Latest / How To Protect The Ocean / How to Network at Marine Science Conferences Like a Pro
Transcript
- 0:00There have been a number of conferences this year that have gone on in
- 0:03sharks, in marine conservation, marine science, all that kind of
- 0:06stuff, and I love conferences.
- 0:07I love going to them, as many as possible, as many as my bank account can take.
- 0:12But one thing that I always hear every single time are people
- 0:16worried about going to conferences.
- 0:18One, the expense.
- 0:19Totally understand.
- 0:20It's a difficult thing to get if you aren't being sponsored by somebody,
- 0:23or your school isn't sending you to it, or your work isn't sending you.
- 0:26But when you do get there, the other big thing is like, "Oh, I'm introverted,"
- 0:30or, "I don't really know what to do when I get there, how to network and stuff."
- 0:34So today, I wanna talk about going to conferences and networking, 'cause
- 0:38it's one of the biggest ways and one of the best ways you can basically get
- 0:42jobs, build a network, collaborate with people, and just build friends and
- 0:47colleagues for the rest of your life.
- 0:49It's where a lot of work and projects were solidified throughout time for science.
- 0:54And so, I think it's really important to do.
- 0:56So we're gonna talk about that on this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean.
- 0:59This is a place where you find ocean news, ocean conservation
- 1:03science, and marine conservation.
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- 1:40All right, let's get into the show.
- 1:42This is gonna be fun.
- 1:44I love conferences.
- 1:44It is my favorite thing.
- 1:45I remember interviewing for my last position, not the one I just have
- 1:48now, but the position I had before.
- 1:50It was, like, seven years ago, eight years ago.
- 1:51And I remember them doing, and they're like, "Hey, Andrew, do you like going
- 1:53to conferences?" In the interview.
- 1:54And I'm like, " Conferences?
- 1:56That's my jam.
- 1:57That's what I love to do." Like, I'm an extrovert.
- 1:59I love people.
- 2:00I love interacting with people, and I get excited.
- 2:03I get pumped to go to conferences.
- 2:04And I get it.
- 2:05Not everybody's like me and have the same attitude.
- 2:08But it doesn't matter.
- 2:09Conferences are a part of the conservation career journey.
- 2:13You have to be able to interact with people in some sorta way.
- 2:17I'm not dismissing people who are introverted or who are a little shy
- 2:20and, don't know exactly what to say.
- 2:22Not to worry, 'cause this episode, we are going to go over some of the things
- 2:25that have helped me over the years.
- 2:26And to be honest, have helped my daughter be able to start her conservation journey,
- 2:30'cause she's in wildlife conservation.
- 2:32It's helped her interact with people and build a network and go
- 2:35to job fairs and talk to people.
- 2:37And we're gonna talk about some of the people we've been told have also gone
- 2:39to those job fairs and how they act.
- 2:41And I think it's really important to understand that there are certain
- 2:44things that you can practice before you go that'll make you feel more
- 2:47comfortable when you get there.
- 2:48And if you feel that comfort, I'm not forcing anybody to do things, but if
- 2:51you feel that comfort, you can get there, and you can actually feel a lot better
- 2:55by using a couple of little things.
- 2:56That's the big thing.
- 2:57So let's talk conferences The best thing to do is read up on the
- 3:01conferences that works best for you.
- 3:04If you're going into the fisheries for conservation or careers, you
- 3:07go to a fisheries conference.
- 3:09If you're in just conservation in general, you go to maybe the Conservation Congress.
- 3:12If you are into sharks, you go to Sharks International, or you go to
- 3:15the American Elasmobranch Society conference that they have every year.
- 3:18They just had it in, I forget where it was.
- 3:19I think it was Arizona.
- 3:20But regardless, there's a conference for pretty much everything, and
- 3:23you just have to pick and choose.
- 3:25You have to do the research.
- 3:26There's a coral reef conference, there's a seagrass conference,
- 3:29maybe more of a workshop.
- 3:30There's sea turtle conferences, the Marine Mammal Society Conference,
- 3:33all these different conferences.
- 3:34And they are, just as I mentioned, societies.
- 3:36They are put on by scientific societies and conservation societies.
- 3:41And so, like, the Sharks International is put on by the Shark Trust.
