Dear friends of the Misophonia Association, we are about to present the 2021 Misophonia convention!
Our conventions began in 2013 and have not only grown in significance and attendance, but also in positive outcomes. Our goal as an association is to promote the cause of Misophonia, as it is very much needed in this world to offer support, education, advocacy, and to contribute to research projects. In our past conferences we’ve had up to 250 people attend in various locations around the United States. We were hoping to meet in Philadelphia in 2020, but then, along came the pandemic. We rose to the occasion and offered a virtual convention last year and will do so again for 2021. Hopefully we’ll get to see each other in person next year in Philadelphia!
This year’s convention will take place in October, the 14th through the 16th, kicking off with a Thursday night wonderful meet-and-greet, where participants can travel from room to room to see old friends and meet new ones- all online. All day Friday and Saturday will be filled with amazing presentations by various speakers from all sorts of backgrounds. You can purchase a ticket for the event easily and affordably without the travel expenses! After the event, we will post the presentations on the Internet for our attendees, so that you can review sessions or watch the ones that you missed during the convention.
There is such a variety this year from the different scientific backgrounds and personal coping strategies, and presentations by students and professionals. Everyone will find something amazing this year especially as we have invited a very well-known physician, Dr. Michael Robb for the first time, who is an Oto-Neurologist from Arizona. Dr. Robb has been involved with Misophonia for many many years. And we have many many other wonderful speakers as well- too many to name in this introductory paragraph. You won’t want to miss our convention this year- it’s an opportunity to gather safely and to enjoy hearing from so many wonderful speakers, then sharing personally with others in breakout groups and casual meetings.
Thanks to our volunteer staff on the Board of Directors we have expanded our virtual event this year by using a conference platform called WHOVA that will allow us to do greater and better things, such as allowing easy access and moving between the presentations easily. Thank you very much to Dr. Jaelline Jaffe, Dr. Cindy Simon, Dr. Patti Kalmbach, Troy Rysedorph and Polly Burns and welcome to Cris Edwards, who joined us as a volunteer member in advisory capacity this year.
It seems like the cases of Misophonia continue to multiply in our world and the families and adults are coming forward asking for more help and more information and more solutions as to what to do. We really feel that we are making some progress in the world with over $4 million in research funds given in the last few years to a variety of organizations and researchers all over the world. We are all anxious to see the publication of the various and many research projects so that we can begin to use that information in our decision-making about how to proceed with proper treatment and therapy for this troubling condition. Our nonprofit association accepts donations from you, our generous supporters, and then we direct those funds toward special projects and programs that will help us all make further progress in this challenging field. Our wonderful annual conventions are an example of just one of our projects to gather together experts to share the latest research with you.
For now, in the time of the pandemic, we must enjoy ourselves online and safely from our homes and offices, but we can look forward to the time when we can gather again in person at an amazing location to enjoy the camaraderie and friendship that comes from our in-person convention.
See you soon in about six weeks at the convention! Please register for the convention and let us know you’ll be joining us in another amazing and interesting convention! Please remember you can purchase past convention videos inexpensively on our Misophonia Association website.
We send you wishes for a very safe fall season as we head into September,
Marsha Johnson, AuD
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