How to Network at Marine Science Conferences Like a Pro

0:00 There have been a number of conferences this year that have gone on in sharks, in marine conservation, marine science, all that kind of stuff, and I love conferences. I love going to them, as many as possible, as many as my bank account can take. But one thing that I always hear every single time are people worried about going to conferences. One, the expense. Totally understand. It's a difficult thing to get if you aren't being sponsored by somebody, or your school isn't sending you to it, or your work isn't sending you. But when you do get there, the other big thing is like, "Oh, I'm introverted," or, "I don't really know what to do when I get there, how to network and stuff." So today, I wanna talk about going to conferences and networking, 'cause it's one of the biggest ways and one of the best ways you can basically get jobs, build a network, collaborate with people, and just build friends and colleagues for the rest of your life.

0:49 It's where a lot of work and projects were solidified throughout time for science. And so, I think it's really important to do. So we're gonna talk about that on this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean. This is a place where you find ocean news, ocean conservation science, and marine conservation. We're gonna talk about jobs, we're gonna talk about network. We talk about everything in the field of marine science and conservation every weekday, Monday to Friday. Do not forget to hit that follow button if you like this type of information, and we are going to get right at it right away. Oh, by the way, sorry, not right away. One more thing. If you wanna support the show, you feel like you love the show, you wanna support it in some kinda way, you can do so by joining our Patreon.

1:33 Go to speakupforblue.com/patreon. That's speakupforblue.com/patreon. All right, let's get into the show. This is gonna be fun. I love conferences. It is my favorite thing. I remember interviewing for my last position, not the one I just have now, but the position I had before. It was, like, seven years ago, eight years ago. And I remember them doing, and they're like, "Hey, Andrew, do you like going to conferences?" In the interview. And I'm like, " Conferences? That's my jam. That's what I love to do." Like, I'm an extrovert. I love people. I love interacting with people, and I get excited. I get pumped to go to conferences. And I get it. Not everybody's like me and have the same attitude. But it doesn't matter. Conferences are a part of the conservation career journey. You have to be able to interact with people in some sorta way.

2:17 I'm not dismissing people who are introverted or who are a little shy and, don't know exactly what to say. Not to worry, 'cause this episode, we are going to go over some of the things that have helped me over the years. And to be honest, have helped my daughter be able to start her conservation journey, 'cause she's in wildlife conservation. It's helped her interact with people and build a network and go to job fairs and talk to people. And we're gonna talk about some of the people we've been told have also gone to those job fairs and how they act. And I think it's really important to understand that there are certain things that you can practice before you go that'll make you feel more comfortable when you get there. And if you feel that comfort, I'm not forcing anybody to do things, but if you feel that comfort, you can get there, and you can actually feel a lot better by using a couple of little things. That's the big thing.

2:57 So let's talk conferences The best thing to do is read up on the conferences that works best for you. If you're going into the fisheries for conservation or careers, you go to a fisheries conference. If you're in just conservation in general, you go to maybe the Conservation Congress. If you are into sharks, you go to Sharks International, or you go to the American Elasmobranch Society conference that they have every year. They just had it in, I forget where it was. I think it was Arizona. But regardless, there's a conference for pretty much everything, and you just have to pick and choose. You have to do the research. There's a coral reef conference, there's a seagrass conference, maybe more of a workshop. There's sea turtle conferences, the Marine Mammal Society Conference, all these different conferences. And they are, just as I mentioned, societies. They are put on by scientific societies and conservation societies.

3:41 And so, like, the Sharks International is put on by the Shark Trust. The American Elasmobranch Society puts on the American Elasmobranch Conference, which is part of another conference, like the Herpetology Conference too. That's a long story, but they combine to make one bigger one, so they get deals on conference centers and stuff like that. The marine section for the Society of Conservation Biology does International Marine Conservation Congress, my favorite conference to go podcasting. I go podcasting there all the time. And it's in Scotland this year. Hopefully, you'll be there November 13th through the 17th. I actually am presenting, which is a lot of fun. The thing is, is, like, you have to find what works for you. There's an ocean science meeting that happened in Scotland this past year, which I think is the first time in a long time, if not ever, that it was in Europe and not in North America.

