CONFERENCE EVENTS
We are very enthusiastic to announce our opening and closing events! More information on events will become available closer to the conference.
TICKETED CONFERENCE EVENTS
Please note that only electronic purchases (i.e. credit, debit, Apple Pay only) can be made at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. Purchases can include lunch concessions and cashless bars (poster sessions, evening events). A limited number of Visa gift cards can be purchased at the Registration desk if anyone needs one.
COME AS YOU ARE
Opening Icebreaker
Sunday, July 31 - 7-10pm
(Ticketed Event)
The Welcome Icebreaker is entitled “Come As You Are” and will feature a selection of Caribbean music, food, and drink. It will take place in the Palm Beach County Convention Center’s Sky Room – recently renovated outdoor entertaining space on Sunday, July 31 from 7-9pm. PBCC is the site of SMM2022.
STUDENT NIGHT
Wednesday, August 3 - 6-9pm EDT
Palm Beach County Convention Center
(Ticketed Event)
About the Event
The SMM Student Members-at-Large (SMaLs) are thrilled to invite you to participate in this biennial conference’s Student Night!
Taking place on Wednesday, August 3rd 2022 from 6-9 pm at the Palm Beach County Convention Center (the same location as the conference), this is an opportunity for students to socialize and network with professionals and other students.
The event involves both structured “speed-socializing” with students and mentors (professionals from across the field of marine mammal science, including professors, veterinarians, government scientists, and non-profit directors, among others) and time for unstructured, one-on-one conversations. Free food and drinks will be provided!
Tickets are limited, so students will need to get theirs at the conference’s student booth in the Exhibition Hall before the event.
Finally, join us after Student Night for music and dancing at a nearby local venue – details coming soon! 🕺💃🎵
More information will be provided in the coming weeks, so please watch for messages by email, on our Facebook page, and in the July SMM newsletter.
We look forward to seeing you there!
"FLORIBBEAN" POOL PARTY
Closing Celebration
Monday, August 5 - 7-10pm
(Ticketed Event)
The Closing Celebration is our Tropical Pool Party and will feature Jimmy Buffett-esque beach music, food, and drink. It will take place at the Hilton West Palm Beach pool deck on Friday August 5 from 6-10pm. The Hilton is right next door to the PBCC and part of the official conference hotel block.
FREE EVENTS FOR ATTENDEES
SCIENCE, COMMUNICATION & MEDIA
Monday, August 1 - 4:30-6pm
2nd Floor in the Grand Ballroom at the PBCC
How can marine mammal researchers better communicate their research to their peers and the general public?
At SMM2022 we are looking to continue and expand the conversation on scientific communication beyond the focus on the peer-reviewed journal articles and talks and posters at scientific conferences. Following the tradition started at the 21st Biennial in San Francisco we want to continue efforts to improve the way we communicate, both to our peers and to the general public.
The diversity of subdisciplines within marine mammal science, spanning from biochemistry and molecular biology to ecology and evolution, makes effective communication strategies and tactics critical for making discoveries broadly relevant and of interest with diverse non-scientific audiences including policy makers, stakeholders, and the general public. This challenge is exacerbated by the complex and ever-changing media landscape and avenues for communication as well as the need to outpace the spread of misinformation.
How do you broaden our audience and make your results not just available, but of interest and relevant, to the general public? How do you effectively connect with specific audiences and motivate positive actions? And, how do you reach and inspire students from diverse backgrounds to spark their curiosity, care about marine mammals and provide role models who might spark a life-long interest (or a pathway to a career) in science? Basically, how do you maximize the impact of our efforts through communication strategies?
We are hosting 90-minute session four panelists who make science communication a central pillar in their work. These speakers will provide insights, tactics, and experiences to help you leverage the range of communication tools and media opportunities to raise the profile and impact of their work.
Format
Four presentations (12 minutes + 2 minutes questions for clarifications + 1 minute transition) covering different communications tools/methods and targets. At the end, the speakers will remain on the stage and the moderator will engage in a discussion mostly using questions to the speakers. Questions and comments from the audience will be taken by the moderator until the end of the session.
