Western Veterinary Conference, which hosts an annual convention in Las Vegas and operates the Oquendo Center training facility, today renewed its dedication to continuing education and unveiled a program designed to improve the skills of faculty and presenters. A new WVC mission statement "provides more inclusive language, recognizing the wealth of opportunities made available by both the annual conference and the Oquendo Center.” The WVC board of directors also revised the nonprofit organization’s mission statement.

"The WVC board feels the new statement provides more inclusive language, recognizing the wealth of opportunities made available by both the annual conference and the Oquendo Center to provide a holistic view of WVC’s educational activities,” CEO David Little said.

"From a more global perspective, the idea that the board took the time and made a genuine effort to reconstruct the WVC mission statement shows a renewed interest in and dedication to the education WVC provides to the veterinary community,” Little said.

Continuing education is center stage at both the conference and Oquendo Center, which offers year-round training of both veterinary and human medicine professionals. Oquendo Center is three miles away from Mandalay Bay Convention Center, where the 2014 conference is scheduled for Feb. 16 to 20.

In support of its educational curriculum, WVC is establishing the Speaker Enhancement Program, which aims to "identify and accept presenters from any setting, including academia and practice, who wish to improve their skills in educational delivery.”

"This program is envisioned as providing a valuable educational resource for the veterinary community by offering a formal speaker evaluation unit, with the goal of improving educational presentations,” said Don Waldron, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, the organization’s chief veterinary medical officer. "WVC is committed to developing a unique approach that maximizes instructional effectiveness for presenting professionals, from emerging to veteran.”

Honorariums paid to conference and laboratory instructors will increase starting in 2015 in an effort to continue to attract prominent veterinary experts. WVC wants to ensure "that our speakers are compensated at the highest level,” Dr. Waldron said.

WVC also is inviting affiliate veterinary groups to play a greater role in the conference’s educational programming.

"Our goal will be to promote professional collaboration and shared purposes in order to broaden the scope of participation in the annual conference,” Waldron said. "We desire to partner with groups having interest or expertise in specific species, diseases, practice settings or other professional commonalities.”

The National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America (NAVTA) is among the first affiliates to assume a primary conference role and will offer an all-day lecture series for veterinary technicians at the next convention, WVC reported.

A team of NAVTA veterinary technician specialists will host a workshop in February for technicians who wish to advance their careers through specialist training.

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