Conference Report from Friends for Life Seattle 2019
CWD's Friends for Life Seattle delivered the perfect weekend: Three days of blue skies and warm temperatures, a wonderful crowd of people including 40% first timers, and a fabulous mix of sessions and discussion groups. Held at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, this event was the first time Friends for Life has been back to the Pacific Northwest since 2011 – and we were so happy to return to this venue and find so many familiar friendly faces!
The conference kicked off on Friday evening with a Reception and meet-n-greet with sponsors and exhibitors. The Courtyard Level exhibit space was entirely sold out, and we were thrilled to have several new organizations partnering with us. Many thanks to the exhibitors and sponsors who took time away from their families to spend Friday and Saturday with ours!
The program featured three keynote presentations. Dr. Irl Hirsch opened Saturday’s program with “Type 1 Diabetes Today,” sharing his years of wisdom and experience with our attendees. On Sunday, Dr. Bruce Buckingham presented “Closing the Loop: Building an Artificial Pancreas,” bringing us up-to-date on the incredible progress being made in automated insulin delivery systems. Stewart Perry and George Huntley presented the closing keynote and discussion, “Affordable Access to Insulin.” In between those stellar bookend sessions were excellent and diverse presentations and discussions led by Gary Scheiner, Korey Hood, Diana Naranjo, Howard Look, Jake Johnson, Carla Greenbaum, Leigh Fickling, Kristen O’Dell, and Dana Lewis.
To the Youth Program leaders and staff - thank you for your enthusiasm, energy, and talent. Your commitment is appreciated by all. The kids had such a great time and learned so much. They loved having that 3rd floor space all to themselves!
To our wonderful sponsors: Dexcom, Lilly Diabetes, Omnipod, Novo Nordisk, Beta Bionics, and Tandem Diabetes Care -- thanks for continuing to believe in CWD and for supporting our mission to reach ever more families with life-changing conferences. You make a difference.
Chef Erick, Chef VJ and the Banquets Team, Jo Stroud, and Kristen O’Dell – thanks for all of your hard work with the food and beverage, including all of the carb counts, portion sizes, and attention to food allergies. Everything was so delicious. Well done.
FFL Support and Registration team – thanks for keeping everything at registration and in sessions on three different floors running smoothly. Hooray for figuring out the new registration system and how to print badges!
To everyone else behind the scenes - you work so tirelessly, with the goal of a seamless conference. Most people don't know how much elbow grease goes into a weekend event. And that's the beauty of it. You have our most humble thanks. Seattle, we will be back in 2021! Hope to see everyone next year in Indianapolis, March 27-29, 2020!
And with that, the links below will take you to photos and selected presentations from the conference.