National Stuttering Association Conference 2019 Recap

Hello! It’s been a hot minute since I’ve posted anything on the blog. I was caught up the whirlwind of the National Stuttering Association Conference, then had to readjust to the realities of work, and keep working, and…well, you get the point. July has been an incredibly busy month. But I’m finally carving out some much needed time to sit down and write this conference post recap. I had an AMAZING time! This year was a different experience than last years NSA conference. Being a second-timer allowed me to engage more instead of sitting back and listening. Listed below are additional recaps about the conference & some pictures I took. My recap is at the bottom. Happy scrolling!

Reaching My Goals

The very first thing I want to share is how I accomplished the goals I set for myself before the conference. You can read my pre NSA Conference post here. The goals I set for myself were:

Introduce myself to 25 new people at workshops
Share a story at one of the open mics
Show lots of raw stuttering during the workshops and social events

I’m happy to share that I met AND crushed all of my goals! Setting personal helped me make the most out of the event and it gave me some really positive thoughts to reflect on after the conference ended. I kept a scrap piece of paper and a pen on me the whole time I was at the conference and tallied every person I initiated an introduction with. (I definitely met wayyyyy more than 25 awesome humans, however I only tallied the ones where I initiated the introduction by saying my name first because being the first one to introduce myself is really hard for me). I think the total number was around 30!

The next goal was sharing a story at one of the open mics. I ended up speaking twice! The first time I sort of just blurted out random things about stuttering because I was nervous, and at the end we had some extra time so I decided to go again and share a beautiful stuttering quote from a book I had just read. I was so proud of myself for speaking up twice, and I also enjoyed hearing stories from the other participants too! I met some really lovely people after that workshop who will have guest appearances on my blog soon!

My third goal was to show lots of raw stuttering during the workshops and social events. You can bet you I stuttered like craaaazy the whole time! For me, the biggest difference between this year and last years conference was the way I felt about myself. Last year, even though I showed some open stuttering, I still felt a little uncomfortable being that raw. But this year, communication felt so free. There was no pressure to sound perfect, no pressure to rush your words out, and absolutely no feelings of judgment from others. I miss the environment so much already!

The People, The People, The People

The most popular benefit of attending the conference by far is meeting new people. I can’t even begin to describe how comforting it felt to be surrounded by hundreds of other people who stutter. We all came together to bond over this one “quirk” about ourselves. I met lots of other people my age, professionals in my field, and stutter bloggers alike. It was so fun! And as per usual, National Stuttering Association Conference attendees add one another on Facebook. I’m still adding/receiving invites from individuals and it just makes me so happy! Next year is going to be even better because I’ll have even more conference friendships!

Another thing worth mentioning is how easy it was to spend time with these people. It wasn’t a type of event where you met people during the workshops and then did your own thing at night – everyone hung out all day/night! It felt like hanging out with my friends back home. Even though stuttering is the main connection everyone has, it’s also so easy to form genuine friendships with the other attendees. I can recall one night in particular where I hung out with my friends and some new conference friends and we never even talked about stuttering or the conference. We just had a couple of beers, talked about random life stuff, made jokes, etc. It was so organic. Moments like that are what makes the conferences so memorable in my opinion!

The Workshops

One hiccup I forgot to mention earlier was that the hotel lost power for all day/late into the night on Wednesday, AND for a few hours on Thursday morning. The workshops went on during the power outages, but it made things quite uncomfortable. I mean…I sure as hell didn’t want to sit in a crowded room with no AC in Florida! But besides that, the workshops were super fun. I participated in a panel led by my speech therapist and his colleagues. The topic was acceptance and change & if they were compatible. A lot of people attend and contributed all sorts of opinions. I also went to a job interviews workshop, one called avoiding avoiding, and a couple more! My favorite workshop was the job interviews one. I met other professionals who stutter and they shared some amazing interview stories!

Looking to Next Year

To wrap up, the National Stuttering Association Annual Conference is an incredible place to meet new people who stutter, gain deeper insight into stuttering, and learn new things about yourself. I’m already super pumped for next year’s conference! Thinking about what goals to set, the people I’m going to reconnect with, and the people I’m going to meet for the first time just makes me smile. It seems that each year the conference draws interest from more and more people. Let’s hope that trend continues next year!

I hope this post captured the essence of the NSA conference. It’s different for everyone, so this was my story about my experience. To my fellow NSA’ers, what did you think of the conference? And to anyone who hasn’t gone, are you considering going next year! Let me know if you are!

Thank you for reading!