« December 2004 | Main | February 2005 »
Not sure if it was mentioned at the symposium, but a very special thanks goes out to Mark Dodd from Georgia DNR and his staff and Students for bringing Joey the loggerhead sea turtle to the symposium for display. It was no small feat to set-up his tank and fill it will sea water AND take care of Joey each day in front of a very discerning audience.
Joey was a huge hit and even got his picture in a few news stories.
Thanks Mark! And please thank your crew for all of us!
Each year there is a "thing" that is given away as part of registration for the sea turtle symposium. This year it was a very nice PadFolio. SEATURTLE.ORG also donated the name badge lanyards which double as sunglass/eyeglass holders (ie croakies). So don't throw them away!!!!
I'm looking forward to seeing great pictures from all over the world, of SEATURTLE.ORG croakies securely holding the sunglasses of brave sea turtlers in place.
Upload them to the image library and maybe Matthew will create a category for pictures of SEATURTLE.ORG swag in action.
Had a bit of fun with the camera last night, taking extreme close-up of people I chatted with before, during and after the opening social of the symposium.
Only first names are provided to protect the innocent (or guilty)...
Andy
Peter
Brendan
Lucy
Lynette
Janice
Kartik
Annette
Stephanie
Angela
Kristy
Our last two beloved presidents
Suzanne
Mike
Nancy
Julia
Me
Kartik
Hoyt
Jennifer
Katy
Manjula
Kate
Kim
Not-so-extreme Sandy
Catherine
Someon'e undies
Registration opened at 7am this morning and as usual things did not go as smoothly as one would hope. I was roused out of bed because they couldn't get credit cards to process at the registration desk. A quick bit of programming and we got the problems worked out. There are already a lot of folks on hand as the Widecast and Latin American meetings started today.
Registration line during the first Widecast break
Gray beards solving all the world's problems
Registration desk gets to take a breath
I think that I forgot to mention earlier that there is WiFi in all the rooms, just $10/day from the hotel. So if you have a WiFi laptop bring it along. We also have a wireless network set up at the registration desk that people can log in to and we plan to have an internet cafe set-up after registration dies down.
OK, so now I remember that I left the USB cable for my camera at home on purpose. That's because I got a new card reader for Christmas. So here are the pictures I wanted to attach to the earlier message...
The packet stuffing room
The Hyatt atrium... the escalators lead up to the doors of the main presentation hall.
Day zero of the symposium. Arrived at the hotel last night and helped stuff packets today. Not much else going on. Registration opens tomorrow and the official events begin.
I was hoping to do a better job of photo-documenting things this time, but of course I forgot the USB cable for my digital camera once again.
The hotel is nice, pretty standard rooms. Very nice atrium (pictured) except that they are currently working on the tile floor. The conference rooms have not been prepped yet so not sure how they look yet.
As of today we have 897 people registered for the upcoming sea turtle symposium in Savannah, Georgia. That is more people that have been "officially" registered for any prior symposium. And if onsite registration is similar to past years the final tally should be around 950.
The total includes representatives from 69 countries (give or take, depending on how you count territories). Here are the top 10:
UNITED STATES 606
MEXICO 26
COSTA RICA 24
UNITED KINGDOM 19
CANADA 16
JAPAN 11
AUSTRALIA 9
VENEZUELA 8
PORTUGAL 7
ITALY 7
For the complete list continue reading below...
UNITED STATES 606
MEXICO 26
COSTA RICA 24
UNITED KINGDOM 19
CANADA 16
JAPAN 11
AUSTRALIA 9
VENEZUELA 8
PORTUGAL 7
ITALY 7
PERU 6
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES 6
INDIA 6
GUATEMALA 6
CUBA 6
COLOMBIA 6
SPAIN 5
PUERTO RICO 5
GREECE 5
VIRGIN ISLANDS, U.S. 4
URUGUAY 4
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 4
NETHERLANDS 4
DOMINICA 4
BRAZIL 4
TAIWAN, PROVINCE OF CHINA 3
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 3
PANAMA 3
PALAU 3
FRANCE 3
ECUADOR 3
CAYMAN ISLANDS 3
ARGENTINA 3
PHILIPPINES 2
OMAN 2
MOROCCO 2
MALAYSIA 2
KENYA 2
GRENADA 2
GHANA 2
GABON 2
ERITREA 2
BARBADOS 2
ARUBA 2
YEMEN 1
TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS 1
TOGO 1
THAILAND 1
TANZANIA, UNITED REPUBLIC OF 1
SWEDEN 1
SOUTH AFRICA 1
SENEGAL 1
SAMOA 1
SAINT LUCIA 1
NIGERIA 1
NICARAGUA 1
NEW ZEALAND 1
MONTSERRAT 1
IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF 1
INDONESIA 1
GUYANA 1
GAMBIA 1
EQUATORIAL GUINEA 1
EGYPT 1
DENMARK 1
CROATIA 1
CAMEROON 1
BERMUDA 1
BELIZE 1