Filling Your 2012 Conference Calendar

Three of the year's big trade shows take place in Denver, Indianapolis, and Orlando. It's not too early to make plans or to register for some of them and for other must-attend events.

• By Jerry Laws
• Jan 01, 2012

So many of the best U.S. safety and health conferences of 2012 are packed into June and October. April also will be busy. It's not to early to make plans and reservations for some of them; registration is already available for the AIHA and ASSE meetings.

AIHA's, the 2012 American Occupational Health Conference & Expo, is taking place after ASSE's Safety 2012 -- apparently a first. New wrinkles introduced at this event include the Ignite sessions from 2-5 p.m. on June 19. These are five-minute presentations for which AIHA is still taking suggestions. AIHce also is debuting a mobile app at this event, and there are IH Mysteries Workshops set for June 18 and June 19.

"All kinds of ideas work," according to AIHA's description of the Ignite sessions. "A wide range of topics and concepts can be incorporated into an Ignite talk. These are not 20 minute technical abstract presentations that follow the scientific approach. They are quite the opposite, in fact. Presenters get creative and share their professional and/or personal passions, causes, or meaningful moments. Sometimes an Ignite talk can be a blend of both personal and professional. Essentially –- Ignite talks are a story and everyone has stories to tell."

Ignite session speakers will "share their professional and personal passions using 20 slides that auto advance every 15 seconds," according to AIHA. To present one, contact Carol Tobin at [email protected] or 703-846-0745.

Registration will open in May 2012 for this year's National Safety Congress & Expo, which will take place Oct. 21-26 in Orlando as the host National Safety Council celebrates its centennial. For the second year in a row, a panel of experts from the International Safety Equipment Association will discuss hot topics in the world of PPE during a 2-3:30 p.m. session Nov. 1 in the exhibit hall. Two Executive Edge workshops and a related panel discussion are new additions to the Congress program this year.

Health conferences are leading off the year. "Business Dimensions of Occupational Nursing" is the theme for the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses Inc.'s 2012 national conference, which takes place April 22-25 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville.

Not far behind the NSC, the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, ACOEM, is nearing its centennial year. ACOEM was founded in 1916 and will open its 97th Annual Meeting, the 2012 American Occupational Health Conference, on April 29 in Los Angeles. The event's theme is "Scripting Worker and Environmental Health: Spotlighting What You Need to Know."

Another important public health meeting is set for Oct. 27-31 at San Francisco's Moscone Center. It's the 140th Annual Meeting & Exposition of the American Public Health Association, with more than 13,000 health professionals expected to attend.

The 56th Annual Meeting of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) and the NSC Congress are two highlights occurring simultaneously in October. The following month, this year's National Ergonomics Conference and Expo returns to Ceasars Palace in Las Vegas (Nov. 27-30).

Here's the list in brief:

• AAOHN 2012 national conference: April 22-25, Gaylord Opryland Resort, Nashville, www.aaohn.org
• American Occupational Health Conference: April 29-May 2, Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, Los Angeles, www.acoem.org
• ASSE's Safety 2012: June 3-5, Colorado Convention Center, Denver, www.safety2012.org/
• NFPA 2012 Conference & Expo: June 11-14, Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, www.nfpa.org
• AIHce 2012: June 16-21, Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, http://aihce2012.org/
• NSC 2012 Safety Congress & Expo: Oct. 21-26, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, www.nsc.org
• HFES 56th Annual Meeting: Oct. 22-26, Westin Boston Waterfront, Boston, www.hfes.org
• APHA 140th Annual Meeting & Exposition: Oct. 27-31, Moscone Center, San Francisco, www.apha.org
• National Ergonomics Conference and Expo: Nov. 27-30, Ceasars Palace, Las Vegas,www.ergoexpo.com