- 3:44The American Elasmobranch Society puts on the American Elasmobranch Conference,
- 3:48which is part of another conference, like the Herpetology Conference too.
- 3:51That's a long story, but they combine to make one bigger one, so they get deals on
- 3:54conference centers and stuff like that.
- 3:56The marine section for the Society of Conservation Biology does International
- 4:00Marine Conservation Congress, my favorite conference to go podcasting.
- 4:04I go podcasting there all the time.
- 4:05And it's in Scotland this year.
- 4:07Hopefully, you'll be there November 13th through the 17th.
- 4:09I actually am presenting, which is a lot of fun.
- 4:11The thing is, is, like, you have to find what works for you.
- 4:13There's an ocean science meeting that happened in Scotland this past year,
- 4:16which I think is the first time in a long time, if not ever, that it was
- 4:19in Europe and not in North America.
- 4:21And so there are a lot of conferences for something that you want to go into.
- 4:25And then of course, there's the general ocean conservation conferences
- 4:28that are, like, Ocean Decade Conference, Our Oceans Conference.
- 4:31And those are international, big international conferences.
- 4:34Like, they're usually run by the UN, the United Nations.
- 4:37You've gotta first pick and choose which conference will fit your
- 4:41career or will fit what you need to do, what you're going into.
- 4:44If there's a specific theme that is being highlighted at the conference,
- 4:48and that fits what you wanna do or what you are already doing, then
- 4:51you go to that, conference, right?
- 4:52You do whatever you can to go to that conference.
- 4:54Now, look, some of these conferences are really expensive, and they're far.
- 4:58Like, the International Marine Conservation Congress, it's in Scotland.
- 5:01It's in Edinburgh, I think, is how I was told how to pronounce.
- 5:03You have to spend the money to go there.
- 5:04It's expensive for hotels.
- 5:06It's expensive probably for food.
- 5:08It's expensive to get there.
- 5:09Marine Conservation Congress at one time had it in Malaysia, and so for a North
- 5:12American, it was expensive to get there.
- 5:14South Africa the two years before.
- 5:15It can be expensive for people in North America.
- 5:17But also, it makes it closer for other people who always have to fly
- 5:20to North America or Europe from, like, Southeast Asia or Australia or
- 5:24South Africa and things like that.
- 5:25So having them in countries where they're closer to another different
- 5:30crowd or a crowd that can't always make it just due to distance and expense,
- 5:34they will have it all over the place.
- 5:35So check to see which one fits you best.
- 5:37I actually just talked to a colleague of mine that just
- 5:39went to Sharks International.
- 5:41And I asked her how it was.
- 5:42She said it was great.
- 5:43It was in Sri Lanka this year.
- 5:44It was a little difficult from where she's from to get there
- 5:46'cause it's a little expensive.
- 5:47But the next one is the same.
- 5:48It's a little more expensive, but it's every four years, so she's starting
- 5:51to save now so that she can afford the trip in four years from now.
- 5:55Which is a great way to really think of it.
- 5:57If you're gonna save, you know, save a couple hundred bucks a month, and you'll
- 6:00be able to get, pay for the flight, pay for the hotel, and enjoy the time.
- 6:04Because when you go to a conference in person, it is so much better.
- 6:09Like it-- You get to meet people face to face that you've known online.
- 6:13You get to interact over a coffee, a tea, a drink, an alcoholic or
- 6:18non-alcoholic, a lunch, a dinner.
- 6:21If you're having water at the snack booth, in the middle of sessions, and
- 6:24you meet somebody you haven't seen or you've just interacted on BlueSky or
- 6:28on LinkedIn, it's nice to be able to put a face and a voice to the name.
- 6:33I've met a lot of people in the how to protect the ocean audience that
- 6:37have shown up to International Marine Conservation Congresses, and it's been
- 6:39phenomenal to meet the people there.
- 6:41It's been great.
- 6:42I love it.
- 6:42Is so much fun to get feedback and to talk about what they love
- 6:46and what they'd like to see in the future and all that kind of stuff.
- 6:49The thing is, is like you go there in person because you can
- 6:51build your relationships better.
- 6:53Everything in person is better.
- 6:54And I understand that having a virtual conference is a lot more inclusive because
- 6:59people from all over the world, as long as it's within their time zone or they
- 7:03can even stay up till 3:00 in the morning if they want, if they have to, you
- 7:06can take part in many of the sessions.
