General Assemblies
There are international veterinary organizations that, just like IVSA, have (bi)annual General Assembly meetings.
At these meetings they decide on the future of the organization. Some of these meetings solely have the General Assembly (GA), other meetings also have workshops, shorter meeting sessions and lectures. Last year I attended GAs of the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE) twice, World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) twice, Student American Veterinary Medical Association (SAVMA), American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the Federation of Asian Veterinary Associations (FAVA). These GA’s are a great opportunity to get motivated and take home ideas to try out with IVSA. I learnt about different kinds of projects, different organizations we could collaborate with and how to run an international organization successfully. They have helped IVSA grow over the last few years and I believe they will keep being a source of inspiration in the future. During the breaks and the evening social program I had the opportunity to network with veterinarians as well as professionals and students from other fields of study (medical, agricultural, animal law). That is usually where partnerships and collaborative projects are born.
hroughout the year, IVSA is represented at several events by different people. Most of the events are represented by the
President and I will share my experiences of my year as President. There are many different types of events; veterinary congresses, General Assemblies, IVSA events, other student events, interdisciplinary events and meetings and small meetings between veterinary organizations. Each of these events have their own up- and downsides but I can honestly say I learnt from and enjoyed all of them. To give you a better idea of what I’m talking about, I’ve written down the list of events at the bottom of this article. I will highlight some specific events and describe some types of events but I won’t go through all of them. If you have any questions about any of the events, you are more than welcome to contact me!
By Emma van Rooijen – Immediate Past-President & current Secretary General
IVSA REPRESENTATIVES AT DIFFERENT EVENTS
T
1
12 IVSA Journal/Fall, 2015