Why I love the National Sex Ed Conference

This year I have been working closely with a number of wonderful colleagues to put together the National Sex Ed Conference. (Which will be held December 11 – 13 at the Meadowlands Sheraton in New Jersey.) This morning there was a great phone call with the whole planning team and I am just SO excited about everything we have planned!

I was considering a few things about this conference. First, why it’s important enough to me to spend an insane (really, it’s insane) number of hours working on it and then donating financially to it. Second, what it is about the conference itself that makes me jump up and down a little when I look at the conference schedule.

So here goes:

This conference holds a place near and dear to my heart. This feels a bit odd to say, since I’ve never been to it before. (Yep, I’m co-chairing a conference I’ve never actually attended. Because that is, apparently, how I role.) There is something so very unique and beautiful about sexuality educators coming together as colleagues that I can never get enough of. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m here, cast out, into the Bible Belt, away from 97% of all sex educators, but I just love it. And this is, indeed, the conference of all conferences for sex educators!

And as for the conference schedule… Well, working Cat Dukes, Bill Taverner, and Jeff Anthony to create the schedule itself was an entire boatload of fun, I’m honored to be on the schedule as a workshop presenter on LARCs (Long Acting Reversible Contraception), and to be honest I want to attend almost every session. Because that just wasn’t possible, I managed to pick a few choice ones and arrange the schedule so I could attend them. (One of the biggest perks of being a co-chair of the conference!)

The long and short of it is: GO TO THIS CONFERENCE! Whether you’re a parent, a teacher, a doctor, a nurse, a counselor, or any other person who has any reason to talk with children or teenagers (ever!) or adults about sexual issues, you will benefit from participating. Plus you’ll be able to see me live, in person, and probably running around like a chicken with its head cut off making sure everything else is running smoothly. And who wouldn’t want to see that?