I traveled from New York to hot and humid Atlanta this past week to the AVMA conference, one of my favorites. I like to tweet at the conferences I attend, and that was my plan for this one. My first stop was the American Veterinary Medical Foundation reception at the Atlanta Aquarium. I had a chance to catch up with American Heartworm Society Past-President Shelly Rubin and many other dignitaries. Shelly asked me about www.goodnewsforpets.com among other things and commented he didn’t tweet but he did use facebook. Hmmm.
Monday was a packed day with client, new business and editor meetings. I attended “AVMA Live,” an open forum with AVMA leadership where a host of issues were discussed. A senior veterinarian asked a younger veterinarian about her use of list servs. Her response, “Way too 2005 for me! I like Facebook because it is all right there for me.” A facebooker again!
The AVMA President’s Installation Luncheon on Tuesday was sponsored by Hill’s Pet Nutrition. Dr. Dan Aja of Hill’s opened the lunch with a thanks to his mentor, Dr. Larry Dee and encouraged mentorship and volunteerism. After a dias of award presentations including the 2010 Student AVMA Teaching Excellence Award to Dr. Mark Freeman of Ross University, Dr. Larry Kornegay was sworn in as the 2010-2011 AVMA President. Also a big congratulations to J.B. Hancock, AVMA director of communications, a recipient of the AVMA President’ Award. I had the great pleasure to sit with several AVMA leaders again including Dr. Larry Dee and his wife.
Shortly after the lunch, I got a notice that Hill’s Pet Nutrition has launched their official Facebook page. When asked by a colleague what I gathered from the conference, the sure signed embrace of Facebook from leadership to young veterinarians to Hill’s Pet Nutrition, an icon of the profession, had to be tops on my list. A pleasant and welcome surprise. They may not be tweeting quite as much, but Facebook fans are surely welcome!