- 7:08Some of them are recorded, so you can watch them after.
- 7:11But having it in person is just so much better because the business
- 7:14relationships that you build when you're there is just a little bit stronger.
- 7:20It's very difficult in a virtual conference to start hanging out
- 7:22and chatting with people online.
- 7:24It's not an easy thing to do.
- 7:25So doing it in person is a lot easier.
- 7:27Now, I know there are some people who are a little introverted, more
- 7:31introverted, get a little shy, get a little imposter syndrome.
- 7:35I'm gonna tell you, we all get it.
- 7:37I get it.
- 7:37Colleagues get it.
- 7:38It's something that nobody ever gets over.
- 7:40I think what you have to remember is that everybody's a person.
- 7:43I do a podcast with Dr. David Ebert.
- 7:46Dave is a legend in the shark science world.
- 7:49He is like taxonomy king in there, or one of them anyway, and he's
- 7:53the go-to for a lot of people to identify specific species.
- 7:56That's what he loves to do.
- 7:57And when he goes to a conference, some people are a little
- 8:00worried or shy to go up.
- 8:01They have a little imposter syndrome, like, "I don't know if
- 8:03I'm worth going up to him." You know what he says all the time?
- 8:05He wants people to come up to him.
- 8:07He loves it when people come up to him and say, "Hi, I'm so and so.
- 8:10This is my research.
- 8:11This is what I'm doing.
- 8:12This is what I'd like to do.
- 8:13Really love what you're doing." It's nice to meet people that are either just
- 8:17getting in their career, have been in their career for a while, especially shark
- 8:21science, 'cause he goes to a lot of those.
- 8:23It is just nice to have all those people show up and meet him face to
- 8:28face, 'cause he can put that face.
- 8:29He's old school too, so he likes to have the face to the
- 8:32name when he sees them online.
- 8:34And a lot of the people that he met will probably be on the Beyond Jaws
- 8:36podcast in the next year or so, 'cause he came back and he's like,
- 8:39"Andrew, I met so many new people.
- 8:40It was so great.
- 8:41I'm gonna line them up to have them on the podcast." This
- 8:43is what it's about, though.
- 8:44It's about meeting people.
- 8:46It's about introducing yourself.
- 8:47It's about talking research.
- 8:48But also, I want you to remember when you network, it's not all business.
- 8:52Okay?
- 8:53And here's how an interaction typically goes.
- 8:55When you first meet somebody at a conference, now, this is
- 8:59probably usually over food.
- 9:02That's the best time to get people is over food.
- 9:05I know it sounds weird, but it's over food.
- 9:06If I see somebody I recognize that I may not know, but I know who they are,
- 9:10I will grab a plate, I will go beside them as they're in the buffet line or
- 9:13whatever, and I will just chitchat.
- 9:14I'm like, "Oh, that looks really good. Have you ever tried that
- 9:16before?" Something like that.
- 9:17And then I talk, I'm like, "Oh, you're so and so." And they're like, "Yeah, that's
- 9:20me." And I'm like, "Oh, I'm a huge fan.
- 9:22My name's Andrew Lewin, and this is what I do." I give my elevator pitch.
- 9:26So I basically talk about, you know, I'm a podcaster.
- 9:28I've had a podcast called How to Protect the Ocean podcast for over 10 years.
- 9:31I'm a marine biologist, and now I'll be able to say that I'm Ocean
- 9:34Communications Manager for Pisces Oceans.
- 9:36And I talk about what I do, and I'm just like, "I really love the work that you've
- 9:39done," and usually, if it's somebody I know, I really love what you've done,
- 9:42like, in terms of a specific aspect of what they've done, what they're known for.
- 9:46And I'm like, "I really appreciate and respect what you've been able
- 9:48to do for that side of the field." And then we have a chitchat.
- 9:51I'm like, " How was your trip?" "Are you enjoying the conference?" These are little
- 9:54small talk that you can essentially just break the ice with and just get relaxed so
- 9:59you're not as nervous or things like that.
- 10:01And then a lot of the times you're just talking about the weather,
- 10:04you're talking about the conference hotel, you're talking about the food.
- 10:07You're talking about, "Hey, are you doing any trips or anything like that?"
