The Best Friends Professional Development Symposium: Reaching New Heights in Contemporary Animal Services is a new dynamic online symposium for animal services professionals and students devoted to lifesaving innovation and revolutionary change for pets and people.
The field of animal welfare is rapidly evolving as animal services organizations become resource centers, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated that change. In this creative two-day online event, you’ll learn more about the changes happening in the field and the latest in lifesaving from leading experts.
The symposium is part of a new initiative from Best Friends, presented in partnership with Southern Utah University (SUU). The goal is to develop prestigious academic learning opportunities that will facilitate career paths and clarity in contemporary animal services.
Presentation topics include:
- Redefining Animal Services
- Field Services Moving Forward
- Keeping Pets with Families
- Lifesaving as a Community Ethic
- Leadership for Lifesaving Change
- Compassionate Badassery
- Fundraising During Economic Uncertainty
- What’s the Deal with Cats?
- Fast-Tracking Pets Through the Shelter System
Kim Wolf
Executive Director, Beyond Breed
Learn how fear and bias have weakened the animal welfare movement, and how to how to identify outdated practices and policies while addressing the underlying, well-intentioned concerns that have kept them in place.
Sandy Rees
Chief Encouragement Officer, Get Fully Funded
Get great insights and ideas about fundraising—including how to create an Ideal Donor Profile so you can find new donor prospects easily and in large numbers
Caitlin Quinn
Director of Operations, HeARTs Speak
Discover key marketing takeaways from the COVID-19 response. This workshop helps you craft a strategic approach so you can handle whatever comes next, and more.
Emily Grossheider
Director of Development, Dogs Playing for Life
Learn from some of the most moving shelter dogs about resilience, stress as adaptation, and how to muster the strength to keep doing the work on behalf of the animals we love so much.
The National Kitten Coalition invites you to attend the first-ever, online, kitten-focused Conference for veterinary professionals. This free Conference is made possible thanks to our generous donors and sponsors. Join others virtually in learning new and innovative ways to care for your youngest feline patients. Not a veterinary professional? Please send this information to your favorite veterinary professional, so that together we can increase the survival rates of kittens! Thank you!
This Conference program has been approved by the AAVSB for 4.5 hours of continuing education credit for veterinarians and credentialed veterinary technicians/nurses in jurisdictions that recognize RACE® approval. CE certificates will be emailed to you within 30 days following the Conference.
REMINDER: While recordings will be accessible after the Conference, CE Credit is only available for those attending the live session(s) on November 8th. Attendees wishing to receive RACE® CE credit must attend the entire individual live session(s), (but not the entire Conference).
Katie Schmuke
Shelter Partnerships Lead, Purina
Join a panel discussion with all 4 experts from our Adoption Options Online Workshops as they discuss the impact 2020 has had on the animal welfare industry and how to move forward.
Kittens often come to us dirty, with skin issues, or ectoparasites that need to be removed. Keeping kittens clean is one of the keys to keeping them healthy and thriving! In this free webinar from The National Kitten Coalition, you will learn how to safely and effectively bathe your kitten(s).
*This kitten life-saving project was made possible in part through a generous Grant from The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Speaker: Susan Spaulding, aka ‘Kitten Mom’, Director of Neonatal Programs for The National Kitten Coalition
As the end of 2020 approaches, we are preparing to say a fond farewell to a not-so-fond year. While 2020 has been filled with turmoil and uncertainty, we can take pride in the unparalleled COLLABORATION that has grown between national, international, state, and local organizations. We look forward to strengthening these relationships even more in 2021, and beyond.
As we move forward TOGETHER in the “new normal,” leadership and strategic human resource skills will be more vital and necessary than ever. Carefully selected and curated content in this virtual conference is designed to help you build these skills so you can guide your teams not only through the pandemic, but to thrive during and long after it has receded.
The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement is committed to helping you strengthen your talents and build partnerships. JOIN US as we celebrate collaboration and help you, leaders in our field, continue to work together to maximize impact.
Here are just a few of the sessions being offered:
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Hiring Philosophy and Practices
Collaboration: Understand, Align, and Transform
Practicing Compassionate Badassery: How to Cope with COVID-19
Technology to Safely Onboard, Support & Engage Volunteers During and Past COVID
Breaking Happy: A Path to a Sustainable Career
Recruiting Today’s Hourly Workers: It’s Different. And It’s Not.