National Conference & Exhibition

Why is This Program Important?

The National Conference & Exhibition strives to meet participants’ identified educational needs and support their lifelong learning with a goal of improving care for children and families. The AAP is committed to excellence and innovation in education. The AAP National Conference is the forum at which pediatric professionals meet and interact for updates, review of pediatric practice, research, and advocacy. The National Conference provides a place for the AAP governance/administration/organization to interact with its general membership.

The instruction (learning experience) in the National Conference & Exhibition will: 

• Provide the most current information related to illness and preventive healthcare of prenatal, neonatal, infants, children, adolescents, and young adults.
• Create a forum for discussion of current issues and problems in pediatric healthcare.
• Instruct attendees on procedures related to patient health management.
• Inform, enable and update on practice management and policy.
• Support and train attendees in advocacy of issues related to child health.

Highlight the importance of physician self-care and wellness and their impact on patient care.

Who Can Benefit

The National Conference draws a wide variety of attendees, including general pediatricians, pediatric medical and surgical subspecialists, pediatric residents/fellows, family physicians, pediatric nurse practitioners, nurses, physician assistants, and others caring for children.  In 2020 for our first-ever Virtual National Conference, there were 14.7K professional attendees (64% members and 36% non-members, 79% US and 21% international).

Now that the meeting has a virtual component, we look forward to the opportunity of reaching a wider audience than ever before!  The virtual component will also make it more feasible for learners world-wide to participate in the Academy’s premier live educational activity.

Program Details

As a result of attending the National Conference, learners will be able to: 

• Practice evidence-based, informed pediatric medicine.
• Apply current techniques and procedures.
• Advocate effectively for issues related to children’s health.
• Demonstrate improvement in competence, performance or patient outcomes.
• Apply strategies to maintain wellness and prevent burnout.

In addition to drawing attention to important topics impacting pediatrics, the conference provides opportunities for attendees to engage with faculty, other colleagues, and AAP leaders.  Attendees often leave the meeting feeling inspired and refreshed as they return to their practices.

How the Program is Implemented

The 2021 National Conference & Exhibition will be a hybrid meeting taking place in Philadelphia, Oct 8-12. Attendees will have the option of attending in-person or virtually.  The conference will include live programming, subspecialty programs sponsored by AAP sections/councils, on-demand sessions, and oral abstract and virtual poster presentations that address the latest pediatric research.  Simultaneous Spanish/English interpreted sessions will again be offered in select sessions.  Attendees will be able to access session recordings for a designated amount of time after the live meeting concludes.  In addition to the educational sessions and opportunities, the National Conference will offer in-person and virtual exhibits, at which attendees may engage with representatives from pharmaceuticals, health care, infant feeding nutrition, publications, computer technology, and recruiting to learn about the latest pediatric products and devices.  Special events and virtual evening industry/foundation-sponsored symposia will also be offered.

Delivering Value and Impact

The National Conference is successful in achieving its learning objectives and producing change and improvement in learners’ competence and performance in practice.  Based on the results from the 2020 Conference Survey (evaluation): 

• 8% of attendees indicated that the learning objectives were achieved.
• 5% of attendees indicated that they would change the strategies they implement in practice.
• 2% of attendees indicated that they would change what they do in practice.
• 5% of attendees indicated that the conference reinforced what they are already doing in practice.

Moreover, attendees rated their overall satisfaction with the 2020 Conference as 4.39 out of 5.0 and their return on investment for participating as 4.53 out of 5.0.

The National Conference could provide valuable and necessary education to new international markets through the virtual component of the meeting.

Partnerships

As the largest live, in-person education activity hosted by the AAP, we have many crucial partnerships that are critical to the success of the National Conference. Through collaboration internally with AAP sections/councils and other constituent groups and externally with various vendors, we are always looking to expand the reach of our attendee base.

Demos

See here for examples:

National Conference Website
YouTube Channel
2020 Virtual Conference Platform