- 10:09You just let the conversation kind of take it the way, wherever it goes.
- 10:13And then you talk about, "Hey, I just attended this really good session.
- 10:16I'm not sure if you've attended," or, "What was your favorite session
- 10:18so far?" And then you just start having this chitchat, right?
- 10:20And it can go any which way.
- 10:22It could go, like, personal in terms of, like, what your life is like and how
- 10:25you got there and everything like that.
- 10:27It could go with, like, sessions that you had.
- 10:29It can go with, like, the amenities at the conference center and the
- 10:33hotel and the food and everything.
- 10:34There's a lot of things that it can go.
- 10:35The country that you're in.
- 10:36Maybe if it's not a country you've been in before, you're like,
- 10:38"Isn't this a wonderful country?"
- 10:39Like, "Have you been here?
- 10:40What do I do?" Like, "What would you recommend?" All that kind of stuff, right?
- 10:43So all these types of small chitchat can happen at lunch, it can happen in line.
- 10:48But the biggest thing that you have to remember is that you have to have
- 10:51your elevator pitch, your 30 second, 20 to 30 second elevator pitch,
- 10:55about who you are and what you do.
- 10:57I ask that in every interview.
- 10:58"Who are you and what do you do? Tell us who you are and what you
- 11:00do." And if you're able to say that over and over, and you practice it.
- 11:04'Cause even me, as someone who goes to a conference, I will practice it
- 11:08in my hotel room or on the flight or wherever I go, I will practice it.
- 11:11I will record it, listen back to my voice, which I hate,
- 11:14'cause I hate hearing my voice.
- 11:15I will speak it out loud.
- 11:16And the more you practice it, the more it comes off the tip of
- 11:19your tongue better, and it sounds like you know what you're doing.
- 11:23If you said the first time, you're doing ums and ahs and this and that.
- 11:26Practice the story.
- 11:28It's almost like when you go for an interview for a job.
- 11:30You know some of the questions they're gonna ask.
- 11:31Like, they're like, "Did you ever have a hard time in work, and how did you solve
- 11:34it?" You should have a story ready.
- 11:37You should have something ready, and you should have that prepared, at
- 11:40least a couple of different stories for specific questions that you think
- 11:43are being asked or that have been asked in a lot of different interviews.
- 11:46It's the same thing with when you go to a conference.
- 11:48Like, have certain things that you're ready to talk about
- 11:50and that you can talk about.
- 11:52If you're not good at conversation, if you practice those and practice
- 11:55that storytelling, they don't have to be elaborate, they
- 11:57don't have to be descriptive.
- 11:59It just comes out easily, then it really helps.
- 12:02It really helps.
- 12:03And I think it helps also who you're talking to too.
- 12:06Like, not everybody's gonna be nice.
- 12:08Not everybody is going to be extroverted or seem friendly.
- 12:11They might look at you, like not knowing who you are and
- 12:13waiting to hear what you do.
- 12:15So in a ocean conference-type setting, if you start talking
- 12:18about, "Hey, my name's Andrew Lewin.
- 12:20Now I'm gonna lead with Pisces Oceans.
- 12:21"I'm an ocean communications manager for Pisces Oceans, and, you know, I'm
- 12:24here to take in some of the sessions, talk to maybe potential clients, but
- 12:29really just enjoy the time around here."
- 12:30And they're like, "Oh, and what are you up to these days?" If I know who
- 12:33they are, or, "What do you do?" And then they're gonna say the same thing.
- 12:36Like, "My name is," say it's Dave Ebert.
- 12:37"I'm a shark scientist.
- 12:38I'm known as the Lost Shark guy online.
- 12:40I discover sharks that haven't been seen in a while or discover new sharks.
- 12:43I've described over 50 species." My God, I know his elevator
- 12:46pitch more than I know mine.
- 12:48But regardless, you know, like you have to practice it, and then you have to say it.
- 12:51And once you say it a bunch of times, it becomes so easy when you
- 12:55get there and you start to say it.
- 12:56You'll be surprised.
- 12:57Case in point, my daughter and I, we went to the Toronto Zoo
- 13:01job fair a couple years ago.
- 13:02She wants to be a zookeeper, and she wants to go into wildlife biology.
- 13:06Now she's in her first year, but this is, like, when she was in grade 11.
