New for this year, the WEFTEC Closing Session will sum up the highlights and insights from WEFTEC 2019. Don't miss this new Wednesday afternoon event!
Hosted by WEF 2018-2019 President Tom Kunetz and WEF Program Committee Chair Diego Rosso, this wrap-up session is sure to be full of both information and laughs. The fomenters of this session will be happy to share their thoughts in a mix of English, Spanish, Italian, geek-speak, academic pontification, and all the buzz words of a consultant.
Expect this to be a very rapid-fire overview of key points from all different topics across WEFTEC.
“No one can see everything at WEFTEC. There’s just too much,” said Susan Merther, Director of WEFTEC Education. “It’s the best kind of problem to have. So now, we’re going pull out some of the really interesting things that are worthy of note.”
The idea for this session grew out of discussion during strategic planning, according to Susan Merther, Director of WEFTEC Education. “We had the recognition that people get so much out of WEFTEC and are so jazzed when they head home (exhausted, but full of inspiration, ideas, connections) that they want to end with a bang and not a whimper,” she said.
An advisory panel met at he WEFTEC Mid-Year Meeting in Atlanta in spring to discuss trends and new technologies that will keep WEFTEC fresh and relevant well into the future, said Kunetz. "The advisory panel all thought this was a great way to help close WEFTEC with a 'bang!' as well to celebrate the 5 days of events, sort of like a fireworks display to close the Fourth of July celebrations."
About 30 people — leaders of the WEFTEC symposium — will be involved in choosing what gets highlighted at the Closing Session. During abstract reviews and WEFTEC planning, this group identifies what sessions and topics they expect to be hits. (Listen to a podcast of some symposia chairs sharing their top picks.) Merther said she expects this list to serve as a starting point on what will be included in the Closing Session, with adjustments and tweaks to reflect what resonated with the audience onsite.
WEFTEC’s Florid History
The session will end with a special high note. To celebrate 92 years of WEFTEC, Kunetz and his friends from the Second City in Chicago will present a light-hearted look back at Great Moments in WEFTEC History.
In the Olympic games, the closing ceremony extinguishes the Olympic flame. The WEFTEC Closing Session will follow in a similar thought, creating a time to gather, shake hands, and make plans the regroup next year at WEFTEC 2020.
The one-hour-long Closing Session is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 2:30 p.m. in Room S401.
