Upcoming Professional Development

Behavioral Husbandry Best Practices for Your Animal Welfare Program - AZA Learn
Date: January 30, 2024
Location: Virtual
Description: Advances in zoo and aquarium professional standards have resulted in the need to better develop animal welfare programs that include animal behavior. Behavioral husbandry has evolved significantly over the last two decades and these programs must be integrated into an animal welfare program. In this course, we discuss a holistic approach to animal welfare.

2023 Annual Conference REWIND - Ongoing
Date: May 30, 2024
Location: Virtual
Description: View content, including General Sessions and select Concurrent Sessions, presented during the in-person Conference, Sept 12-14.

2024 Annual Conference +Plus
Date: October 7, 2024 — December 31, 2028
Location: Virtual
Description: AZA Annual Conference +Plus gives you access to recordings of all the General Sessions and Concurrent Sessions from the 2024 AZA Annual Conference in Calgary, as well as bonus virtual sessions presented for the first time! Recordings and new content will be available the week of October 6, 2024. These bonus virtual sessions will include a variety of topics representing multiple conference tracks.

Environmental Enrichment in Zoos and Aquariums - 2025
Date: February 22 — 27, 2025
Location: Disney's Animal Kingdom
Description: This course provides zoo and aquarium staff involved in the daily care of animals with the background and skills necessary to encourage species appropriate behaviors in animal environments and to continue to advance enrichment in zoos and aquariums. This 5-day course will include classroom time that provides an overview of enrichment concepts, focusing on aspects of the SPIDER framework.

Effective Leadership: Continuous Growth - 2025
Date: February 23 — 28, 2025
Location: Hilton Salt Lake City Center
Description: Effective Leadership: Continuous Growth is designed for mid-level or senior leaders within an organization's structure, and focuses on growing leadership capacity within yourselves and your teams. This course is designed for staff at AZA member organizations who are leaders of supervisory staff and/or leaders of multiple teams.

Animal Training Applications in Zoo & Aquarium Settings - 2025
Date: April 6 — 11, 2025
Location: Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
Description: Animal Training Applications provides zoo and aquarium staff with a background in training theory and an understanding of the skills necessary to train animals. It includes a historical perspective of animal training as well as terminology and an overview of training techniques.