AORN EUROPEAN SYMPOSIUM

Caroline Rogers, RN

The announcement at the Cincinnati Congress of a proposed European Symposium was favor- ably received. It was not, however, a true indication of the enthusiasm that has since been exhibited by AORN members.

Immediately after Congress, organization work was begun for the trip, and arrangements with airlines were made to secure a charter plane. Times and dates were finalized. Hotel reservations were secured. Sight-seeing buses were contracted, and adequate meeting rooms were planned. Interestingly, the officials at the University of Rome were so enthused over the prospect that they asked that we consider spending the entire ten days in Rome.

When all the information on dates, places and times were available, the reservation forms and informational brochures were rushed to the printer, and to all AORN members. The reserva- tion rush by the return mail was staggering. By the end of the second week every seat was taken. A hasty call was made to the Executive Committee, and it was decided that another plane would be added. This would give a total of 275 seats available. Within six weeks after the first mailing of brochures and reservation forms, all seats were taken, and a stand-by list was prepared.

The charter planes will leave JFK airport Oct 2 for Italy. After a tour of Pisa, three days will

be spent in Florence, where seminars will be in the beautiful International Conference Centre. This Centre is known as a monumental villa, in a historical park, near the center of the city. The auditorium boasts projection facilities for slides and movies, and simultaneous translation into four languages. A leisurely bus ride, by way of Assisi and Perugia, will transport the group from Florence to Rome for the remain- der of the tour.

In Rome the group will be housed at the Plaza Hotel, surrounded by history and land- marks, and conveniently close to the shopping district. There will be many sight-seeing tours planned for both Florence and Rome, and the program for the seminars is still in the process of being formulated. Speakers are being con- tacted and much more correspondence will go into the finalized program. I

We regret that all reservations sent in could not be accepted, because a two-plane charter limit was necessary to ensure that satisfactory transporting, housing and feeding of all partici- pants could be accomplished.

To all those who are disappointed at missing this trip, we beg you to be patient and get ready for a prompt response to our next trip, hopefully there whl again be-

* “standing room only.”

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