- 13:09It was the winter of grade 11.
- 13:10So she wasn't graduating high school yet.
- 13:12She wasn't going to university yet.
- 13:13She just wanted to see if she can get a job.
- 13:14So there was a job fair.
- 13:15So we drove the hour and 15 minutes to the zoo, which was perfect
- 13:19time because I got in the car.
- 13:21Tea is her name.
- 13:21I said, "Hey, Tea, like, what are you gonna say to people
- 13:24when you go up to them?"
- 13:24She's like, "What do you mean?" Well, I'm like, "Basically…"
- 13:26I kinda laid it out, right?
- 13:27I said, "It's a job fair, so there's gonna be a bunch of tables set out, and there's
- 13:30gonna be different departments set up.
- 13:31So you'll have, like, the zookeeper department.
- 13:33You'll have, like, the custodian department.
- 13:35You'll have the curator department.
- 13:36You'll have the animal welfare research department.
- 13:39You'll have all these different departments that they have
- 13:42that they're hiring for.
- 13:43And then what you're gonna do is you're gonna walk up to the table
- 13:45of the department that interests you, and you're gonna tell them
- 13:47who you are and what you do.
- 13:48Or in this case, what you want to do and what you want.
- 13:51And so what university you wanna go to," 'cause she hadn't gotten into university
- 13:53yet, " and then what you wanna do at that university and what you wanna
- 13:56do as a career. And so you're gonna walk up, and you're gonna say that."
- 13:59I said, "You need to have that elevator pitch." She's like, "Oh, okay." And
- 14:02then I kinda waited, and I'm like, " What's your elevator pitch?" "Oh,"
- 14:04she's like, "oh, what do you mean, now?" I'm like, "Yeah, now." I'm
- 14:07like, "This is your elevator pitch.
- 14:09This is what we are going to do.
- 14:10We are going to practice this.
- 14:11We have an hour and, now 10 minutes where you're gonna practice.
- 14:14You're gonna tell me over and over and over again." And that's what we did.
- 14:17She crafted one.
- 14:18And the first time, it came out rough, and that was fine.
- 14:21I said, "No, this is good because now you have the layout, and
- 14:23you know what you need to say."
- 14:24And we practiced it over and over and over and over until
- 14:28she could say it in her sleep.
- 14:30And even to this day she says it.
- 14:31And so when we got to the job fair, she started going up.
- 14:35I know the CEO.
- 14:36She walked up to the CEO, and she's like, "Hey, Dolph," like, "I know
- 14:39who you are," blah, blah, blah.
- 14:40My name's Tehya, and this is what I do." And he was like, "This is great.
- 14:43You know exactly what you wanna do." He's like, "Well, enjoy." Like, he
- 14:46gave us all the tour and what to do and all this kind of stuff, right?
- 14:49So, and he was even giving her kind of like a heads-up, like, " Hey, you
- 14:52know, you're still in high school.
- 14:53We normally hire university students because we can hire them earlier
- 14:57in May, but we do take some high school students, but just keep
- 14:59that in mind." So no problem.
- 15:00That was great.
- 15:00Gave us a great heads-up.
- 15:02And then she started going to the different tables.
- 15:04I wouldn't walk up.
- 15:04I stayed back.
- 15:05She walked up.
- 15:06'Cause I tend, if I go up as her dad, I'm going to take over because
- 15:11I'm an extrovert, and I take over.
- 15:12I have to sit there, and I have to just put my hand over my mouth, and I have
- 15:15to be like, "Mmm," because I'm gonna talk and interrupt all the time 'cause
- 15:18I'm a white male, and that's what I do.
- 15:20And it's just, I have to be cognizant of that.
- 15:22So I took a step back.
- 15:23I said, Go on up and say, who you're interested in." And she
- 15:26went up to every single table.
- 15:27And can I tell you how impressed people were?
- 15:30It was a proud papa moment.
- 15:31I was a proud dad watching my daughter go up there and talk.
- 15:35A little emotional, to be honest, because she showed off that she was
- 15:37like, you know, 16, 17 years old.
- 15:39She's showing off that she can do this, and she's mature enough
- 15:42to do this and that she wants to do this, and this is her passion.
- 15:44She's always wanted to do this.
- 15:45So she goes up, and she talks to a bunch of different people.
