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 I hope you are doing well and adjusting to living in what everyone is referring to as the “new normal”. It is hard to believe that we are 10 months into this pandemic with no quick end in sight! In my last letter I said, that although we are facing some extenuating circumstances, I do believe we will come out of this better-prepared and more resourceful than we were before, and this is something I still believe to be true.
One of the things I am continuously most grateful for are my relationships and interactions with many of our NERVES members. This is a bright spot for me, and my hope is that you have found the NERVES community to be a resource this past year. This year, once again, we are fortunate to have a very engaged Board who are committed to elevating the NERVES organization and our mission.
Although we have not been able to meet in person, the Board met virtually in late September for the annual Board and Planning Retreat and I’ve included some highlights below so you can see what we are working toward:
- We reviewed our financials for the year, and our organization is in a solid position going forward. Although we unfortunately did not get to have our regular Annual Meeting, we were able to cancel/reschedule most of the meeting events and space without penalty (kudos to Melissa for great work on that!). In actuality, we have been planning for just this type of situation for many years, and our cash balance is at a point that we should be in good shape for the foreseeable future.
- Our Editorial Committee has been hard at work on our newsletter and is working on member-authored articles to media journals to expand the general neurosurgical literature through external publications.
- Our Education Committee has been developing several virtual educational presentations for our members which has been particularly important during a time when we have had very limited opportunities to interact and network as we have in the past. They have been working on monthly webinars based on topics that are important to our members. By the end of the year, NERVES will have offered 6 virtual seminars which have also been recorded for those who couldn’t attend the live presentation. They are also planning virtual networking events, and there will be opportunities for any member who wants to facilitate those events.
- We are in the beginning stages of planning the next Annual Meeting which is currently currently scheduled to be held in Vancouver August 11-13 at the Westin Bayshore. Get your passports ready! At this point, we are waiting to hear what the schedule will be for the AANS, and you will hear about our plans later this year as we learn more. The events of the past year have significantly changed the meeting routines we have had for many years, and we are working on nailing down how we will adjust and define our new schedule going forward.
- As you may be aware, the NERVES Socio-Economic Survey is one of the most important things we do each year, and it is growing into a significant revenue generator for NERVES. This survey is always the go-to resource for me when I need data that I know I can depend on and it is something that really makes NERVES stand out as a leading organization in the world of neurosurgery. For the current survey, we expanded the deadline to give everyone a little extra time and to maximize our participation. Many thanks to those who completed the survey this year!
- The Board updated our vision and strategy document. Our primary focus areas for the coming year will be:
- Increasing and maintaining overall membership so that at least 67% of neurosurgery practices are represented. We plan to accomplish this by staying in contact and engaging all members through virtual meetings and educational sessions. There is opportunity for everyone….if you are interested in getting involved, just let us know.
- Developing a pipeline of organizational leadership for the future and begin to engage members in meaningful ways. We plan to accomplish this by reaching out to active committee members to engage them at a higher level.
- Growing sponsorships so that we can continue to fund the activities and speakers that will increase the value of our annual meeting to all attendees. We plan to accomplish this by potentially allowing sponsors to offer virtual events throughout the year and to engage them outside of the annual meeting in other ways.
- Increasing our value and relationship with organized neurosurgery. We plan to accomplish this by establishing and developing an outside Advisory Board to assist with vision and mission and to ensure that we are operating in a way to increases our value to everyone. We plan to develop and expand our capabilities related to the socio-economic survey (the NERVES Survey) as a primary resource for key neurosurgery data points.
I am extremely pleased with the volunteer Board Leadership for this upcoming year, and I appreciate everyone’s willingness to serve. Looking forward, there are a lot of great things to plan for our membership. If you are interested in getting involved in a NERVES committee, we would love to talk to you. You may confidentially contact Melissa Klingberg [email protected].
Thank you for being a part of NERVES!
John Lewis
President/ CSNS Liasion
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