It’s a bit early to think about calendar scheduling for next year, but this is big enough news to take note now: NCART, NRRTS and RESNA have announced they will combine their 2016 events into a single meeting in July.

In a late-April bulletin to stakeholders, RESNA said it would co-host a “collaborative” conference with NCART and NRRTS at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, Va. The event will take place July 12-15, 2016. Its theme is “Promoting & Protecting Access to Assistive Technology.”

In the bulletin, RESNA said, “For 2016, this conference will be held in lieu of the organizations’ separate conferences.” RESNA traditionally holds its event in June at varying locations, while the NCART/NRRTS National CRT Conference takes place in April in the Washington, D.C., area to facilitate attendee visits to Capitol Hill.

“Organizers envision a comprehensive conference that includes complex rehab technology, augmentative and assistive communication, computer access, universal design, job accommodations, cognitive and sensory technologies, robotics, outcomes measurement and more,” RESNA said in its announcement.

The conference will include clinical education sessions, poster sessions and an exhibit hall in addition to a student competition and lobbying visits to Capitol Hill, thereby capturing, RESNA said, the “best of both worlds from each conference.”

NCART Executive Director Don Clayback said joining the events would strengthen them.

“We’ve been working closely together for many years, advocating for the same issues and attending each other’s conference,” Clayback noted. “Given the need for even greater collaboration, the opportunity to join forces and hold a combined conference will enable us to bring greater benefits to attendees and exhibitors.”

He added that Weesie Walker, NRRTS’s executive director, will be on the planning committee for the 2016 event.