Education is much more than CE.
This notion is key to HiVE, a new style of in-person events launched today by Veterinary Meeting Expo (VMX) organizer, the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC).
The events, which will be hosted across the U.S., bring intimate, focused sessions to different communities, with each unique HiVE featuring education tracks on niche topics directly impacting veterinary teams and patients.
“The idea is not to replicate VMX and have a traveling show, but to bring it more to the area of need in a more intimate setting,” NAVC CEO Gene O’Neill tells Veterinary Practice News in an exclusive interview. “That’s how we came up with the idea of bringing it to the people. We want to complement VMX with a more focused experience on issues of the day.”
Beyond formal classroom and lecture-style learning, HiVE events offer different approaches to education, including roundtable discussions and in-depth conversations. The topics presented will be flexible, O’Neill explains, with a specific focus on current animal health industry trends affecting patient treatment, as well as issues faced by the veterinary industry, including staffing, recruiting, and mental health.
“We’re not structured,” he says. “This is something totally new—something so opposite of what VMX is. These events could pivot on any day, based on the trends of the day, the hot topics, the needs of a team, or the needs of the community we’re going into.”
“This gives us the opportunity to go into a community and talk about the issues that may be impacting a certain level of the healthcare team—veterinary technicians, nurses, practice managers, DVMs—on the topics they want to learn more about,” O’Neill continues.
Plans for HiVE were announced earlier this year at VMX, which saw a record attendance of 28,000.
“The one thing we learned and the one thing we really believe in is the live event space is not dead,” O’Neill tells Veterinary Practice News. “Some people may believe it’s on decline, but it continues to grow. In our space, specifically, it grows because the industry is growing so rapidly. With growth, there are some things that need to be focused on—new learnings, new procedures, new medicines, new techniques. These things are coming out every day.”
With the offering, NAVC aims to bring continued learning to those who are unable to attend VMX in person, whether due to geographical, financial, or work restrictions.
“A couple years back, we rolled out a virtual opportunity for those who couldn’t get out to VMX,” O’Neill explains. “We still have that virtual component today, but we saw the appetite for learning was still there and, of course, the live space is growing. To reach those who are not able to attend VMX, we’re going to bring something like VMX to them.”
The first-ever HiVE will take place October 16 to 18 in Austin, Texas. The event, which coincides with National Veterinary Technician Week, includes the Veterinary Team Association of Texas as industry supporter.
The Nurse+Tech HiVE features three educational tracks:
- professional and career development
- clinical content
- personal and self-development (including stress management, mindfulness, and financial planning)
Access was key in selecting Austin as the first locale, O’Neill explains.
“Texas has the largest population of veterinary technicians and nurses in the U.S., so this first HiVE gets to the core of what we’re trying to accomplish—right during the core of National Veterinary Technician Week,” he says.
The Nurse+Tech HiVE will offer initial attendee registration at $25 for full access. For more, click here.
Future HiVE locations will be based on where the need is, along with when it is needed. Upcoming focus areas include veterinary mental health and well-being; strategies for solving the recruitment challenge, and emergency and clinical care.