We are excited about this year's MACNA conference. We already have Pre-registered and paid as many as most of the total attendance of the first 15 or so MACNAs, so it should be huge. Combine that with a great hotel, great speakers, cheap flights, and the Georgia Aquarium and we have everything to try to get you guys to have a good time while in Atlanta.
The hotel is great, and the room night of $119 can't be beat, it usually is in the $250-300 range. We were able to negotiate pretty well, but rooms are going fast.
There is a lot to do in Atlanta if people come early or bring significant others - CNN, Olympic Park, the Georgia Aquarium, the Children's museum, the world of Coke, and Hooters (hey, I know my audience) is within a 5 minute walk, and MARTA goes from inside the airport to the hotel for $1.75 - so no cab charges. The same MARTA can take you to the Braves, shopping centers, etc. We are also getting together a kids program (popcorn and movies in the hotel) to allow parents to go to the banquet and speakers. We will offer that at cost.
Oh, and the banquet is food by Wolfgang Puck. No open bar like Pittsburgh, but good food inside a great banquet hall inside the largest aquarium in the world with two windows - one toward the largest indoor aquatic exhibit in the world (over 6 million gallons - the size of a football field) that includes four whale sharks and the other one toward the four beluga whales.
Please use this thread to ask questions and I will try to check in to answer them. You can also check out our website. If your administrator could make this a sticky and add our banner that would help alot.
WOOHOO!!! I definitely want to go! I might even just get a room downtown so I don't have to worry about getting back home!
It is very true that there is a TON of stuff to do here in the big ATL... for any taste. I'd like to add the historic Fox theatre, the High Museum of Art, Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Stone Mountain Park (not downtown, but worth seeing). There's more, of course, but then again who can see it all in one weekend?
Behind the Scenes as a Underwater Wildlife Producer for the BBC
Joanne studied Zoology at London University and moved to Hong Kong in the 80's. She joined the World Wildlife Fund Hong Kong in 1990 to establish their Marine Conservation Programme; a significant task in a place that had no legislation to protect the coastal waters and where massive development was taking place before the handover to China. After four Marine Protected Areas had been set up, she joined the BBC
This is the last chance to get the $109 price for MACNA 2008! The price for the conference is only $109 for all three days including the banquet and trade show, but will go up to $129 after December 31st, 2007.
Other Confirmed MACNA speakers:
Dr. Bruce Carlson
Dr. Sylvia Earle
Eric Borneman
Anthony Calfo
Dr. Alex Brylske
Christie Williams
Dr. Kimberly Cobb
Michael Cottman
Jake Adams
Dr. Al Dove
Ray Davis
James Fatherree
Cathy Sakas
Larry Jackson
Marj Awai
Jim Walters
Dr. Rob Toonen
Scott Fellman
Robert Fenner
Phillip Root
Stephen Pro
Christine Williams
Matthew Wittenrich
Kelly Jedlicki
Charles Delbeck (will confirm in April due to potential schedule conflicts)
Ok, time for another MACNA XX update before the price goes up at the end of the month!!! Check out our website for more information (the website is also going through a transformation by the end of the month). Let us know if we can do anything else to make your stay in Atlanta enjoyable!
As you know, we have record numbers of attendees and exhibitors this year, and a huge number of incredible speakers!!
We are also trying a few new things to entice you