A couple of weeks ago, I joined the Environments for Aging Conference team, fellow editors, and a bunch of extremely qualified senior living experts in Baltimore to go through more than 80 proposals for educational sessions to be presented at the 2015 EFA Conference. We convened at the same hotel where the event will be held April 19-21 (nice place) and proceeded to work diligently, poring over every proposal, discussing each one in detail, and coming to an ultimate consensus on the right mix of sessions for our audience.
These kinds of meetings are among my favorite professional duties, allowing me to get together with passionate designers, providers, and other experts to tackle the biggest issues facing the industry. Yes, it's kind of a bummer to have to spend so much time essentially in one room for hours upon hours. I usually go home with a dull headache. But we accomplish so much during this time, and I always learn something and relish the chance to dig even deeper into the challenges our audience faces.
Also, the hotel people bring us lots of food. And coffee.
My counterpart at sister magazine Long-Term Living, Pamela Tabar, did an excellent job synopsizes both the experience and the takaway trends in her own blog, and I encourage to you check it out here: "Designing Tomorrow's Senior Environments." The session proposals alone offer a good glimpse into the types of topics and projects that are demanding attention right now, but I find the discussions around the proposals tend to be even more enlightening as we look forward. Like memory care, wellness programming (and how to design the right spaces to conduct it) is a need that only continues to grow. Same with affordable senior housing. Did we solve all these problems that day? Um, no. But the more we ask the questions, and the more we discuss the options and try different approaches, the closer we'll get.
The full program for the 2015 EFA Conference is in the process of being filled out, combed through, and organized, and it'll be a little while before it's ready for prime time. But when it is, we'll let you know–and we hope you'll join us in person in April to experience it firsthand and contribute to the greater conversation as we shape the future.
