September Speakers' Podium

Greetings! With Labor Day and the summer months in the rear view, your Speakers are gearing up for House of Delegates (HOD) season! In this letter you will find some helpful dates, tips, and reminders to help you navigate the next few weeks.

Virtual HOD Opening Session

Once again, we will be opening our annual House of Delegates meeting virtually on Saturday, September 19^th. That’s only a few days away! Thank you to all the delegates who have joined staff to test your microphones. For those still needing to do so, the zoom will open at 7:30 AM for additional testing. We will start the business session promptly at 8:30 AM. Business will include accepting the submitted resolutions, reviewing any late resolutions, voting on standing rules, and the final call for nominations for elected offices.

Resolutions and Written Testimony

If you haven’t been to the HOD website to review the resolutions, now is the time! We have over 60 items of business to consider. We encourage you and your delegations to read and discuss the resolutions and to make your voice heard by submitting online written testimony on the online forums. Remember that all written testimony will be considered by the reference committees when they meet after oral testimony on September 19^th. The more testimony we have, the better the reference committee reports will be. ^**Remember that all PAMED members can provide written or oral testimony in reference committee^** so encourage your friends to give testimony as well!

Oral Reference Committee Testimony

Immediately following the closing of the virtual business sessions our reference committees will convene virtually for oral testimony. The three committees will run concurrently with an item tracker available on the website for folks that need to jump back and forth between committees. The committees are:

• Bylaws and Reference Committee A
• Reference Committee B and E
• Reference Committee C and D

Again, let us stress: Now is the time for debate on resolutions! Take advantage of the online forums for written testimony and please participate in oral testimony so the committees can craft the best reports possible.

All reference committee reports will be posted to the HOD website by September 30^th to give delegations time to review prior to our October business session.

ParliPro Practice Session

Whether this is your first HOD or you’ve been coming since medical school, please attend one of our two virtual parliamentary procedures practice sessions. Your speaker’s will go over tips and tricks for making the most of ParliPro and give you the opportunity to put us to the test with some fun practice resolutions. Sessions will be held on Tuesday, October 6^th and Monday, October 12^th. Please visit the website to register and get the zoom link.

PA Med Annual Meeting and Hybrid House of Delegates

New and expended this year, the weekend of October 23^rd, 24^th, and 25^th is better than ever. It’s so good, we invited all the membership to attend! Please, encourage any friends, partners, colleagues, and family to come out to Hershey for a weekend full of activities.

CME for all

Our amazing CME team and newly formed Annual Meeting Advisory Task Force have put together a program of CME on Friday and Saturday that you can’t miss. Sessions will cover public health issues, communication that impacts patient safety, the new organ and tissue donation requirement, lifestyle medicine, and violence in the health care setting. The best part – as a member its 100% free!

Hybrid HOD

We look forward to seeing many of you in person in Hershey but remember for those that can’t make the trip in person our meeting is fully hybrid. For those planning to attend at home, dust off that zoom background as we have worked with our IT staff and the venue to allow those online to be seen on camera by the House. Please let us know ASAP if your plans have changed.

But wait, there’s more!

Come ready to engage with your fellow members, interact with PAMED leadership, and have some fun. In addition to the CME we will again have a Town Hall on Friday, poster presentations from our amazing residents, a keynote speaker to start our business session on Saturday, and evening social events open to all members both Friday and Saturday nights.

HOD Business, Elections, and finally back to a 3-day meeting!

The HOD Business session this year will take place on both Saturday and Sunday this year, returning us at last to the 3-day meeting of those years BC (before COVID). Following business on Saturday we will hold a meet the candidate’s session where delegates can learn more about those folks running for leadership positions. Elections will take place via Election Buddy on Sunday morning with results announced at the end of business.

Final Tips

1. Provide written testimony now and plan to attend the virtual reference committee meetings on Saturday, September 19^th.
2. Meet with your delegations and members regularly throughout the HOD season.
3. Attend one of our ParliPro practice sessions on Tuesday, October 6^th and Monday, October 12^th.
4. Visit the HOD website frequently for updates, reports, times, and other helpful information.
5. Plan now for a full weekend of events October 23-25^th.

As always, your Speakers are here to ensure a smooth, effective, productive, and most importantly fun HOD for our society. Please let us know what we can do to help, and we look forward to interacting with you all over the next few months.