MCVMA RISE 2022 FAQs

The Conference will be held on Saturday, November 12th through Sunday, November 13th 2022. Session times are shown in Eastern Standard Time. A time zone converter is available here.

Check back to the conference website for the information related to RISE 2022. You can also find conference updates on the MCVMA Instagram page and the MCVMA Facebook page. If you would like to be a part of the conference email list for newest updates, or are interested in getting more involved with the conference, please fill out our interest survey here.

If you have a question that is not addressed in these FAQs, please submit your question to [email protected] and someone will get back to you in two (2) business days.

MCVMA’s Annual Conference RISE is a 4 track conference that covers wide-reaching themes within topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion to push the veterinary profession to new heights, and staying true to MCVMA’s mission “to lead veterinary medicine toward racial and ethnic diversity, equity, and inclusivity that our profession needs to serve a multicultural society.”

MCVMA’s main goals for our annual conference are to elevate BIPOC voices which are often unheard in our field, to build community for BIPOC, and to build a space where underrepresented groups in veterinary medicine can bring their full authentic selves and share lived experiences.

BIPOC are under-represented in veterinary medicine in general but have even less representation when it comes to opportunities such as speaking at conferences. Our conference focuses on equity and providing BIPOC speakers an opportunity and platform to speak which many have not been offered elsewhere. Most conferences are not accessible when it comes to speaking and most decisions on who speaks seem to be done through word of mouth and networking. In a field that lacks diversity and contains many layers of implicit bias, this leaves BIPOC in the field at an extreme disadvantage. Our call for abstracts focuses on BIPOC to give these speakers a new opportunity. It also allows our speakers to gain experience, which many other conferences require before considering a speaker, so our conference can be a way to get their foot in the door at other events too. Additionally, to further support this effort, we are providing honorariums on par with conferences of this size as well as having training available for speakers who are new to presenting.

It’s also a way to combat the false perception that there “aren’t any qualified BIPOC to speak”. Other conferences, schools, and events have said their lack of diversity in their speakers is due to a lack of availability of qualified BIPOC speakers. Our conference had 50 BIPOC speakers last year, so this demonstrates that there are plenty of qualified BIPOC speakers if you look for them.

The representation is also great for our attendees and provides an opportunity to build community within veterinary medicine. Last year, we received a lot of positive feedback from attendees, including many students. Many said it was the first time they saw someone that looks like them speak at a conference. Many relayed they are one of a few or the only BIPOC person in their school or workplace, and seeing so many BIPOC speakers in one place, bringing their full authentic selves, and demonstrating their high level of achievement and skills was uplifting. These attendees relayed that hearing speakers share their lived experiences and being able to connect with other attendees that shared their lived experiences made them feel less alone in this field. It also helped attendees connect with each other and our speakers to help build a stronger network.

Non-BIPOC allies are welcome as attendees. Additionally, if allies are interested in turning their allyship into action, we encourage you to volunteer your time with the MCVMA Conference Planning Committee to help make this effort a reality. We had several heavily involved white allies volunteer with us last year, and we are grateful for their help. Please email us at [email protected] if you are interested in volunteering for the conference.

This is what equity looks like.

To quote somatic coach, writer, and facilitator Kelsey Blackwell:

“Valuing and protecting spaces for people of color (PoC) is not just a kind thing that white people can do to help us feel better; supporting these spaces is crucial to the resistance of oppression…Even if white people can’t access an embodied understanding of why PoC spaces are needed, they can still cultivate genuine compassion for our experience of needing them, and they can trust our voices enough to support these spaces. If the presence of spaces for people of color engenders discomfort, insecurity, or anger, I hope those emotions will be seen as an opportunity to look deeper within oneself to ask why.

Genuine allyship requires genuine listening—especially when that listening is hard to be with.”

Her entire article can be found here and we strongly encourage everyone to take the time to read this piece to help to better understand MCVMA’s goals for RISE.

If you need additional accommodations to fully participate in the RISE 2022 Conference, please send us an e-mail message to [email protected] letting us know what you need. Please contact us with this information by no later than Monday, September 26, 2022, and we will follow up with you in 2 to 3 business days regarding what is available.

Calls for abstract submissions for the 2022 RISE Conference will be released in mid-May. You can submit your abstract via this link.

Yes. Even if you’ve never presented before, we value your knowledge and expertise. Our conference planner, Kawania Wooten, will be hosting two virtual Zoom sessions to help  acclimate you to the conference platform and to provide you with some tips for presenting an educational session on a virtual platform.

Our goal is to provide cutting edge education, so we encourage you to submit your topic even if you don’t believe it is a good fit. For background information, check out our session tracks from our inaugural RISE conference.

We are thrilled you are interested in sponsoring. Sponsorship opportunities are limited, so act today! To become a sponsor at the 2022 RISE Conference and for more information, please head to the exhibitor and sponsorship web page here or reach out to [email protected] to get more information!