Session Moderator
Michael Heithaus (Dean of the College of Arts, Science and Education, Florida International University)
Speakers/Panel Participants:
Michelle Greenfield
How to turn your research into two sentences. Communicating scientific ideas and terminology to a broad non-scientific audience has its challenges. Yet, being an effective communicator is critical and helps facilitate greater impact for scientific research and discoveries. In this presentation, we will discuss the importance of communicating succinctly and directly with the public. We will describe techniques for distilling difficult concepts into easy-to-understand terminology, how to use visual aids and analogies to promote understanding, and how to be clear and precise in interviews.
Dr. Michael Heithaus
(Session Moderator)
Working with science media. Communicating science through traditional media including print, television news, and documentaries can help you reach a broad and diverse audience. There can be considerable benefits to engaging these audiences and working with traditional media, but there are a number of tactics that will help you get the most out of the experience.
Dr. Hunter Hines
Sharing science to billions through social media. Social media is increasingly popular with audiences reaching all over the planet. The contributions of scientists to various platforms can enhance the visibility of diverse research questions and conservation initiatives. By sharing imagery on platforms such as Instagram and YouTube, scientists are able to freely share their research with global audiences, thereby inspiring future work and researchers in a variety of fields.
Ms. Anais Remili
Why communicating your science to the public as an early-career scientist? We may see science communication as intimidating or time-consuming. Yet, communicating our findings to the public allows us to give back to society and engage communities with conservation issues related to marine mammals worldwide. If you are still not convinced, science communication can also be an investment in your career development. From networking and funding opportunities to better academic writing and presenting skills, science communication offers us, early-career scientists, additional resources for success.
Dr. Virginia Schutte
What to do when you can’t do it yourself? Sharing your work with non-specialists expands your impact, but at the cost of your time and resources. Maximizing your success also requires expertise that you may not have. Virginia Schutte is a full-time science communication practitioner who will introduce you to the science communication landscape, suggest a general approach to crafting communications strategies, and outline the main avenues that you can use to get professional help meeting your goals.
LAST OF THE RIGHT WHALES
FILM SCREENING AND PANEL DISCUSSION
Monday, August 1 - 7-9pm EDT
(In-Person* & Virtual)
*2nd Floor in the Grand Ballroom
Your SMM2022 conference organizers invite you to a free screening of the new documentary The Last of the Right Whales and follow up panel discussion. Our in person and virtual attendees will both have the opportunity to watch the movie within this viewing window. The movie will be followed up by a short moderated discussion panel composed of scientists, managers and conservation professionals involved working with North Atlantic right whales. Questions will be taken from both the virtual and in-person audience.
For those attending in-person there will be popcorn and a cash bar available, so come early to grab a beverage and a seat up front.
About the Film
North Atlantic right whales are dying faster than they can reproduce. With around 330 remaining, these great whales rarely die of natural causes. Instead, they are run over by ships or suffer lethal injuries from fishing gear. If we don’t stop killing them, in 20 years they could be extinct. With unprecedented access to film the whale migration from the only known calving grounds to the shifting feeding grounds, Last of the Right Whales follows the right whale migration and the people committed to saving a species still struggling to recover from centuries of hunting. Now climate change is forcing these great whales further north in search of food, putting them on a collision course with deadly ships and fishing gear. Featuring breathtaking footage of the majestic but rarely seen North Atlantic right whale – as observed through the eyes of scientists, photographers, rescuers, and fishermen – we bear witness to their struggle and bring hope for their survival.
Speakers/Panel Participants:
Dr. William McLellan
(Moderator)
William McLellan is an Adjunct Research Biologist at University of North Carolina Wilmington. He is a Master Necropsy team Leader and has led the necropsy of over 30 NARWs over the past 25 years. He serves on the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, the Southeast Implementation Team, the Northeast Implementation Team (both serve to implement the recovery plan for NARWs) and is on the Board of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium. He has been an author on over 20 publications on NARWs and was the lead author of the Right Whale Necropsy Protocol (2004). He has been a member of the Society for Marine Mammalogy since 1985.
Michael Moore
Michael Moore is a veterinary scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His research encompasses the physiology and pathology of marine mammals. He has studied the effects of trauma from the shipping and fishing industries on their survival and welfare. He is currently working with stakeholders to reduce threats of such trauma on these unique animals.
