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Good morning and thank you for
giving me the privilege to speak to you. It is also a
privilege to thank all the people who are so dedicated
to carrying out AMTA’s mission and direction. All of
them and every one of our members make AMTA successful
and help advance the profession.
I’d like to personally
thank our AMTA National President Judy Stahl and the
rest of the National Board of Directors for their
leadership of your association. My relationship with the
board is especially important to me as the board trusts
me to carry out the organization’s vision, while
managing the business aspects of our premier national
massage therapy association.
I want to extend my
thanks to all AMTA and Massage Therapy Foundation staff
for their hard work on your behalf. Without their
partnership, we could not be nearly as successful as we
are.
And that partnership
relies on and is enriched by input from you. Our board
uses your thoughts and ideas to help determine the
association’s direction, and staff and chapters deliver
the products, programs and services you need as a
practicing massage therapist, massage student, educator
and/or school owner.
We are all looking
forward to an exciting convention here in Orlando. We
are here, as Judy has said, to discover – to discover
things about ourselves, our association and the massage
therapy profession.
To begin, let’s discover
more about what is happening in this profession and how
AMTA is working for you.
At last year’s
convention, I mentioned that “the massage therapy
employment and education marketplaces were certainly in
flux.” Well, looking back, that was a bit of an
understatement. The last 12 to18 months have been a
great challenge for the world, our country and for
massage therapists and massage schools. And, that means
AMTA, guided by its mission, is challenged to not just
keep pace, but to make decisions and take actions that
best help our members stay viable in a changing world.
Consumer demand drives
the profession. If more people seek massage, more
people enter massage school and then the profession, and
more massage therapists prosper. A year ago, our
research showed the percentage of American adults who
had a massage dropped by 4 percentage points. That
translated to fewer massage therapists required to meet
the demand.
Let’s look more closely
at how demand is impacting our profession. Although the
number of massage therapists has continued to grow in
the past year, it has done so at a much slower pace than
in the past 10-15 years. There will be around 7,600
more massage therapists in 2009. That compares to about
11,500 more massage therapists in 2008.
That means the number of
massage schools has declined and so has the number of
massage students. So, there will be fewer people
entering the profession this year and in 2010.
And because demand is
suppressed, we also see massage therapists working in
more places than they did in past years, with the number
of massage therapists employed, working in healthcare
and working in spas all increasing in the past two
years.
But there is a bright
spot for the profession! In spite of the economic
situation, AMTA’s consumer opinion research results
indicate more consumers had a massage than a year ago.
We’ll be releasing the full results in a few weeks, for
National Massage Therapy Awareness Week. But, today I
want to share the headline from that study – that in
late July, 22 percent of adult Americans said they had a
massage in the previous 12 months.
Keep in mind, a
fluctuation of a few percentage points can affect the
incomes of thousands of massage therapists. So, while
those who receive several massages each year decreased
their number of massages, the increase in the number of
people who had at least one massage is still an
encouraging sign as the economy begins to improve.
We know many members are
negatively affected by this deep economic recession, and
we want you to know that we continue to understand and
care about your future in the profession. You can count
on AMTA, your professional membership association, to
help you be successful in meaningful and productive
ways. In this tough economic climate we want to help
reduce your costs to practice and to promote AMTA
members to the public, and to employers, to help you
find work in the profession you love, massage therapy.
Early this year, we gave
you a package of benefits that can be of real value in
keeping your cost of business down. First, through our
online Shopping Mall, we arranged for price relief on
products you commonly purchase. These coupons for
renewing members will save you hundreds of dollars this
year. In addition, several chapters have helped defray
your membership costs by covering chapter fees for this
year. Thank you to these chapters for their support in
helping you, the member.
Even with this economic
downturn, you still need to continue to develop
professionally. So, your association has found ways for
you to continue your education easily and at lower
costs, through online classes and by working with
chapters to defray expenses for continuing education
classes they offer. We’ll continue to expand these
opportunities to help you keep your cost of business
down and still help you develop professionally this
year.