4:21 And so there are a lot of conferences for something that you want to go into. And then of course, there's the general ocean conservation conferences that are, like, Ocean Decade Conference, Our Oceans Conference. And those are international, big international conferences. Like, they're usually run by the UN, the United Nations. You've gotta first pick and choose which conference will fit your career or will fit what you need to do, what you're going into. If there's a specific theme that is being highlighted at the conference, and that fits what you wanna do or what you are already doing, then you go to that, conference, right? You do whatever you can to go to that conference. Now, look, some of these conferences are really expensive, and they're far. Like, the International Marine Conservation Congress, it's in Scotland. It's in Edinburgh, I think, is how I was told how to pronounce.

5:03 You have to spend the money to go there. It's expensive for hotels. It's expensive probably for food. It's expensive to get there. Marine Conservation Congress at one time had it in Malaysia, and so for a North American, it was expensive to get there. South Africa the two years before. It can be expensive for people in North America. But also, it makes it closer for other people who always have to fly to North America or Europe from, like, Southeast Asia or Australia or South Africa and things like that. So having them in countries where they're closer to another different crowd or a crowd that can't always make it just due to distance and expense, they will have it all over the place. So check to see which one fits you best. I actually just talked to a colleague of mine that just went to Sharks International. And I asked her how it was. She said it was great.

5:43 It was in Sri Lanka this year. It was a little difficult from where she's from to get there 'cause it's a little expensive. But the next one is the same. It's a little more expensive, but it's every four years, so she's starting to save now so that she can afford the trip in four years from now. Which is a great way to really think of it. If you're gonna save, you know, save a couple hundred bucks a month, and you'll be able to get, pay for the flight, pay for the hotel, and enjoy the time. Because when you go to a conference in person, it is so much better. Like it-- You get to meet people face to face that you've known online. You get to interact over a coffee, a tea, a drink, an alcoholic or non-alcoholic, a lunch, a dinner. If you're having water at the snack booth, in the middle of sessions, and you meet somebody you haven't seen or you've just interacted on BlueSky or on LinkedIn, it's nice to be able to put a face and a voice to the name.

6:33 I've met a lot of people in the how to protect the ocean audience that have shown up to International Marine Conservation Congresses, and it's been phenomenal to meet the people there. It's been great. I love it. Is so much fun to get feedback and to talk about what they love and what they'd like to see in the future and all that kind of stuff. The thing is, is like you go there in person because you can build your relationships better. Everything in person is better. And I understand that having a virtual conference is a lot more inclusive because people from all over the world, as long as it's within their time zone or they can even stay up till 3:00 in the morning if they want, if they have to, you can take part in many of the sessions. Some of them are recorded, so you can watch them after. But having it in person is just so much better because the business relationships that you build when you're there is just a little bit stronger.

7:20 It's very difficult in a virtual conference to start hanging out and chatting with people online. It's not an easy thing to do. So doing it in person is a lot easier. Now, I know there are some people who are a little introverted, more introverted, get a little shy, get a little imposter syndrome. I'm gonna tell you, we all get it. I get it. Colleagues get it. It's something that nobody ever gets over. I think what you have to remember is that everybody's a person. I do a podcast with Dr. David Ebert. Dave is a legend in the shark science world. He is like taxonomy king in there, or one of them anyway, and he's the go-to for a lot of people to identify specific species. That's what he loves to do. And when he goes to a conference, some people are a little worried or shy to go up.

8:01 They have a little imposter syndrome, like, "I don't know if I'm worth going up to him." You know what he says all the time? He wants people to come up to him. He loves it when people come up to him and say, "Hi, I'm so and so. This is my research. This is what I'm doing. This is what I'd like to do. Really love what you're doing." It's nice to meet people that are either just getting in their career, have been in their career for a while, especially shark science, 'cause he goes to a lot of those. It is just nice to have all those people show up and meet him face to face, 'cause he can put that face. He's old school too, so he likes to have the face to the name when he sees them online. And a lot of the people that he met will probably be on the Beyond Jaws podcast in the next year or so, 'cause he came back and he's like, "Andrew, I met so many new people. It was so great. I'm gonna line them up to have them on the podcast." This is what it's about, though.

8:44 It's about meeting people. It's about introducing yourself. It's about talking research. But also, I want you to remember when you network, it's not all business. Okay? And here's how an interaction typically goes. When you first meet somebody at a conference, now, this is probably usually over food. That's the best time to get people is over food. I know it sounds weird, but it's over food. If I see somebody I recognize that I may not know, but I know who they are, I will grab a plate, I will go beside them as they're in the buffet line or whatever, and I will just chitchat. I'm like, "Oh, that looks really good. Have you ever tried that before?" Something like that. And then I talk, I'm like, "Oh, you're so and so." And they're like, "Yeah, that's me." And I'm like, "Oh, I'm a huge fan. My name's Andrew Lewin, and this is what I do." I give my elevator pitch.

