MID-YEAR ASSEMBLY RECAP (2024)
Related Resources + Files
You'll need a free Canva account to access the templates. These have a QR code on the back where you can put your resume (Use a QR code generator like Bitly).
The Mid Year Assembly is one of our national AANA meetings. Each year it’s held in Washington, D.C. and is a political advocacy event. Watch this to learn some of the hot topics currently facing our profession, and what we are lobbying for across the nation (hint hint – great essay content!). One of our SRNA contributors attended and gave his live recap!
Networking - your secret weapon
Attending Open Houses
- Attending open houses is a great way to figure out which programs are right for you. Here are some benefits of attending either in person or virtual:
- You’ll find out information that’s not on the website
- You’ll be able to connect with current students
- You’ll get clarity on those nuanced questions you have regarding your prerequisites etc.
- If in person, the face to face interaction will give you an opportunity to make a lasting impression
Tips for attending a virtual open house (from a program director!):
- Turn on your camera if you’re asking a question (or just in general)
- Do NOT address the faculty by their first name, please address them by “Dr.” or “Mr./Mrs.”
- Do NOT ask questions where the answer is found on the website
Tips for attending an in-person open house:
- Dress professionally, treat every interaction as an interview
- You can bring your resume but don’t force it on people, see if it feels natural to hand it out
- Go out of your way to connect with students and talk to faculty – making a lasting in person impressions matters
- Have a list of questions you want to ask, don’t just attend blindly – this is your chance to get your questions answered
- Be personable with other applicants, yes you are competing against each other but faculty pay attention to how well you mingle
Attending State Meetings
If you are having a hard time finding a CRNA to shadow, the first thing we suggest to do (besides reaching out to your hospitals of course) is to attend a State AANA meeting. You’ll find lots of CRNAs there who are willing (or might know someone) to let you shadow.
In addition, State Meetings are a great networking opportunity as you’ll meet faculty and program directors, clinical coordinators and students.
Students who have attended State Meetings have RAVED about how worth it it was, and how they got special recognition and praise from programs and faculty.
AANA STATE MEETING CALENDAR
We put together this State Meeting Calendar but we don’t update it regularly, so please use it as a resource to get direct links to your state associations and check for upcoming events.
You can also just Google “[state] AANA Meeting” and the state’s website should pop up.
Some states will have only one meeting per year, others might have a Spring, Fall and Winter meeting – it depends.
If you don’t see an RN rate posted, please contact them directly and ask if there is an RN or student rate that you can pay to attend.
Attending National Meetings
There are several types of National AANA Meetings you can attend. More and more RNs are attending these, and it’s a GREAT opportunity for you to network and meet faculty and students.
- AANA Annual Congress – every year this meeting is in a different city
- AAAN Mid-Year Assembly – this is every Spring in Washington, D.C. and is a political advocacy event
- ADCE – Assembly of Didactic and Clinical Educators – this is a more intimate meeting focused on educators – a few CRNA Club Member applicants went last year and got to talk to every program director they wanted to!
You can find the details of these events on the AANA website.
Some additional resources for you
EMAIL TEMPLATES
Ready to start networking? Here are some email templates for you to get started, remember to personalize these, hundreds of people have access to these and you don’t want to sound cookie cutter, use ChatGPT to put your own spin on it!
– Letter of Recommendation Email Request
– Interview thank you follow up email
– CRNA Shadow Opportunity Inquiry
– CRNA Shadow Opportunity Thank You
– Program Faculty Transcript Review Inquiry
– AANA Meeting Follow Up
School Cheat Sheets
If you’re attending a national meeting, or an event where you might be meeting a lot of faculty or speaking with lots of students, you’ll want to keep your information straight. Fill our your School Cheat Sheets so you can remember names, take notes, and ensure you’re getting your questions answered. The key is to be prepared an come to events with some information about each program already filled out.
Ready to keep watching?
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Sachi @thecrnaclub
- Networking, Planning + Applying
