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Workshops

AAZK annual conference attendees have the opportunity to explore ideas and best practices with professional certificate courses, workshops, paper sessions, and poster presentations.

Call for workshops has CLOSED

Workshop abstracts will be posted once the program has been selected from abstract submissions.

Workshop Formats

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  • Workshop subjects should be in-depth explorations of animal health, animal management, taxa-specific husbandry, conservation, and keeper professional development. 

  • Workshops are two hours in length.  Subjects that require more than two hours should be submitted as “Part One” and “Part Two”. 

  • Abstracts should be no more than 250 words and should focus on the main theme of the workshop, while also keeping the conference theme in mind. 

  • The conference theme is “Taking the Rains”.

Open Workshops

  • Best suited for lecture-based workshops with a Q & A session at the end.

  • Attendance based on the capacity of the ballroom

  • Available to all conference attendees

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Limited Workshops

  • This format is best suited for small group interactive workshops

  • Maximum capacity typically 60 attendees.

  • Limited Workshops will be held in limited capacity breakout rooms. 

Is it Alive? Generating Empathy for and Connections to Our Many-legged, No-legged, and Scaly residents

Monday, September 14 th 1:00-3:00pm, Pavilion AGDBE​

Presenters: Philina Richardson (Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium) and Craig Standridge (Northwest Trek Wildlife Park)

Workshop: ​This workshop is intended to offer a snapshot of information that is unplugged from the content presented in the corresponding AAZK Professional Certificate Course, Empathy for Wildlife: Using Empathy to Support Your Mission and Drive Conservation Action, Sponsored by Mixlab.

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Between 2015 and 2017, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle Aquarium, and Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium collaborated to define empathy for wildlife and develop tools necessary to measure it. From that work grew the Advancing Conservation through Empathy for Wildlife Network (ACE Network). As members of the network, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium (PDZA) and Northwest Trek Wildlife Park (NWT) share best practices, assessment tools, and learning opportunities with affiliated institutions in the United States and abroad. Led by staff from PDZA and NWT, this mini-workshop will familiarize participants with empathy for wildlife, empathy best practices, and tips and tricks for connecting Zoo guests with our more underappreciated residents.

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