It's been just a few short months since we enjoyed the great conditions at Breckenridge, Colorado, where we hosted the World Veterinary Orthopaedic Congress, and we're already busy with plans for the March 2015 meeting at Sun Valley, Idaho. The WVOC was a great success thanks in large part to our dedicated sponsor companies. We simply could not put on our annual science-rich meeting without their continued support. The same goes for our exhibitor companies. Because of our expanded exhibit space this year, we were able to meet several new companies, each with innovative products for our members' practices.

The entire board works feverishly throughout the year to organize a meeting that is designed to meet your goals - loaded with new science, fun-filled, unique, and affordable. To do this, we must balance the wants and needs of our sponsors, exhibitors and members while at the same time helping to grow our member ranks.

What do our sponsors want? They want the opportunity to have great exposure to our membership and the chance to showcase new equipment, techniques and products.

What do our exhibitors want? They want "traffic" in the exhibit hall ... and not just rush hour traffic moving past the exhibit tables, but good face time with our members, giving the exhibitors the opportunity to explain their new product line or services.

What do our members want? Cutting-edge science, great presentations, hands-on wet- and dry-labs, ample social opportunities and of course, great snow activities!

How do we meet all of these expectations while also growing our member ranks? Word of mouth is probably the most effective tool we have available.

How can you help? Spread the word of your experiences at WVOC and VOS to your colleagues who are not yet members. Encourage them to join! Contact your reps from our sponsor and exhibitor companies and let them know that you make purchases based upon what you see and hear at VOS. If you know of a company that would be a good fit with VOS, please send their contact information our way (Janet Van Dyke: janetvandyke@me.com or 561-202-5737). Finally, mark your calendar for next year's meeting: February 28-March 7, 2015 in beautiful Sun Valley, Idaho!

Janet Van Dyke and Randy Basinger

For those that made it to the WVOC/VOS 2014 conference, I think you'd agree it was a huge success. The hard work of the WVOC organizing committee, the VOS Board, Maralyn and Heidi was appreciated by all. Special thanks have to go out to Mike Kowaleski for his organizational and leadership skills in a WVOC meeting year.

The venue for our 2015 VOS meeting will be historic Sun Valley, Idaho. We visited Sun Valley in January. Despite a very low snow fall year and no snow on the ground in the village or in town, the slopes were great!!! This resort knows how to take care of their mountain. The days were sunny and warm, the slopes had a good base and were very, very well groomed. There is more to do than just ski, so invite your non-skiing colleagues to the meeting, as well.

When planning your travel to the 2015 VOS conference, please reserve your travel and lodging package through Penny Smith of Rocky Mountain Tours, a division of Ski.com. Penny continuously provides excellent service to all of our members and acts as our conference planner for the VOS meeting. She serves as a vital link between the VOS and the resort securing our conference space. Penny is the exclusive travel agent for the 2015 meeting, and she can get pricing that is not available otherwise, which has been demonstrated by price comparisons at the last three years' meetings. You may not realize that it is crucial to our meeting to book travel and lodging through Penny Smith and Rocky Mountain Tours due to the direct reciprocating effect it has on the conference. When we contract conference and exhibitor space, the VOS must commit to a certain number of rooms sold to leverage conference room facilities, discounted food pricing, and event space. If the minimums are not met, the VOS must pick up the extra cost. When you book through the VOS travel agent, Rocky Mountain Tours, all rooms sold count towards our minimums; rooms obtained through other avenues do not. The links to booking through the VOS website (vosdvm.org) should be easy and straightforward this year.

Our Jacques Jenny Lecturer is scheduled to be Dr. Roy Altman. Roy D. Altman, MD, is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at the University of California in Los Angeles. He is currently also the Editor in Chief of the Cartilage Journal.

Encourage your colleagues to join VOS. General membership is only $110 a year and remains only $25 for interns, residents and students.

Respectfully submitted,

Ken Bruecker