The 2024 Annual Symposium was held at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas on November 18th.
77 ADPA members attended the Symposium from 43 different facilities. 21 were first-time attendees, which is a new high!
We had 6 presentations from ADPA members:
- Risk Management: Steps After an Accident and Lessons Learned (Georgia Aquarium- Jeff Reid)
- Presentation Diving- Beyond the Glass (Monterey Bay Aquarium- James Bonovich)
- Diving is the Easy Part (Moody Gardens- Jake Emmert)
- Deep Dive: The Current Landscape of Volunteer Dive Programs for AZA (National Aquarium- Holly Bourbon, Monterey Bay Aquarium- Scott Chapman, New England Aquarium- Ashley McCarthy)
- Putting the T Back into LGBTQ- Dive Safety for Trans People (Aquarium of the Bay- Niko Kowell)
- Kelp Recovery (Monterey Bay Aquarium- Andrew Morgan)
We also had presentations from a few of our Gold Corporate Partners:
- RescueX, Animal Underwater Services LLC, Oceanears, DAN, Ocean Technology Systems, Fairway, and Blue Green Expeditions)
The ADPA Founders Awards were presented:
- Paul Dimeo received The Perry Hampton Award
- Jim McAlister received The MaryAnn Buehn Award
Our Symposium Raffle for the Brett Dodson Scholarship was again able to fund 2 scholarships for the 2025 Symposium, thanks to generous donations from Huish Outdoors, Avis Studio, Divers Alert Network, Fourth Element, Oceanears, SCUBA Educators International, RescueX, OTS, Blue Green Expeditions, Fairway, Submersible Systems Inc, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Chad Burtrum.
The Symposium Committee thanks all of those who contributed to the success of the Symposium from the presenters, Corporate Partners, committee members, and those who lent a hand throughout the day. We could not do this without you!
