Advice For Five More Months Of The Pandemic (Bringing Us To 2021)

As we move into month six of the pandemic, the world continues to change on almost a daily basis—What’s the number of cases per 100,000 people? Are we in the yellow, green, or fuchsia phase? Can we get a drink without food at a bar?—but much remains the same—the uncertainty, the commitment to our missions, our resiliency, our worry, our ability to adapt and change.
 
We read over our nearly two dozen blogs and webinar summaries since mid-March and realized so much of what we’ve shared in the last five months is worth repeating. We must continually reinforce our importance to our communities; our work to save wildlife should not stop; planning—both financial and strategic—is now more important than ever; and taking care of yourselves and your teams remains a top priority.
 
With that in mind, heed the advice and expertise shared by the Zoo Advisors team and many of your colleagues from Aquarium of Niagara, ABQ BioPark, Denver Zoo, Sedgwick County Zoo, Zoo Miami, Alaska Sea Life Center, Saint Louis Zoo, Buffalo Zoo, National Aquarium, Tennessee Aquarium, Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, and so many more—in these posts and webinar recordings. Click the title of the post to view.

1. You still need to raise your voice and tell everyone about the importance of your mission. This post outlines the impacts you have in your communities and action steps to communicate your value: Raise Your Voice! Mission Matters

2. Zoos and aquariums can be leaders in community action. This post from the very first week of the pandemic about how you can empower ad-hoc educators and flex your muscles as community resources still resonates today even after 150 days of a pandemic: Community Action: The Antidote to Anxiety

3. We’re all so done with this, but we still need to take time for the care and feeding of our teams. See how to maintain a strong culture during these changing times with this advice from Jackie Ogden: The Care And Feeding Of Teams 

4. As the virus resurges in different parts of the country, your financial projections are (or should be) changing regularly. See how you can best manage your financial recovery and plan for sustainability, including using our dynamic modeling tool: Planning Your Financial Recovery

5. While you may need to throw out your old plans, new paths and ways forward need to be developed. Hear how three zoos and aquariums are adapting their strategies to guide them in the New Tomorrow: Throw Out Your Plans: Strategies For An Uncertain Future