Info from the Maine 2024 NESNC Committee

Hello Wonderful Maine School Nurses!

We have exciting news for you.  The 2024 New England School Nurse Conference will be hosted by the state of Maine.  We have secured the dates for Saturday, May 4 thru Sunday, May 5, 2024.  The venue will be at the Hilton Garden Inn located in the beautiful downtown village of  Freeport, Maine.  Our theme is Advocacy: Empowering School Nurses to Make a Difference.  

This is an amazing chance to share information and collaborate with other nurses throughout New England.  It’s also a great opportunity to show off our beautiful state and share the hospitality that the quaint village of Freeport has to offer!

Our last time hosting the New England School Nurse Conference was 2017 and it was an absolute hit.  The reason behind its success was the amazing group effort from so many hard working Maine school nurses.  

We need your help in producing a high quality conference.  It’s a great opportunity to join forces, meet new fellow nurses, invite amazing speakers and have lots of fun while we are together!  Our planning meetings will be via Zoom or Google Meet so anyone can be a part of the planning committee. 

Our first planning meeting will be May 9 (Time TBD).   Please respond to this email or contact Jean, Ilmi or Pat for any questions.

Committee Members needed:

Speakers- coordinate speakers for the conference including Keynote speaker as well as break-out session speakers.  Develop speaker evaluations. Communicate with speakers.  Collect documentation and submit documentation to the credentialing agency for CEUS.

Marketing: Design advertising materials to promote the conference to the NE states and publicize in Maine.

Decorations/Tablescapes:  The main focus of the committee is the overall appearance of the conference including ballroom, centerpieces, and registration table.

Hospitality: Responsible for meeting and greeting attendees Friday night of arrival.  Have information available for local attractions and a group activity for Saturday night.  ID tags for attendees with perhaps bags with “favors” included inside.

Technology:  Work with speaker committee person to coordinate technical needs for speaker presentations (computer, screens, microphones etc)

Raffles and Baskets: Recruit as many school districts as possible to donate a basket for silent auction.  Organize each NE state’s basket contribution.  Recruit raffle “sales” team to sell raffle tickets at conference.  Set up raffle basket displays, sell raffle tickets, organize the auction and announcements of winners.

Registration:  Establish a website for coordinating registration for attendees.  Work with planning co-chairs and treasurer in determining fees for registration/attendance at conference.  Be available Friday afternoon and Saturday morning for attendees to sign in for the conference.  Prepare registration packet with name tags, receipts, organize registration at conference.

Education: Work with the Speaker Committee and determine Contact Hours and submitting application to Northeast Multi-State Division Continuing Education Unit. 

Sponsors: Recruit sponsors who have significance in school nursing. Consider different levels of sponsorship, Gold, Silver, Bronze

Vendors- Unsure if room for many vendors….will need to check on number 

Thanks for your help! 

Co-Chairs

Jean Barbour jbarbour@falmouthschools.org 781-1020

Ilmi Carter (icarter@rsu13.org, work cell: (207) 542-5198

Pat Endsley pendsley@wocsd.org work:641-6967