australian herpetological symposium

[Waterrat]

It's good to be back in warm Cairns, leaving noisy, windy, wet Sydney behind BUT - all the talks were excellent. There wasn't a moment when I would start dozing off, all the speakers were eloquent, delivering informative and interesting presentations that were well prepared. Thank you all.

 

[Bushman]

That's good to hear Michael. The calibre of speakers and topics sounds top notch.
Shame about the weather. Sounds like Sydney was immitating Melbourne.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

As attendees were aware, there were some logistical glitches this year, not the least of which has been the failure of the Carpet Python book to arrive in time for the dinner launch. I understand they are here now, but held up at DHL for clearance today. It was decided at the 11th hour to cancel the launch/dinner for Saturday because of this.

The flow of info to those wanting to attend was not good, but it should be acknowledged that the 2011 Symposium was subjected to a significant amount of 'information sabotage' in the past 3-4 months, and this had the effect of disrupting the distribution of information because of the amount of time needed to correct the misinformation being spread. This was happening right up to the last minute.

The speakers, like last year, were amazing. They are all highly approachable, wonderful and interesting people, doing the most amazing things in their lives.For me it was great to catch up with Rico Walder, Justin Julander and Emmanuel Van Heygen again. I hardly know them, but they seem like old friends already! I thought Mark Spataro's Boelen's Python presentation was outstanding - a beautifully illustrated talk on this mysterious and unusual python which lives in perhaps the most inaccessible habitat of any species on earth.

It is somewhat unfair to single out Mark Spataro, because ALL presenters were absolutely top class. I left home north of Port Macquarie on my bike at a cold 4.30am Saturday and was at the uni by 8.45, and came home 400km through the rain on Sunday night, but the rewards offered by attending the Symposium far outweigh any discomfort and inconvenience in getting to and from the venue.

Congratulations to Neil once again for his entrepreneurial efforts in promoting herpetology as a multifaceted discipline, and brickbats to those who tried so hard to disrupt the planning of the event.

Jamie

 

[Colin]

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.

yes chris from what I understand they didn't know the books were not showing up until the last minute and its pretty hard to hold a book launch without the books.

with luck the books should be deleivered very soon and after this Im sure neil will make an announcement about the re-scheduling of the dinner and the book launch at this time.

I'm guessing that it will be held before Justin Julander and Nick Mutton return overseas so not only will the signed copies of the book be available but the people at the dinner/book launch will be able to meet and speak to both these guys if they haven'y already done so at the symposium over the weekend.

congratulatulations to neil and associates for the second Australian Herpetoligical Symposiuum and I look forward the the thrd one next year.

 

[mysnakesau]

Sounds like a special event that shouldn't be missed. Hopefully next year. Glad to hear you all enjoyed it and were able to turn a deaf ear on those trying to sabotage it. That isn't nice at all but didn't stop anyone which was great to see.

We were thinking of you Jamie, riding home in the crap weather. Good to see you got home safely to tell us all about the the symposium.

 

[Greenmad]

The flow of info to those wanting to attend was not good, but it should be acknowledged that the 2011 Symposium was subjected to a significant amount of 'information sabotage' in the past 3-4 months, and this had the effect of disrupting the distribution of information because of the amount of time needed to correct the misinformation being spread. This was happening right up to the last minute.

Jamie

It would not of been hard to add a more details of the event on the website. As stated i would have made it down if i knew there was going to be a chondro talk by Rico Walder.

 

[Colin]

It would not of been hard to add a more details of the event on the website. As stated i would have made it down if i knew there was going to be a chondro talk by Rico Walder.

ryan if you looked at the original symposium website which was linked from the Reptiles Australasia site the program of events with the information on Rico Walder has been up for at least 6 months..

Australian Herpetological Symposium

align="center"
|-
| 10:45 AM
| Rico Walder
| Morelia viridis - Improving your breeding success
|-

original link Australian Herpetological Symposium
accessed from this icon on the RA site