The Pacific Northwest Veterinary Conference (PNWVC) has ended this year, marking our first in-person meeting since pre-pandemic 2019. We took up the entire Greater Tacoma Convention Center and spread out to nearby hotels. Records were broken as we topped 1,300 attendees, including veterinarians, veterinary students, practice managers, technicians, assistants, technician students, vendor representatives and speakers. Over 140 hours of CE were offered with 63 speakers across multiple tracks.
Special thanks go to our many generous sponsors and exhibitors. 95 companies and organizations were represented, tying our 2019 record.
On Friday night, attendees gathered for VetFest. The DJ played favorite songs, and some danced the evening away while others mingled, caught up with old friends, and made new ones. There were even a few who performed Karaoke. It was a relaxing and fun evening.
The Washington State Animal Health Foundation held a silent auction and raised nearly $5,000 for the Vets Helping Pets charitable care fund and disaster relief efforts. Auction items included an uber-cool signed poster from all members of Pearl Jam, VIP tickets to the upcoming The Who concert, and a host of other fun items.
President Dr. Jennifer Bennett welcomed attendees with a recorded video as did past president Dr. Gary Marshall and WSAHF President Dr. Katie Kuehl. Each showed their love, support, and excitement to finally be back at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center among their peers along with all of the sessions or events they were excited to see.
The most heard comments we received from attendees were how happy they were to be back together, networking and reconnecting with friends and colleagues. Also top of the list for excellence, attendees indicated, were the over 140 hours of CE offerings.
A round of applause goes to the Program Committee for their time and energy in making the conference program a great success. The committee is comprised of Drs. Corrie Hines and Craig McConnel who serve as co-chairs along with Drs. Mike Anderson, Ashley Cameron, Megan Cihak, Ron Colton, Crystal McRae, Maci Paden, and Eric Sutten, Hayden Milligan, Jessica Osborn, CVPM and Ryan Frazier, LVT. A special shout-out to WSVMA Staff who worked tirelessly to pull off an amazing experience.
Attention Vetscalibur! players:
Thank you everyone who participated in the PNWVC game, Vetscalibur! The leader board boasted players, some of whom gained an average of 40,000 (!) points for solving various challenges and answering secret questions. The game is now closed, and you can find our list of winners on the conference app or email that was sent out today! We also gave away mystery swag bags filled with sponsored items from the WSVMA booth. Attendees could put their name into a drawing to win one of 16 bags whose contents were a secret. Congratulations to all our winners and we look forward to playing again next year!