- 15:47The last table of the day that she walked up to and she said her
- 15:51elevator pitch, and the woman that was behind the table said, "You know
- 15:55what?" This was an amazing interaction 'cause they talked for a while.
- 16:00And after that, and I walked up after 'cause I met up with her after and she's
- 16:03like, "Your daughter was phenomenal."
- 16:06She's like, "She walked up.
- 16:08She knew exactly what to say.
- 16:10She told me what her name was, what she wanted to do, what she was
- 16:13interested in, all this kind of stuff.
- 16:15We talked about the university.
- 16:16We talked about future plans.
- 16:18We talked a little bit about how to try and get in here
- 16:20and try and get jobs here."
- 16:21She was like, "From a communication standpoint, it's great 'cause
- 16:24that's what we look for.
- 16:25Obviously they have to be in a specific program, and they have
- 16:28to be interested, and they have to have the skills and qualities.
- 16:30But the zookeepers and anybody who works at the zoo has to be able
- 16:33to speak to the public because that's what you're there for.
- 16:35You're there to explain the animals to the public." And she was able to do that.
- 16:39She's like, I could see it right away.
- 16:40She's just got that personality." And she's like, "Some of the people who
- 16:44came up that were her age or even older would walk up to the table
- 16:47and just stare and not say a word, and they would just stare at her."
- 16:51And she was just like, " can I help you?" Like, "Did you wanna have
- 16:54some questions?" And she had to try and pull the conversation out.
- 16:57Now, that doesn't give a good impression, and it's not necessarily their fault.
- 17:00Some people, it's English isn't their first language, so they might feel a
- 17:03little bit shy and not as confident.
- 17:05Other people may not know to do that.
- 17:07They haven't been taught that or anything like that.
- 17:09I don't know.
- 17:10Regardless, it was an observation that was made.
- 17:12And Taya felt confident after.
- 17:14And I'll tell you what happened is the next year she went back to that same job
- 17:18fair, and people remembered who she was.
- 17:21One person especially was like, "Oh yeah, I remember you.
- 17:23You went to Guelph.
- 17:23Did you get in?" She's like, "Yeah, I got into Guelph.
- 17:25I'm in Guelph right now.
- 17:26I'm really enjoying it." They talked a lot about that, and they talked
- 17:28about doing something in the future.
- 17:29This is what happens when you practice your 30-second elevator pitch.
- 17:33You become memorable, and you let your personality just shine.
- 17:37Now, I know, again, I'm gonna say this again, if you're introverted,
- 17:39I'm not forcing anybody to do this.
- 17:41This will help you at conferences to kind of break the ice a little bit.
- 17:45Just have that little practice so you have something to bring to
- 17:48the table, and then just relax.
- 17:50Sometimes you can just sit back, like in a big group, you can sit back
- 17:53and just enjoy the conversation, how it goes and everything like that.
- 17:56So that's great.
- 17:57What I would recommend, if you're in ocean conservation, and you're
- 18:00in ocean science, I would highly recommend going to the International
- 18:03Marine Conservation Congress.
- 18:04I am not sponsored by them yet, but, it's a conference that I believe
- 18:07in a lot, and I'll tell you why.
- 18:09This conference is one of the most inclusive conferences I have
- 18:13been-- if not the most inclusive conferences that I have ever attended.
- 18:18I have never felt so welcoming, so supported and so valued.
- 18:25And it's not just me feeling that.
- 18:27I've spoken to other people who have gone to the conference,
- 18:29and they felt the same way.
- 18:31And it's because of the attendees and the organizers and the
- 18:35volunteers on the committees.
- 18:37The people who attend, just in general, try to make it as welcoming as possible.
- 18:42Somebody might come up and talk to you.
- 18:43Sometimes I walk up to people and I just say, "Hey," you
- 18:45know, like, "How you doing?
- 18:46My name's Andrew," this and that.
- 18:48" I see that you're just staying here," like, "I see that you're
- 18:49probably in the buffet line," 'cause that's usually where I hang out.
- 18:52Um, but, yeah, that's just what it is.
- 18:54It's just a friendly environment.
- 18:57It's a supportive environment.
- 18:59Sometimes you'll get invited to dinner, sometimes you'll get
- 19:02invited to lunch, or sometimes we're going out for some drinks after.
