What a terrific AZA conference! We were busy from early morning to late night (too late, some nights…), learning from sessions, meeting with clients, greeting old friends and making new ones, and enjoying Seattle. Congratulations to our hosts the Woodland Park Zoo and Seattle Aquarium and their amazing staff and volunteers for great conference events and especially their welcoming hospitality.

We were busy hosting—thanks to all who attended our Partner Organizations Luncheon with speaker Lori Rassatti from Skystone Parters; our Next Gen Leaders late night cocktail party; and our Women in Leadership dinner. We were proud to host nearly 100 AZA friends and clients at these events.

We were busy learning—too many sessions and too little time, but we enjoyed the sessions we did attend. You all are doing some great work in conservation (we especially liked the sessions on behavior change and mobilizing social movements) and animal welfare/visitor perceptions especially (we heard good buzz on this but couldn’t get in the door).

We were busy celebrating—congratulations to all of you on new or re-accreditation and on the Honors and Awards winners. You and your teams are truly the future of conservation in zoos and aquariums.

We were busy presenting—David, Zach, and Kathy led and moderated sessions on Women in Leadership and Membership Acquisition. We are grateful to our speakers and especially to Secretary Sally Jewell for her inspiring remarks and keynote.

We’ll be posting more on our website later this month on our Women in Leadership initiative—be sure to check back for the report.