NAVC expands its year-round calendar of CE and workforce events

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NAVC is leaning into a year-round education model, using its event calendar to spotlight a growing mix of webinars, regional meetings, and flagship conferences aimed at different parts of the veterinary workforce. The latest lineup includes a free educational webinar on reptilian CPR highlighted by Today’s Veterinary Practice, alongside 2026 HiVE meetings for veterinary nurses, technicians, and practice management professionals, plus larger in-person programs such as SkillShop and the already posted dates for VMX 2027. (todaysveterinarypractice.com)

That shift builds on NAVC’s broader push to diversify how it delivers CE and professional development. Historically, VMX has been the organization’s center of gravity, but NAVC has spent the past few years building out adjacent platforms including HiVE, VetFolio programming, and other specialty events. In a 2023 profile published by Today’s Veterinary Practice, NAVC described HiVE as a new event series designed around specific professional roles, and that concept has since expanded into multiple regional meetings. (todaysveterinarypractice.com)

The current calendar shows how that strategy is taking shape in 2026. NAVC lists HiVE Midwest for March 21-22 in Covington, Kentucky, HiVE South for May 30-31 in San Antonio, and HiVE East for August 1-2 in Charlotte, with HiVE West expected in October. Its event calendar also features SkillShop 2026 from May 24-28 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort and VMX 2027 from January 16-20 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. On the virtual side, NAVC continues to promote online learning through VetFolio and VMX Virtual 2026. Outside coverage also points to NAVC-linked offerings being bundled into other professional development programs: Dr. Andy Roark’s Uncharted Practice Owner Summit, for example, is being promoted for late May at Coronado Springs with VMX 2027 registration and a year of VetFolio included, suggesting NAVC’s education ecosystem is also showing up through partner channels aimed at practice owners. (navc.com)

The reptilian CPR webinar mentioned in the source coverage fits that broader pattern of niche, role-relevant education. While the specific listing surfaced in Today’s Veterinary Practice as a free VetFolio offering, NAVC’s current event pages also show CPR-focused technician training built around the updated 2024 RECOVER guidelines, including a March 21, 2026 session on evidence-based CPR for veterinary technicians at HiVE Midwest. That suggests NAVC is continuing to package practical emergency training into both online and in-person formats. (todaysveterinarypractice.com)

NAVC is also tying these programs to the momentum from VMX 2026. In post-conference messaging, the organization said VMX 2026 drew nearly 29,000 attendees and emphasized scholarships, student programming, technician-focused content, and initiatives meant to support the full veterinary care team. A VMX fact sheet goes further, describing attendance as nearly 30,000 and listing 29,976 attendees from 85 countries, underscoring the scale of NAVC’s audience as it promotes smaller, more targeted events throughout the year. Before the meeting, NAVC had also previewed “Champions of Care” sessions focused on extending animals’ healthspan, sports medicine and rehabilitation, exotic animal care, and expanding access to veterinary care in rural and underserved communities. Those themes help show that VMX is not just a large CE meeting for NAVC, but also a platform for signaling where it sees the profession heading. (prnewswire.com)

Industry commentary around VMX and related meetings suggests this broader format is resonating because veterinary professionals increasingly want education that is practical, team-based, and easier to access. Independent coverage from Goodnewsforpets highlighted education, experience, and responsible AI as major themes coming out of VMX 2026, while NAVC’s own HiVE materials position the series as a response to the needs of often under-recognized veterinary nurses, technicians, and support staff. Other conference commentary has broadened that workforce lens further: in reflections on VLC and VMX 2026, Dr. Sprinkle pointed to leadership challenges around five generations working side by side in veterinary medicine, arguing that better communication across age groups matters for retention, engagement, succession planning, and knowledge transfer. Taken together, that points to a continuing shift away from one-size-fits-all CE toward role-specific programming with a workforce development lens. That last point is an inference based on NAVC’s event design and messaging. (navc.com)

There are also signs NAVC is keeping one foot in broader industry-facing programming beyond CE. In January, it announced the 2025 VETTY Awards winners, recognizing marketing work across animal health categories including trade campaigns, digital, video, social, educational materials, and events. That does not directly change the CE calendar, but it reinforces NAVC’s role as a convener not only for clinicians and support staff, but also for the commercial, communications, and advocacy sides of animal health. (navc.com)

The wider veterinary conversation around 2026 also helps explain why this kind of distributed event strategy may matter now. Podcast discussions from Dr. Andy Roark and others have centered on practice ownership change, corporate consolidation, AI, and new educational models such as distributive or workplace-based training. Those themes sit adjacent to NAVC’s own emphasis on regional access, practical skill-building, and team support, even if they are not all directly driven by NAVC itself. In other words, the organization’s expanding calendar is landing in a profession already looking for more flexible ways to learn and adapt. (navc.com)

Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this is less about one calendar update and more about how CE infrastructure is changing. Practices facing staffing shortages, retention challenges, and uneven access to training may benefit from shorter, regional events that let pet care teams build skills without the cost and disruption of a major national meeting. The emphasis on veterinary nurses, technicians, and practice managers is especially notable because those roles are central to workflow, client communication, and patient care, yet they have not always been the primary audience for marquee conference programming. And as industry discussions increasingly focus on rural access, leadership, multigenerational teams, and workplace-based learning, the value of more flexible and role-specific education may only grow. (navc.com)

What to watch: The next signal will be whether NAVC keeps adding dates, locations, and specialty programming to the 2026-2027 calendar, and whether HiVE continues to grow as a regional workforce development platform alongside VMX rather than simply as a satellite brand. Registration is already live for several HiVE events, and the organization has begun promoting VMX 2027 well in advance, so the expansion path should become clearer over the coming months. It will also be worth watching whether NAVC continues tying its events into partner offerings for practice owners and whether future programming keeps reflecting the profession’s bigger pressure points, from access to care and team communication to AI and practice change. (navc.com)