australian herpetological symposium

[FAY]

Jke, give you a bed close to the gig OR let you know exactly where it is being held?

 

[frogboy77]

Jke, give you a bed close to the gig OR let you know exactly where it is being held?

where it is being held..

 

[FAY]

Email sent.

 

[frogboy77]

Email sent.

thanks, didn't get the map though?...

 

[FAY]

oh i will try again

 

[frogboy77]

oh i will try again

forgot to add, can you send some contact details of Ursula Burdon please if you have any as it is quite urgent, thank you so much,
Jake

 

[CHEWY]

The synmposium is great. It hasn't finished yet, but unfortunately I've had to come to work.
Some absolute geniuses are there and the talks are great.
I've absorbed that much knowledge today that my head is about to explode.

Can't wait for tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone involved in the organisation and giving the lectures.

JD

 

[abnrmal91]

Hows the symposium? So angry that I had to work and couldn't make it. Enjoy tomorrow as well. Hopefully I can make it next year. Congrats to Neil and his team for organizing what I am sure would be a great weekend.

 

[Tiliqua]

Highlights for me so far have been Rob Porter's Rough-scaled Python talk and Michael McFadden's talk on endangered frogs. Both these guys passion and enthusiasm shined through with their presentations. Can't wait to hear about Boelen's pythons tomorrow!

 

[krefft]

The whole thing has been amazing. Congrats to all involved. There are some spare seats, so if anyone in Sydney does want to come on Sunday I think you would be welcome (no charge!!)

 

[Bushman]

That's great to hear guys. I wish that I could have gone but unfortunately I'm ill.
What a generous offer on Neil's part to make a few spare seats available to those really keen to go but unable to afford it.

 

[GreatSnakes]

Heard the gala dinner was cancelled. What happened?

 

[shea_and_ruby]

we have been helping relatives move all weekend (in this god awful rain) and would have loooooved to have come. shame to hear if the dinner was cancelled

 

[Glimmerman]

My opinion of the symposium is a little different than Kreft's. The organization and communication will require significant improvement next year if they would like this to be a 100% success.

Unfortunately this experience has been seriously tainted by lack of communication and lack of logistical organisation. For $499 per ticket I would have at least expected it to be a catered event and morning tea and lunch supplied (other than biscuits). The attendees were not informed that the dinner was cancelled till 4 hrs prior to the event. I know many people who book accommodation for the gala dinner and could not cancel it due to late cancellation.

On a positive note, The talks and presentations have been 1st grade quality, with overseas and local specialist sharing their unique experiences and knowledge. I thank them for there time and knowledge transfer, and hope that this experience doesn't reflect on their opinion of herpetoculture in Australia.

 

[krefft]

Mate I agree.
They defiantly need to come up with a better way of communicating with delegates, and promoting the event.
I did hear that they didn't know the books for the dinner weren't going to show up until the 11th hour so I'll cut them some slack there.
The number of attendees was disappointing considering the quality of the speakers.
A big thanks to all of them. Today was fantastic. The Boelens and Chondro talks were the standout's for me...oh, and the Blue Iguana's.

And we didn't get to discuss rabbits...

 

[Basssman]

Chris I think the number of attendees might be because they priced themselves out of attracting a larger audience, doesn't matter who is speaking alot of people can't afford $1k+ for such a event, I think the price drop came too late for alot of people, hopefully next year it is abit better planned and more affordable off the bat to a larger group of people

Cheers sam

 

[killimike]

I am so disappointed that I couldn't make it!

A little bit like Basssman said, originally it was way out of my price range. So I organised stuff on this weekend. Then the price dropped. I could have gotten out of my obligations with some difficulty, but I let it go.

Hearing now that the books weren't there and the dinner was cancelled, I am glad that I didn't change my plans. Tho, if I had heard before this morning that there was the possibility to attend free of charge today, I might have made it for a few hours.

I will be at the next one tho!

 

[pythonmum]

It would have been worth attending today. The reproductive medicine talk was a good one for anyone thinking of breeding and Rico's talk on GTPs was also a great one for the breeders. As he and Marc Spataro pointed out, many captive pythons are too fat and this can lead to problems. Having people like Marc study their species (Boelens for him) in the field as well as captivity really contributes enormously to the hobby.

 

[Greenmad]

If i had known there was going to be chondro talk i would have made it down for the weekend, why wasn't this talk on the website.

 

[Bushman]

Ryan, it was in the programme of events. There's a copy of it in post #34 of this thread.
Like you, I would have loved to hear the GTP talk by Rico Walder.