9:26 So I basically talk about, you know, I'm a podcaster. I've had a podcast called How to Protect the Ocean podcast for over 10 years. I'm a marine biologist, and now I'll be able to say that I'm Ocean Communications Manager for Pisces Oceans. And I talk about what I do, and I'm just like, "I really love the work that you've done," and usually, if it's somebody I know, I really love what you've done, like, in terms of a specific aspect of what they've done, what they're known for. And I'm like, "I really appreciate and respect what you've been able to do for that side of the field." And then we have a chitchat. I'm like, " How was your trip?" "Are you enjoying the conference?" These are little small talk that you can essentially just break the ice with and just get relaxed so you're not as nervous or things like that. And then a lot of the times you're just talking about the weather, you're talking about the conference hotel, you're talking about the food.

10:07 You're talking about, "Hey, are you doing any trips or anything like that?" You just let the conversation kind of take it the way, wherever it goes. And then you talk about, "Hey, I just attended this really good session. I'm not sure if you've attended," or, "What was your favorite session so far?" And then you just start having this chitchat, right? And it can go any which way. It could go, like, personal in terms of, like, what your life is like and how you got there and everything like that. It could go with, like, sessions that you had. It can go with, like, the amenities at the conference center and the hotel and the food and everything. There's a lot of things that it can go. The country that you're in. Maybe if it's not a country you've been in before, you're like, "Isn't this a wonderful country?" Like, "Have you been here? What do I do?" Like, "What would you recommend?" All that kind of stuff, right? So all these types of small chitchat can happen at lunch, it can happen in line.

10:48 But the biggest thing that you have to remember is that you have to have your elevator pitch, your 30 second, 20 to 30 second elevator pitch, about who you are and what you do. I ask that in every interview. "Who are you and what do you do? Tell us who you are and what you do." And if you're able to say that over and over, and you practice it. 'Cause even me, as someone who goes to a conference, I will practice it in my hotel room or on the flight or wherever I go, I will practice it. I will record it, listen back to my voice, which I hate, 'cause I hate hearing my voice. I will speak it out loud. And the more you practice it, the more it comes off the tip of your tongue better, and it sounds like you know what you're doing. If you said the first time, you're doing ums and ahs and this and that. Practice the story. It's almost like when you go for an interview for a job.

11:30 You know some of the questions they're gonna ask. Like, they're like, "Did you ever have a hard time in work, and how did you solve it?" You should have a story ready. You should have something ready, and you should have that prepared, at least a couple of different stories for specific questions that you think are being asked or that have been asked in a lot of different interviews. It's the same thing with when you go to a conference. Like, have certain things that you're ready to talk about and that you can talk about. If you're not good at conversation, if you practice those and practice that storytelling, they don't have to be elaborate, they don't have to be descriptive. It just comes out easily, then it really helps. It really helps. And I think it helps also who you're talking to too. Like, not everybody's gonna be nice. Not everybody is going to be extroverted or seem friendly.

12:11 They might look at you, like not knowing who you are and waiting to hear what you do. So in a ocean conference-type setting, if you start talking about, "Hey, my name's Andrew Lewin. Now I'm gonna lead with Pisces Oceans. "I'm an ocean communications manager for Pisces Oceans, and, you know, I'm here to take in some of the sessions, talk to maybe potential clients, but really just enjoy the time around here." And they're like, "Oh, and what are you up to these days?" If I know who they are, or, "What do you do?" And then they're gonna say the same thing. Like, "My name is," say it's Dave Ebert. "I'm a shark scientist. I'm known as the Lost Shark guy online. I discover sharks that haven't been seen in a while or discover new sharks. I've described over 50 species." My God, I know his elevator pitch more than I know mine. But regardless, you know, like you have to practice it, and then you have to say it. And once you say it a bunch of times, it becomes so easy when you get there and you start to say it.

12:56 You'll be surprised. Case in point, my daughter and I, we went to the Toronto Zoo job fair a couple years ago. She wants to be a zookeeper, and she wants to go into wildlife biology. Now she's in her first year, but this is, like, when she was in grade 11. It was the winter of grade 11. So she wasn't graduating high school yet. She wasn't going to university yet. She just wanted to see if she can get a job. So there was a job fair. So we drove the hour and 15 minutes to the zoo, which was perfect time because I got in the car. Tea is her name. I said, "Hey, Tea, like, what are you gonna say to people when you go up to them?" She's like, "What do you mean?" Well, I'm like, "Basically…" I kinda laid it out, right? I said, "It's a job fair, so there's gonna be a bunch of tables set out, and there's gonna be different departments set up. So you'll have, like, the zookeeper department. You'll have, like, the custodian department. You'll have the curator department.

