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Zoo Association Members Attend Conference
Students at Cornwall College Newquay had the opportunity to learn from the experts recently, when the College played host to the annual presenters' conference for members of BIAZA (British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums).
The annual conference is designed to give zoo and aquarium presenters ideas, with regards to how best to communicate messages to the public.
Ruth Martin, Curriculum Area Manager for Cornwall College Newquay said: “The challenge for any presenter is keeping their visitors engaged with their talks. At this conference members of BIAZA learnt that understanding the audience and their environment is the key to keeping them engaged. The talks focused on personal history used in the World War Zoo talk by Mark Norris from Newquay Zoo; using up-beat can-do messages as discussed by Matt Hocking of Leap Media; and linking these with a sense of place as demonstrated by Will Coleman, freelance educator, in his talk ‘Learning in the Landscape’.
Industry experts came from all over the country to take part, including London Zoo, Whipsnade Zoo, Chester Zoo, Living Coasts in Torquay and The Deep, based in Hull. Whilst all the talks had a Cornish theme, key elements could be applied everywhere, as Will Coleman said: “Basically it’s dealing with local and global issues but starting in your place of work or education.”
Following on from the place-based learning theme, the delegates were given a real taste of Cornwall, by tucking into Cornish pasties.
Ruth continues: “It was great to see so many students and staff taking a real interest in the topics being presented and for so many industry representatives to have taken the time to come to Cornwall.”