The second part of our
efforts to help you be successful during this economic
downturn is to help you find work in the profession you
love. I want you to know that AMTA is actively
promoting you as the best choice for massage therapy
through our national public relations and advertising
programs. And, this is really working.
We refined our
advertising approaches to strongly promote AMTA’s Find a
Massage Therapist® national locator service
to consumers, especially through Google search. And,
they are responding by looking for AMTA massage
therapists for massage in record numbers. There have
been more than 700,000 searches for AMTA practitioner
members through the service in the past year. That is
up by nearly 30,000 compared to this time last year.
Another approach we have
taken is to expand postings in our online Job Bank
through relationships we have with employers, especially
spas. This is getting more information to you about
openings for employment. These are examples of how AMTA
is working to bring you business.
And, let’s look at this
from a broader perspective. Did you know National
Massage Therapy Awareness Week is the single biggest
industry-wide promoter of public information on massage
therapy? We reach tens of millions of people each
October through this celebration. And, each year, we
see the number of people seeking massage therapy jump
after this week and continue their interest through the
end of the year. It can bring you clients.
I want to encourage you
to celebrate National Massage Therapy Awareness Week in
your practice or connect with your chapter to express
yourself and your passion for massage. If you are an
educator or the owner of an AMTA member school, think of
how you can use this week to promote massage therapy and
the quality of the massage therapists you graduate.
Use this year’s
beautiful poster to promote National Massage Therapy
Awareness Week. It was mailed with your fall issue of
MTJ. Post it in your practice location, give
them away at chapter meetings, put them up in your
classroom. If you want more of them, you can get them
for free in the AMTA exhibit booth. That’s booth number
428.
We also have a unique
session at this convention to both help you reduce your
business costs and learn ways to build your practice.
On Saturday, we will hold Kick Start, an educational and
fun session for students and new practitioners to
discover more about successful business practices. This
is a unique opportunity to hear from top leaders in the
profession, ask questions and network. And, maybe win a
prize! Please join us Saturday at 8:00 a.m. to kick
start your practice.
I also want you to know
that if you go to the AMTA booth during the convention,
you can sign up to have a professional photograph taken
to help you in promoting your practice.
We hear the economy is
improving, but we will continue to provide you with
resources that will benefit you now and in the future.
Knowledge is a powerful tool as you grow your practice
and continue to develop as a professional, and we want
to make sure you can easily gain the knowledge and
information you need.
For example, a few weeks
ago, we re-launched the Massage Information Center on
the AMTA website. This has always been a terrific
resource for our members. Now, it’s even better. We’ve
added information and reorganized it so you can find
what you need more quickly and easily. It’s there all
the time, when you need it.
Support from your
colleagues is also invaluable to your long-term
success. AMTA gives you that kind of support in many
ways. At this convention, you can network. In your
chapter meetings, you learn from others. In a high-tech
world, there are new ways to keep in touch and share
information that don’t involve travel. So, in July we
announced our new endeavors with social media. We hope
you will discover these new tools to interact with your
association and your colleagues in new ways. Already,
more than 1,600 members are AMTA Facebook fans and I
know many of you are following this convention through
Twitter. This is a great expansion of how the AMTA
family communicates. Communication fosters ideas and
ideas can help you succeed.
As we serve you and look
for ways to continue to help you grow your practice,
develop professionally, and provide the support of the
AMTA community, we also have focused attention on issues
of professional competency. Competency, skill and
professionalism can make a difference for you in a
changing marketplace. And, they are vital as the
profession matures
We are especially
pleased about the progress made with the body of
knowledge initiative. Last year, I mentioned that AMTA
had convened key stakeholders and others supporting the
profession to meet about articulating a profession–wide
common massage therapy body of knowledge.
I’m happy to say this
has some real momentum and it will lead to concrete
outcomes in the next 12 months. Congratulations to the
six groups that have taken on the role of stewardship
for this process. In addition to AMTA and the AMTA
Council of Schools, they are ABMP (President Les Sweeney
in audience), the Massage Therapy Foundation, the
Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards and the
National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage &
Bodywork (Board Chair Neal Delaporta and Chief Executive
Paul Lindamood).
