Event Review: NAEMSE Mini Symposium 2010 San Antonio Texas is a post from: Everyday EMS Tips This is a guest post by Doug Gadomski. If you want to guest post on this blog,  check out the guidelines here . Sessions on the Riverwalk I attended the first ever National Association of EMS Educators (NAEMSE) Mini-Symposium on January 22 nd & 23 rd 2010 in San Antonio, Texas. The concept, offering expanded versions of the top-rated sessions from the most recent Symposium (Orlando, FL in this case), is something new for the organization and speaks of a willingness to explore new ideas. I was glad to see it offered for a number of reasons. In all but one case, I had attended other offerings in Orlando and was happy to have the opportunity to get a second chance to see a number of fine presentations. It was also a chance to escape the throws of winter and enjoy a warm weekend (72 º -75ºF) along San Antonio’s Riverwalk with friends and colleagues. Small Group Sharing Right from the beginning I got the sense that this Mini-Symposium was different from others I’ve attended. There were roughly 75 people there with a large contingent coming from the host state of Texas. All the sessions were in the same conference room and offered an intimacy that immediately set everyone at ease. The venue also allowed for more conversation-like sessions and made it easy to participate and get more out of each of presentation. Mini-Symposium Speakers Heather Davis reprised two of her presentations, “ Changing the World 30 Students at a Time ” and “ Coaching & Counseling for EMS .” Both offered excellent thoughts and practical tips on ways to improve your teaching (along with student outcomes) and approaching difficult student-educator interactions. Deb Cason talked about our new “ National EMS Education standards – a year later .” The take-home message: Stop Training and Start Educating ! David Foster talked about “ Building Successful Teams” . I was blown away with the statistic that only 3% of groups gel into a team! He gave many examples of the differences between groups and teams and what makes a truly effective team. This really helped me understand where I can work at team building with my students. Baxter Larmon spoke about his favorite subject – Research, but specifically regarding “ Putting Research Into the Classroom .” Many say “EMS needs to do more research…” but Baxter puts that into action. Think of it something like science class in your paramedic classroom. Something as simple as having your students actually measure the time it takes to administer a liter of fluid through various sizes of catheters and tubing and plotting the results on a chart.

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