- 19:06People are looking out for each other.
- 19:08We're making sure that everybody feels welcome and feels
- 19:11safe, all that kind of stuff.
- 19:12And look, I can't speak for everybody at the conference, but I can speak
- 19:16to my experiences and the people that I've met at the conference and stuff,
- 19:20and they all say the same thing.
- 19:21I'm sure there's some, been some incidences over the
- 19:24years that I'm not aware of.
- 19:25But for the most part, things have been really good.
- 19:27Like 99% of the time, things have been pretty good that I've
- 19:30heard feedback from other people.
- 19:32Just to full disclosure, I am part of the program committee, and so I've reviewed a
- 19:36bunch of abstracts and things like that.
- 19:37I really like to take part.
- 19:39That's another thing to get noticed too.
- 19:40If you wanna get noticed, volunteer to be part of a committee on a conference
- 19:45to help plan the conference ' cause then people start to work with you
- 19:48and get to know you, and you get to see… Like, I met somebody in
- 19:50California that I'd never met before.
- 19:52I met a couple people in Europe that I've never met before,
- 19:55and all over the US and Canada.
- 19:57You just meet people all over the place.
- 19:58And then of course reconnect with people you haven't seen in
- 20:00a while, and that's always fun.
- 20:01One of the things that I always look forward to going to these marine
- 20:03conferences is to reconnect with the progress of the Project Seagrass team.
- 20:08Love that team.
- 20:09They are amazing.
- 20:10They are so much fun.
- 20:11Look, I hope that they're able to go to the conference this year.
- 20:13It's one of those things where you have friends that you don't normally see every
- 20:17day because they live in a different continent or they live across the world.
- 20:20And when you get to these conferences, you get to reconnect,
- 20:22and it's so, so much fun.
- 20:24So I want to encourage you to go to the conference that you feel most
- 20:28comfortable at, that fits what you do.
- 20:31If you're a student and you get a professor to send you
- 20:33there, that's wonderful.
- 20:35If you are a mid-career and you can go and you get paid to go there, that's amazing.
- 20:39I've always paid for myself to go to some of these conferences, but that's just me.
- 20:44There's no expectation.
- 20:45I've had the privilege to be able to do so, and so I've been able to go.
- 20:48, But I highly recommend going to a conference, especially if they're local.
- 20:51Go to the conference even if they don't fit your bill right down to the T.
- 20:54Go try and present, get that experience as well if you can.
- 20:57And yeah, that's pretty much it.
- 20:59Like, I think it's a lot of fun.
- 21:00I'm getting very excited.
- 21:02I just found out last week that my paper got accepted, or two weeks
- 21:05ago that my paper got accepted.
- 21:06I'm about to register, pay for the hotel, and all that kinda stuff.
- 21:09It is going to be a blast, a blast, and I can't wait.
- 21:13So, that's it for today's episode.
- 21:14I would love to hear what conference you like to go to.
- 21:17So let me know in my DMs or, you can contact me any which way.
- 21:22Just go to the show notes.
- 21:23You know what it is.
- 21:23Just go to the show notes.
- 21:24And of course, if you wanna support me, that kinda helps me get to
- 21:27IMCC, you can go to Patreon, become a, a patron on Patreon.
- 21:31Go to speakupforblue.com/patreon.
- 21:35That's speakupforblue.com/patreon.
- 21:38The link's also in the show notes.
- 21:40I wanna thank you for listening.
- 21:41I wanna thank you for all those who go to conferences or try and go to
- 21:44conferences and encourage others, for all those professors and labs that send
- 21:49their students to conferences and pay them for the food and everything like
- 21:52that, 'cause that's important, and all the people who make conferences fun and
- 21:55inclusive and supportive and just amazing.
- 21:58You are all amazing.
- 21:59I can't wait to see people at IMCC.
- 22:01It's a lot of fun.
- 22:02I did go to an H2O conference, and I'm gonna be going to the Our
- 22:05Oceans conference next year in Halifax, 'cause it's close by.
- 22:08And yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun.
- 22:10So, that's it for today's episode.
- 22:11Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the How
- 22:13to Protect the Ocean podcast.
- 22:14I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
- 22:15Have a great day.
- 22:16We'll talk to you next time, and happy conservation.