Light bulbs flashed across Boston two weeks ago. The Ida Institute launched the Ideas competition with sparkle, speeches and good conversation at a well-attended open-house party at the 2012 AAA Conference. At the conference, we welcomed new members to our Ida community and saw many familiar faces at our exhibit.
Over 200 people attended the launch party to officially kick-off the Ideas competition. At the launch, Ida Institute managing director Lise Lotte Bundesen and Oticon Foundation Chairman Niels Boserup called for people around the world to create ideas to inspire action and raise awareness for hearing loss.
“The collaborative process will enable us to engage the collective intelligence of our network and the general public to build awareness of hearing loss and its impact,” stated managing director Lise Lotte Bundesen. “Everybody is invited to share their best ideas through our online platform.”
Over 150 people have already signed up for the competition, and we are looking for more good ideas! Individuals and groups can submit ideas at www.awarenessforhearingloss.com from now until September 3, 2012.
At our booth, we introduced hundreds of hearing care professionals, educators and students to
our tools, website and online networking opportunities. Throughout the day, we provided in-person presentations of the Living Well and My World tools, our two newest counselling tools. We hope all of our new community members walked away excited to explore what our website and tools have to offer.
On top of the launch and the exhibit, we also reached others through workshops. Ida senior audiologist Melanie Gregory and Ida Fellow Patricia McCarthy led an interactive workshop on the Living Well counseling tool on the first day of the conference. Closing out the conference on Saturday, Ida Fellow Jill Preminger provided an overview of our soon-to-be-released Group AR online manual at the Grand Rounds in Audiologic Rehabilitation.
We look forward to next year’s AAA Conference in Anaheim, California, where we will announce the three winners of the Ideas competition.
Check out some pictures from the AAA Conference below:
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