By Josh Saranpaa, OWRA Board President
2020 has brought with it many challenges for everyone. One such challenge the OWRA board faced was the conference: how can we bring quality education to our members without putting their health at risk? Fortunately, ODFW allowed us to offer our rehab conference online this year.
I know my experience with virtual events for the Wildlife Center of the North Coast has been fairly disappointing--low attendance, difficulty advertising, and general disinterest in sitting behind a screen for any length of time. However, our 2020 OWRA Conference completely changed my mind on virtual events. We were able to offer some amazing presentations, including two really fun necropsies, some great education ambassador talks, and very informative rehab and regulation presentations. Attendance was great (again, considering the virtual platform), and it was so nice to be able to take a couple breaks and just chat with our rehab-friends from afar!
We don’t know what the new year will bring, but your OWRA board has already discussed the potential of an even better virtual conference in 2021!
Thank you all for everything you do for wildlife, and your fellow rehabber! I am so fortunate to be a part of such an amazing community!