The seating of the
Project Manager and the 8-member volunteer task force
charged with initiating a profession-wide effort marks a
major step for this exciting project.
You can play an
important role in the process. This afternoon at 4:00,
please join with me to participate in the body of
knowledge discussions in Room Wekiwa-6, for an update
and an opportunity to give your input into the process.
AMTA is always building
relationships. They help advance the profession and can
bring you new business opportunities. We reach out to
the healthcare community, to businesses hiring massage
therapists, to help them understand that you, AMTA
members, are committed professional massage therapists
and educators who stand apart, because of your
commitment to ethics, continuing education and
standards.
Judy has already
mentioned our rapidly growing relationship with the
National Institutes of Health. I want to add that we
are following all the discussions about healthcare
reform in the country and we are talking with the people
in Washington, D.C. who will make decisions that could
affect massage therapists. We are there as your voice.
When real opportunities to make a difference are
presented, we will be at the table.
You know, AMTA is a
different kind of association – a community. We were
formed under the philosophy that the power of community
can create a groundswell of change. Change happens
through your involvement.
There are many places to
go for tools that can help a massage therapist, a
teacher or a school administrator, but there is only one
place to go that also involves you locally and
nationally to affect the profession. Getting involved
in the AMTA community gives you a voice and an impact on
the profession and the community at large.
Knowing how much our
members want to give back to their communities, we’ve
expanded opportunities for direct outreach through
Volunteer Connections. These are service activities
that showcase AMTA members giving of themselves, like
our work with the Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure. In
just six months, AMTA members have been connected
through Volunteer Connections to 41 service-oriented
events in 63 locations. And, there are 15 other ongoing
activities you can be part of.
This is an expression of
the heart of AMTA and of our members. It connects our
passion for massage with our compassion for people.
It’s one more reason to truly be proud of your
connection with AMTA.
AMTA is proud too.
Proud of the successes we are making in government
relations. Thanks to our advocacy for fair and
consistent licensing, and the close collaboration
between our chapters, our National Office staff and
statewide coalitions, several states passed legislation
in the past year to regulate the profession.
Congratulations to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Montana
for your great achievements. And, congratulations to
the California Chapter and everyone who collaborated on
the bill that allowed them to take a step forward in
that state.
As we move forward on
your behalf building demand with consumers, the
healthcare community, spas and other employers to bring
you new business; as we continue to build relationships,
collaborate to define a common body of knowledge, and
work toward portability of massage practice so the
profession grows, AMTA is continuing its strong
commitment to evidence-informed practice, based on
massage therapy research. Quality massage research will
help better define the body of knowledge, help us
reinforce the right of massage therapy to be included in
national healthcare discussions and help practitioners
provide the best care for their clients.
That’s why AMTA so
strongly supports the Massage Therapy Foundation in
advancing research on therapeutic massage. I want to
take a moment to acknowledge the wonderful direction in
which Massage Therapy Foundation President Diana
Thompson and the eleven-member Board of Trustees are
leading the Foundation.
AMTA is always
discovering new ways to help you grow your practice.
Because the economy will improve, we want your ideas on
what tools you will need most to help your practice
continue to grow. In your convention packet is a sheet
for you to write down your ideas. Just drop it off at
the Registration Desk.
Your association is here
to serve you and we want to give you what will really
help you grow your practice, reduce your practice costs,
develop professionally and provide the best care to your
clients.
This convention is an
opportunity for you to discover more through continuing
education, networking with your colleagues and through
the exhibitors who help you be better practitioners.
It’s a chance to discover more about how you connect
through your association and how your association can
help give you what you need for success.
We’ve provided a wealth
of opportunities for you to discover over these next few
days. I encourage you to fully engage in the process of
discovery with educators, researchers, exhibitors,
sponsors and each other. Thank you for
your presence at our 66th annual convention.
Have
a great convention!
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American Massage Therapy Association®
