2021AC
More than 350 elder and special needs law attorneys registered to virtually attend NAELA’s 2021 Annual Conference, which took place March 24-26, 2021. When COVID-19 forced NAELA to pivot from its planned Philadelphia Annual Conference to virtual, the Annual Conference Planning Committee jumped into action to plan this virtual event.
Professional host Brad Weaber kept the virtual conference engaging and fun. The Tuesday pre-conference kickoff event featured the “NAELA Feud,” where team Wendy Cappelletto battled team Brenna Galvin. This fun evening created an opportunity for first-time attendees to meet other attendees as well as learn about the conference platform to maximize their conference experience.
During the virtual conference, attendees could immerse themselves through 17 offered sessions covering a breadth of issues impacting elder and special needs law practitioners. As is traditional for any NAELA event, participants were able to learn from recognized speakers in the field, collaborate with other attendees, network with exhibitors, and even have some fun along the way playing Philadelphia Trivia and participating in small group networking breakouts with creative topics like pandemic binge-watchers, wine lovers, Schitt’s Creek fans, podcast peeps, and many others.
The conference kicked off with Kristin Kane Ford’s keynote presentation of Digital Connection — Building a Virtual Marketing Strategy, and wrapped up with the concurrent sessions of Case Law Update and How to Protect Clients — Keeping Lay Fiduciaries and You Out of Hot Water.
Substantive highlights of the conference included:
• Recovering Assets Stolen Through Exploitation, presented by Shari Polur, Esq., and Nicole Shannon, Esq. Attendees left this session with an understanding of the various options to make their client whole regardless of how their client was exploited, including resources to assist.
• Paying for Long-Term Care without Public Benefits presented by Guy Matthews, Esq. (see seminar review on page 29). This presentation was geared to help practitioners better assist clients in the middle class who are looking for options to fund long-term care.
• SNT Distributions — Prickly Issues and Skillful Solutions, presented by Stephen Dale, Esq., and Peter Wall. This session covered all aspects of discretionary distribution requests made from beneficiaries of SNTs, discretionary trusts, and conservatorships, including discretionary distribution language drafting and implications.
• Maximizing the Quality of Life for Adults with Developmental Disabilities (persons under 65), presented by Bernie Krooks, CELA, Fellow; Amy O’Hara, CELA; and Sandra Rosenbaum, Esq. Attendees left this session with resources for clients to identify and implement the diverse supports needed for a dignified and satisfying life for adults with
I/DD ages 18-64 once they exit high school and move to a system designed around voluntary agencies, none of whom are individually obligated to serve them.
• The Uses of Medical Marijuana in Older Adults and People with Disabilities, presented by Dr. Barry Gordon and Dr. Melanie Bone was one of the highest-rated sessions of the conference. Dr. Gordon kicked off the session with an insight into cannabis through the ages and the medicine of cannabis. Dr. Bone discussed her treatment of the over-65 population using cannabinoids. Specific case studies were used to describe the effects of cannabinoids on insomnia, mood/autoimmune conditions, Alzheimer’s, arthritis/chronic pain, and loss of appetite on her clients in nursing home facilities.
When asked to describe the virtual experience in one word, attendees responded with insightful, informative, beneficial, dynamic, creative, and educational. The program evaluation reveals that 93.44 percent rated the overall quality of the conference compared to similar conferences attended as excellent or good. When asked if the conference met, exceeded, or fell short of their expectations for attending this conference, 83.61 percent of evaluators responded with exceeded expectations or met expectations. One attendee stated, “Actually, I’m pleasantly surprised at the positive experience. I would have preferred a live conference, but given that option isn’t available, this went better than I had expected.”
The exhibit hall for the 2021 Annual Conference was well attended. Exhibitors were pleased with the number of attendees who visited them in their breakout rooms. While everyone can’t wait to get back to live conferences, the 16 exhibitors all had positive feedback and enjoyed making connections with members. When exhibitors were asked, 85 percent said that the exhibit networking breaks were valuable. One exhibitor stated, “This was the best virtual event that I attended during quarantine.”
On many levels, NAELA’s first virtual conference was quite a success, which would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of many volunteers. We sincerely appreciate the hard work of our speakers, planning committee, valued sponsors, and exhibitors.
Plans are in the works for the 2022 Annual Conference, and details will be made available soon.
2021 Annual Conference Planning Committee
Co-Chairs
Brenna M. Galvin, Esq.
Beth A. McDaniel, CELA
Members
Bryan Adler, CELA
Julian E. Gray, CELA