Sleepless in Seattle… the International Cancer Education Conference

Excerpt

Sleepless in Seattle [1] was not only a highly successful romantic comedy film (1993) but also the phrase that best captures the spirit of the recently completed International Cancer Education Conference co-organized by the American Association for Cancer Education (AACE), the Cancer Patient Education Network (CPEN), and the European Association for Cancer Education (EACE). It was a meeting filled with activity, engaging conversation, and even some sightseeing, leaving participants a bit bleary eyed by the end of the week. In the movie Sam Baldwin moves to Seattle with his young son to start a new life after his wife dies from cancer. Like aspects of the movie, we too were focused on living with cancer. A myriad of presentations were proffered in a variety of settings all focused on educational aspects of cancer. Many “firsts” have occurred at the annual meeting. This year was no exception in that it was our first “green” meeting. No book of abstracts was presented to meeting participants, but all were referred to the conference website (http://​www.​aaceonline.​com/​2013/​program.​shtml) to both view the conference sessions and to access the abstracts of individual presentations. This change allowed for additional opportunities for both pre- and postconference learning. Kudos to the organizers! …