Barb Zoodsma
Barb Zoodsma has coordinated NOAA’s right whale recovery program in the Southeast U.S. for 20 years. Prior to joining NOAA, Zoodsma spent 10 years coordinating right whale and manatee recovery activities for the state of Georgia.
Christy Hudak
Christy Hudak has been an Associate Scientist in the Right Whale Ecology Program at the Center for Coastal Studies for over 11 years and was a researcher for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for over 9 years. Her current research focuses on the zooplankton resource in Cape Cod Bay, one of the most critical known habitats of the North Atlantic right whales. Her efforts in monitoring the right whale food resource and contributing to the right whale photo-id and sightings databases has contributed to the study of right whale behavior, distribution trends, and health assessments. Her collaborations with multiple organizations include providing data, samples (fecal, eDNA, and baleen), and guidance in projects involving statistical modeling, genetics, acoustics, microplastics analysis, and right whale detection through satellite technology.
Kristy Long
Kristy Long coordinates the National Marine Mammal Take Reduction Program at NOAA in Silver Spring, MD where she oversees implementation of the bycatch provisions in the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act. Kristy is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and has a Master’s of Environmental Management from Duke University.
WE ARE ALL WHALERS BOOK DISCUSSION WITH THE AUTHOR
Tuesday, August 1 - 11am-12pm EDT
VIRTUAL ONLY
About the Event
We are offering a special event only available to attendees through our virtual conference platform. If you are interested in marine mammals and fishery interactions, conservation or animal welfare, or if you ever considered writing a popular science book – then this is the event for you. We are hosting a limited “seating” event for up to 50 people to join in conversation with Michael Moore as he discusses his recently published book We Are All Whalers. It will be a live, open-mic Q&A in a virtual social lounge.
Announcements will be made on the virtual platform and app.
About the Author
Michael Moore
Michael Moore is a veterinary scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His research encompasses the physiology and pathology of marine mammals. He has studied the effects of trauma from the shipping and fishing industries on their survival and welfare. He is currently working with stakeholders to reduce threats of such trauma on these unique animals.
About the Book
Relating his experiences caring for endangered whales, a veterinarian and marine scientist shows we can all share in the salvation of these imperilled animals.
The image most of us have of whalers includes harpoons and intentional trauma. Yet eating commercially caught seafood leads to whales’ entanglement and slow death in rope and nets, and the global shipping routes that bring us readily available goods often lead to death by collision. We—all of us—are whalers, marine scientist and veterinarian Michael J. Moore contends. But we do not have to be.
Drawing on over forty years of fieldwork with humpback, pilot, fin, and, in particular, North Atlantic right whales—a species whose population has declined more than 20 percent since 2017—Moore takes us with him as he performs whale necropsies on animals stranded on beaches, in his independent research alongside whalers using explosive harpoons, and as he tracks injured whales to deliver sedatives. The whales’ plight is a complex, confounding, and disturbing one. We learn of existing but poorly enforced conservation laws and of perennial (and often failed) efforts to balance the push for fisheries profit versus the protection of endangered species caught by accident.
About the Event
Since SMM 2015 (San Francisco, CA), our Society organizes a LGBTQ+ event during the conference in the form of a gathering at a bar near the conference site. This year, please join us at the SMM2022 LGBTQ+ night to support the community and its allies.
As for past conferences, we just want to gather, enjoy drinks and food, and have a great time! We will gather between 7:30-10:00pm at the Copper Blues Rock Pub and Kitchen (550 S. Rosemay Ave., West Palm Beach).
All are welcome to join!
HOW TO BUY TICKETS
Interested in attending one of our in-person events? You can purchase a ticket to any of the ticketed event via the conference registration form!
To get started, click the button below and login to SMM. Once logged in, click the option "Sign into the conference website". Options related to offsetting your carbon footprint are under the "Conference and Workshop Registration".
In order to buy a ticket for an event in advance, please follow the steps below:
- Login into your SMM profile HERE.
- Once you login into your profile, click on the “Conference and Workshop Registration” option on the main menu.
- Scroll down the page. You will be able to find the option to buy tickets to any of the ticketed events.
PLEASE NOTE: After you have paid for event tickets in the registration menu, these items will continue to appear as selected in the menu when you return. Please DO NOT unselect these items, as you will not be billed twice.