by Dr. Dane Whitaker
PrideVMC’s participation in the 2020 Western Veterinary Conference in Las Vegas was a great success! This was the first time that we had an official presence at the conference with our Townhall titled “You Be You, Living Authentically.” The session was facilitated by PrideVMC Treasurer Kara Burns and President Dane Whitaker. With a very engaged audience, we had a great discussion about many of the issues facing LGBTQ+ folks in our profession.
With the townhall on the last day of the conference, we had plenty of time to get together beforehand! The festivities started off in the exhibit hall with visits to PrideVMC’s partner booths to hand out PrideVMC badge ribbons as well as share a personal thanks to our partners for their fantastic support. The PrideVMC Partners include Diamond – Boehringer Ingelheim; Gold – BluePearl Specialty + Emergency Pet Hospitals, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, and VCA; and Silver – Banfield Pet Hospitals and Zoetis.
PrideVMC CEO Mia Cary and President Dane Whitaker attended the WVC president’s reception and had the opportunity to network and spread the word on all the great projects that PrideVMC is currently working on. Afterwards Mia and Dane attended the Hill’s Bad to the Bone Eighties party, another opportunity to socialize and network with one of our major partners. One thing you can say about WVC in Las Vegas, there is never a shortage of parties!
On the following evening PrideVMC hosted our own informal networking event. We had a great turn out and this event provided a wonderful opportunity to get to know some new folks and to discuss all of current activities and priorities.
WVC 2020 was a great success for PrideVMC and we can look forward to more programming and collaboration in the years to come. See you next year at WVC!
