From: Sharon Terry [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 11:14 AM
Subject: Genetic Alliance 2012 Conference canceled - stay tuned for other events!

Dear Friends,

Though we, and you, love our annual conference, we are not holding it this year for two reasons:

First: The conference was quite expensive and we offered the program at considerable losses. Ultimately, with major federal funding cuts for us – it just isn't sustainable any longer. We have also heard that many of your travel budgets have been cut.

Second: We still believe a high touch, face to face experience, has value. This loss forces us to be creative, and come up with more engaging and accessible ways of gathering people. Therefore, we will be hosting one day emerging issue summits. We had a sold out crowd in March on genetic testing, will feature another in December on newborn screening and emerging technologies. A summit on whole genome sequencing from the consumer perspective is in the works. These events attract 200+ attendees. Finally we can video tape and archive them and they are available for later viewing – such as the Genetic Testing Summit here: http://www.geneticalliance.org/genetic_testing_summit

We'd like to hold these summits in other parts of the country to accommodate the travel budget cuts most people are experiencing, so let us know if you have a burning emerging issue, and a venue. We are very successful in bringing together diverse stakeholders from all sectors, and so our summits are quite unique. In addition, we enable dialogue and true participation on the part of all attending by eliminating almost all PowerPoint and giving skilled moderators the license to really push on an issue so the controversy is named, and recommendations are created.

About 10 years ago Genetic Alliance made a bold move and did away with membership dues. We believed at that time that networks would be the dynamic interchange of the future. That is true. We also believed that if our services and work are valuable the network would support them. If you can help do that, please visit: http://www.geneticalliance.org/donate Every little bit helps – we are about 10,000 strong in this network – your support means a lot!

We are creating new business models around three enterprises: Maternal and Child Health, Genes In Life and BioTrust. We welcome partnerships as we create pathways for consumers to fully participate as new technologies emerge – if you would like to partner with us, or have a project we might be value-added for, please contact us!

All the best,
Sharon

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