13:36 You'll have the animal welfare research department. You'll have all these different departments that they have that they're hiring for. And then what you're gonna do is you're gonna walk up to the table of the department that interests you, and you're gonna tell them who you are and what you do. Or in this case, what you want to do and what you want. And so what university you wanna go to," 'cause she hadn't gotten into university yet, " and then what you wanna do at that university and what you wanna do as a career. And so you're gonna walk up, and you're gonna say that." I said, "You need to have that elevator pitch." She's like, "Oh, okay." And then I kinda waited, and I'm like, " What's your elevator pitch?" "Oh," she's like, "oh, what do you mean, now?" I'm like, "Yeah, now." I'm like, "This is your elevator pitch. This is what we are going to do. We are going to practice this. We have an hour and, now 10 minutes where you're gonna practice. You're gonna tell me over and over and over again." And that's what we did.

14:17 She crafted one. And the first time, it came out rough, and that was fine. I said, "No, this is good because now you have the layout, and you know what you need to say." And we practiced it over and over and over and over until she could say it in her sleep. And even to this day she says it. And so when we got to the job fair, she started going up. I know the CEO. She walked up to the CEO, and she's like, "Hey, Dolph," like, "I know who you are," blah, blah, blah. My name's Tehya, and this is what I do." And he was like, "This is great. You know exactly what you wanna do." He's like, "Well, enjoy." Like, he gave us all the tour and what to do and all this kind of stuff, right? So, and he was even giving her kind of like a heads-up, like, " Hey, you know, you're still in high school. We normally hire university students because we can hire them earlier in May, but we do take some high school students, but just keep that in mind." So no problem.

15:00 That was great. Gave us a great heads-up. And then she started going to the different tables. I wouldn't walk up. I stayed back. She walked up. 'Cause I tend, if I go up as her dad, I'm going to take over because I'm an extrovert, and I take over. I have to sit there, and I have to just put my hand over my mouth, and I have to be like, "Mmm," because I'm gonna talk and interrupt all the time 'cause I'm a white male, and that's what I do. And it's just, I have to be cognizant of that. So I took a step back. I said, Go on up and say, who you're interested in." And she went up to every single table. And can I tell you how impressed people were? It was a proud papa moment. I was a proud dad watching my daughter go up there and talk. A little emotional, to be honest, because she showed off that she was like, you know, 16, 17 years old. She's showing off that she can do this, and she's mature enough to do this and that she wants to do this, and this is her passion.

15:44 She's always wanted to do this. So she goes up, and she talks to a bunch of different people. The last table of the day that she walked up to and she said her elevator pitch, and the woman that was behind the table said, "You know what?" This was an amazing interaction 'cause they talked for a while. And after that, and I walked up after 'cause I met up with her after and she's like, "Your daughter was phenomenal." She's like, "She walked up. She knew exactly what to say. She told me what her name was, what she wanted to do, what she was interested in, all this kind of stuff. We talked about the university. We talked about future plans. We talked a little bit about how to try and get in here and try and get jobs here." She was like, "From a communication standpoint, it's great 'cause that's what we look for.

16:25 Obviously they have to be in a specific program, and they have to be interested, and they have to have the skills and qualities. But the zookeepers and anybody who works at the zoo has to be able to speak to the public because that's what you're there for. You're there to explain the animals to the public." And she was able to do that. She's like, I could see it right away. She's just got that personality." And she's like, "Some of the people who came up that were her age or even older would walk up to the table and just stare and not say a word, and they would just stare at her." And she was just like, " can I help you?" Like, "Did you wanna have some questions?" And she had to try and pull the conversation out. Now, that doesn't give a good impression, and it's not necessarily their fault. Some people, it's English isn't their first language, so they might feel a little bit shy and not as confident.

17:05 Other people may not know to do that. They haven't been taught that or anything like that. I don't know. Regardless, it was an observation that was made. And Taya felt confident after. And I'll tell you what happened is the next year she went back to that same job fair, and people remembered who she was. One person especially was like, "Oh yeah, I remember you. You went to Guelph. Did you get in?" She's like, "Yeah, I got into Guelph. I'm in Guelph right now. I'm really enjoying it." They talked a lot about that, and they talked about doing something in the future. This is what happens when you practice your 30-second elevator pitch. You become memorable, and you let your personality just shine. Now, I know, again, I'm gonna say this again, if you're introverted, I'm not forcing anybody to do this. This will help you at conferences to kind of break the ice a little bit. Just have that little practice so you have something to bring to the table, and then just relax.

