Inaugural event of National Women's Survivors Convention to be held in Nashville

In August 2013, Nashville will be the host city to the National Women's Survivors Convention (NWSC), a first of its kind national event designed to celebrate women cancer survivors. The agenda for NWSC is being created by survivors for survivors and will place the high notes on entertaining the attendees, according to NWSC Founder Karen Shayne. She, along with Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Butch Spyridon, President and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau, made the announcement today during a press conference from the Standard Restaurant in downtown Nashville. The Convention will be held at Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Resort August 22 - 24, 2013, and is expected to attract as many as 2,000 survivors and their primary caregivers.    

With "Take Charge" as its theme, the NWSC plans to do just that with a schedule focused on high energy and heavy on the fun and festive, while also being informative via a series of guest speakers who are authorities on cancer and on the front lines each day. In addition to the special guest speakers, the three-day event will showcase renowned experts from the worlds of fashion, food, finance, fitness and health, who will help place the emphasis on the celebratory aspect of the convention. A special seminar track will be geared for younger survivors and sponsored by Women Rock For The Cure.

"While we will offer a myriad of workshops and breakout sessions, as well as authoritative speakers, our goal is to focus on celebrating life and helping these women who have gone through so much to simply recharge and refresh," explained Shayne. "We want them to come in and have a good time. The Opryland Resort is a beautiful and well-appointed hotel and is spacious enough for us to be able to offer a variety of events. We hope to have something that will appeal to everyone. But primarily we want to offer a community where the women can share their experiences—all of them—and feel not only comfortable doing so, but leave here with a feeling of renewed purpose."

"I am pleased that Nashville was chosen to host this inaugural event that will bring 2,000 cancer survivors together for a celebration of life," Mayor Dean said. "We are a vibrant city with a great sense of optimism about our future, and I hope the attendees feel that while they are here."

The CVB's Spyridon echoed the Mayor's sentiments and added, "We are thrilled to have the National Women's Survivors Convention host its inaugural event in Nashville for many reasons. Not only is it wonderful for the city to host a convention of this size, but beyond that, every attendee represents a story of hope and healing. Music has a healing quality so it is fitting that this event would take place in Music City. We look forward to enhancing this time of celebration with the unique recourses and star power Nashville has to offer."