hampson and Maria Lynch who were part of the project too). More information about this project can be found on our poster (Evaluating an Occupation Focused Group for carers of people with mental health conditions). Click here

g) Dare I mention the free food and drink copiously provided on the first evening back at the hotel by the recruitment agency that over-predicted numbers of delegates. Our gain I believe :-).

h) Making some headway in the development of social media guidelines for health and social care professionals. Our seminar on Professionalism in the Digital Age was well attended (even at 9am!) and we received some useful comments on the risks and challenges ahead that need to be addressed. Watch this space as we work with our national and international colleagues on this project.

At the moment this is about all I can remember. I return to be swamped in emails, admissions queries, marking and other bits that don't seem to care that I have been away - I will attempt to follow up with more info very soon - and yet again I make a resolution to be a better blogger.
Any hints and tips on how to be a more regular blogger would be well received. Thanks for your continued support.

COT Annual Conference 2012

So, COT annual conference is over for another year -I think mixed feelings best describes my personal view of the experience. This year the venue changed from Brighton to Glasgow - which I think was disadvantaged by comparison. Please don't get me wrong, Glasgow looked after us very well, the venue was slick and extremely well organised but it was hampered by the weather and the fact that we couldn't eat ice creams on the sea wall whenever we fancied a bit of breakaway networking :-).

However, Brighton didn't have Tenacious D with Jack Black rehearsing across the corridor whilst the Mindfulness workshop was meditating! Priceless. Rumour has it that a COT representative tried to get him to speak to conference - even getting as far as his manager before being rebuffed. Their stance was based on the fact that  their new album "Rize of the Fenix" could be said to have tentative links to Occupational Therapy due to the COT Pheonix logo. Ah well, only a few steps away from fame!!

University of Salford had 5 (4 staff and one undergrad student) abstracts accepted for conference  so myself, Sarah, Jackie, Heather, Viv  and Gillian all attended to share our work, to engage in conference and to network. (Read Gillian's post about her experience here)

Sarah and I travelled together by car - Sarah driving (luggage therefore had no reason to go walkabout as per Chile 2010) and apart from a brief moment of concern when the oil light flashed on the dashboard and the need to accost an innocent male passerby to answer a few basic questions for us (apologies for maintaining a stereotype) we arrived in Glasgow in good time and headed straight for the hotel bar for refreshment and regroup with the other 3 who all arrived through the early evening. After a meal at the hotel - and a realisation that some restaurants have still not grasped the concept of vegetarianism  (you had to be there!) we all went to our rooms to get ready for the onslaught of the next three days.

Tuesday 12th June

As registration wasn't until 11.30am we had ample time to get in a little sight seeing to at least get our bearings of Glasgow. Sarah and I met early for  breakfast and then found our way by bus into the city and onto a City Tours open top bus. It was cold and windy, and I had loaned Sarah the "Belfast" coat of style over substance and so the cold finally won out and we left the tour at the SECC where conference was to be and went for a coffee awaiting registration.



It was here that the whirlwind of Facebook and virtual friends began to arrive and 'real world' friendships were forged. How strange that these people could walk and talk - and had accents - we realised that their words had only ever been read before and therefore we had put our own voice to them - how weird!!!

Heather had kindly taken our poster : "The experiences of Learning in a 3D Immersive Environment" into the venue and so this was put up in its relevant place.

First session attended was a Round Table with Samantha Shann of WFOT (and Northumbria University) celebrating our profession locally and globally. Samantha gave information of how we could celebrate OT Day on October 27th and highlighted resources available for download from the WFOT website. Unexpectedly she invited me to take the microphone to talk about OT4OT and our 24hrVx. - so thanks for the opportunity Samantha - great to meet you.

Sarah and I then popped into the Social Media workshop run by Kirsty Stanley, Claire Jones and Helen Rushton. What had originally been planned as a drop in session had quickly evolved - due to a healthy number of participants, into three workshops - clinical centred, ethical and professional behaviour on line and "newbies" to digital social media. So, 'popping-in' was a little disruptive and our arrival caused a bit of a halt as we were introduced and invited to chat with one of the groups. Once again Kirtsy, Helen and Claire - our apologies for disrupting the session - but what a great group and clearly well received. These three were relentless all conference in offering help and advice to anyone who wanted to stop them - made much easier by their t-shirts advertising their support - fantastic!!

Heather's workshop: "Exploring a gendered approach to leadership" was well attended and well received and certainly gave some more food for thought to the leadership agenda - I'm sure Heather may want to offer her own account of this.

After the Plenary session - where Prof Phil Hanlon stole the show talking about OTs role within Public Health - very charismatic man I then attended a Fringe Meeting of Occupational Science in Europe where Prof Gaynor Sadlo and Prof Susan Corr led a discussion about how this new group may work and how we may begin to support each other - see the new website here. It was now 8pm and I was tired, hungry and all networked out for the day. The kaftan was calling........

Wednesday 13th June

Today saw Jackie and Viv's workshop: "The power of occupation in rebuilding the disrupted identity: a new approach". A popular choice as people were being turned away. They presented a prototype of a workbook that participants were extremely disappointed to give back at the end of the session - Jackie and Viv your work is cut out for you now in getting it ready for publication as soon as you can!

Sarah and I also had to stand by our poster in case anyone had any questions - seems no one did!

Highlights of the day included:

• breakfast at the Bistro at the SECC
• networking continued with some interesting chats and quick meets with a variety of OTs from many diverse areas.
• meeting Henry Clayton the inventor of the millie-mova - a fantastic, easy and cheap device for moving dining chairs. He had pitched to Dragon's Den but was unsuccessful - they made a mistake in my view - I can see it having mass appeal for many areas where carers are struggling.
• perusing the poster exhibition - again demonstrating the varied and diverse areas in which OT is represented

Thursday 14th June

First thing was mine and Jackie's paper: "Understanding service user stories about experiences of community health care". Jackie presented this on our behalf and I think I am right in saying that it was well received. 

Whilst this was happening, the student papers were being delivered. The feedback from this session has been great. Jennifer Creek can be seen talking about the session in this video

Lunch time arrived all too soon and a decision made to leave before the end of the day - having completely exhausted all our reserves of energy. 

So, homeward bound, again in Sarah's car, we used the time very productively in identifying three potential projects involving a website, a pilot experience in metal health and a fairy story - details not ready to be released just yet - but watch this space......

And so, conference over for another year.... great to meet you all..... here's to next year!!!