17:50 Sometimes you can just sit back, like in a big group, you can sit back and just enjoy the conversation, how it goes and everything like that. So that's great. What I would recommend, if you're in ocean conservation, and you're in ocean science, I would highly recommend going to the International Marine Conservation Congress. I am not sponsored by them yet, but, it's a conference that I believe in a lot, and I'll tell you why. This conference is one of the most inclusive conferences I have been-- if not the most inclusive conferences that I have ever attended. I have never felt so welcoming, so supported and so valued. And it's not just me feeling that. I've spoken to other people who have gone to the conference, and they felt the same way.

18:31 And it's because of the attendees and the organizers and the volunteers on the committees. The people who attend, just in general, try to make it as welcoming as possible. Somebody might come up and talk to you. Sometimes I walk up to people and I just say, "Hey," you know, like, "How you doing? My name's Andrew," this and that. " I see that you're just staying here," like, "I see that you're probably in the buffet line," 'cause that's usually where I hang out. Um, but, yeah, that's just what it is. It's just a friendly environment. It's a supportive environment. Sometimes you'll get invited to dinner, sometimes you'll get invited to lunch, or sometimes we're going out for some drinks after. People are looking out for each other. We're making sure that everybody feels welcome and feels safe, all that kind of stuff.

19:12 And look, I can't speak for everybody at the conference, but I can speak to my experiences and the people that I've met at the conference and stuff, and they all say the same thing. I'm sure there's some, been some incidences over the years that I'm not aware of. But for the most part, things have been really good. Like 99% of the time, things have been pretty good that I've heard feedback from other people. Just to full disclosure, I am part of the program committee, and so I've reviewed a bunch of abstracts and things like that. I really like to take part. That's another thing to get noticed too. If you wanna get noticed, volunteer to be part of a committee on a conference to help plan the conference ' cause then people start to work with you and get to know you, and you get to see… Like, I met somebody in California that I'd never met before. I met a couple people in Europe that I've never met before, and all over the US and Canada.

19:57 You just meet people all over the place. And then of course reconnect with people you haven't seen in a while, and that's always fun. One of the things that I always look forward to going to these marine conferences is to reconnect with the progress of the Project Seagrass team. Love that team. They are amazing. They are so much fun. Look, I hope that they're able to go to the conference this year. It's one of those things where you have friends that you don't normally see every day because they live in a different continent or they live across the world. And when you get to these conferences, you get to reconnect, and it's so, so much fun. So I want to encourage you to go to the conference that you feel most comfortable at, that fits what you do. If you're a student and you get a professor to send you there, that's wonderful. If you are a mid-career and you can go and you get paid to go there, that's amazing.

20:39 I've always paid for myself to go to some of these conferences, but that's just me. There's no expectation. I've had the privilege to be able to do so, and so I've been able to go. , But I highly recommend going to a conference, especially if they're local. Go to the conference even if they don't fit your bill right down to the T. Go try and present, get that experience as well if you can. And yeah, that's pretty much it. Like, I think it's a lot of fun. I'm getting very excited. I just found out last week that my paper got accepted, or two weeks ago that my paper got accepted. I'm about to register, pay for the hotel, and all that kinda stuff. It is going to be a blast, a blast, and I can't wait. So, that's it for today's episode. I would love to hear what conference you like to go to. So let me know in my DMs or, you can contact me any which way.

21:22 Just go to the show notes. You know what it is. Just go to the show notes. And of course, if you wanna support me, that kinda helps me get to IMCC, you can go to Patreon, become a, a patron on Patreon. Go to speakupforblue.com/patreon. That's speakupforblue.com/patreon. The link's also in the show notes. I wanna thank you for listening. I wanna thank you for all those who go to conferences or try and go to conferences and encourage others, for all those professors and labs that send their students to conferences and pay them for the food and everything like that, 'cause that's important, and all the people who make conferences fun and inclusive and supportive and just amazing. You are all amazing. I can't wait to see people at IMCC. It's a lot of fun.

22:02 I did go to an H2O conference, and I'm gonna be going to the Our Oceans conference next year in Halifax, 'cause it's close by. And yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun. So, that's it for today's episode. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew Lewin. Have a great day. We'll talk to you next time, and happy conservation.