2024 Symposium & Workshop – Pittsburgh

AALSO has expanded greatly in the last 20 years. The organization now has over 1,000 members, 500 certified operators, and roughly 300 vendor members. These vendor members supply the zoo and aquarium industry with pumps, valves, filters, heat exchangers, sensors, and every other piece of equipment that keep animals and their habitats healthy.

March 2024
2nd – 6th

Hosted By

Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium in Pittsburgh

The 30th Annual Aquatic Animal Life Support Operators Symposium and Workshops will be hosted by Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Registration will include access to:

  • All workshops, lectures and AALSO Exams
  • Hot breakfast and lunch Monday – Wednesday
  • Appetizers at the Ice Breaker Sunday Night
  • Wednesday Certification Banquet.
Event Registration

Registration is now Open!

You must be a current AALSO Operator Member before registering as an Attendee for the 2024 Symposium & Workshops.

Become an AALSO member now by clicking here

Registration is now open!

There will be 4 types of registrations this year, Attendee, Exhibitor, Non Exhibiting Vendor and Guest.

CLICK HERE to begin your Operator Registration!

    • Operator Attendee registration fees:
      • Academic Partner $395.00
      • Early Registration (ends 2-07-24) :  $445.00    
      • Late Registration (after 2-07-24) : $550.00
      • Day Pass : $175.00/day
    • Certified Pool Operator Course (20 people MAX)  $350.00 (CPO REGISTRATION IS NOW CLOSED the deadline was 1-31-24)
    • Virtual AALSO Level I LSS and WQ certification for those who cannot physically attend? $100 per certification
  • Attendee Attendee Cancellation Policy: Attendees can cancel with a full refund up to seven (7) days before the start of the Symposium. Substitutions from the same facility can be arranged without penalty. Please send an email to treasurer@aalso.org to initiate a cancellation or substitution.

The 2024 AALSO Symposium and Workshops mobile app will be available shortly.

VENDOR registration is now open!

CLICK HERE to begin your vendor registration.

Exhibiting and Non-Exhibiting Vendor Registration:

Exhibiting Vendor Registration: $2250   ALL VENDOR BOOTH ARE SOLD!

Additional Booth Attendees: $500/attendee

Non-Exhibiting Vendor: $1200

Non-Exhibiting Vendor Day Pass: $750/day

Guest Pass Cancellation Policy: Guest passes can be canceled with a full refund up to seven (7) days before the start of the Symposium. Please send an email to treasurer@aalso.org to initiate a cancellation or substitution.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

  • Please, please, please make sure that whoever is supposed to be registering your company has their profile up to date on the AALSO.org website. Everyone within your company will receive these communications as long as their contact information is up to date.
  • Please also make sure that whoever registers your company keeps the passwords they set up for each attendee so that everyone can log in and make any necessary changes to their individual registration as needed, including registering for workshops.
  • Booth choices are first come, first serve and we will be in contact.  It is very likely that selection will happen in November.

Facility & Accommodations

This years Host Facility is:

Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium

Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium | Remake Learning

This years hotel is:

Wyndham Grand-Pittsburgh Downtown
600 Commonwealth Place, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Please book your hotel stay by CLICKING HERE.  By following this link you will get our room discount.

To help AALSO keep these rates down we ask that you book at our host hotel, AALSO works hard to secure you the best rate available!

If you would prefer calling the hotel at (412) 391-4600, please mention AALSO for the group rate.

 

 

 

Agenda

Agenda Summary is now available.

Abstracts

Call for Abstracts

We are no longer accepting abstracts for presentations for the 2024 Symposium.

The 30th annual AALSO Symposium & Workshops will be hosted by the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and take place March 2nd – 6th, 20214. We are no longer accepting abstracts for Lecture or Poster presenters.

If you would like to present next year, please carefully follow the “Instructions for Presenters” and submit your information next spring

Topics should include but are not limited to:

Instrumentation, Green and Sustainable Technologies, Renovations, LSS and Exhibit Design, Innovations, Water Quality, and Dirty Laundry.

Presentations will be both in-person and virtual!

New for 2024:

Transferable Registration: Virtual Presenters may now transfer their FREE registration! If you have a presentation to share but are currently unable to commit to attending in-person, consider sending a fellow staff member in your place!

All presentations will be video recorded by Animal Professional and will be available on their website.

We thank you all for your participation!

Instructions for Presenters:

CLICK HERE to submission your presentation.

 

Abstract Directions:

 

(1) Title:
Presentation title should be short and succinct, but clearly represent the theme of the presentation.

(2) Authors:
Include the full names and affiliations of all authors; with full mailing address, email address, and telephone number.

(3) Abstract text:
Abstracts should be informative, stating the purpose of the work and summarize significant findings. They should include an introduction, convey the main point, and outline results and conclusions. Contributions should be scientifically robust. Abstracts should not contain statements such as “this will be discussed”; instead, include information to make the abstract informative. Abstracts must not exceed 150 words.

Submissions & Deadlines

 

Registration is FREE for all lecture presenters! *One per presentation

Abstract submission deadline: TBD

Notification of acceptance: TBD

For Symposium & Workshop information including Hotel, Registration, Attendee & Vendor Information please refer to the AALSO Website.

Workshops

2024 Workshops

Once again we will offer an assortment of hands on workshops this year. Workshop registration will open soon!

Workshop Agenda is available by CLICKING HERE

Workshop Abstracts are available by CLICKING HERE

We received a lot of great feedback in the workshop surveys and wish to thank all who took the time to provide us with input.

Certifications

Get Certified

AALSO offers a multi-level operator competency acknowledgement program based on exams created and administered by the AALSO Certification Committee.

AALSO believes that it is appropriate to develop recognition criteria and a proficiency program that encourages Zoo and Aquarium institutions to incorporate these training criteria into their operator development program.

 

* additional fee applies (contact treasurer@aalso.org for more information)

For workshop related questions: workshops@aalso.org
For agenda related questions: agenda@aalso.org

Previous Symposiums & Events

I very much lacked hands-on experience in life support and AALSO provided me that experience in plentiful amounts. The certification exams were an additional bonus that greatly aids my own professional development.

Workshops were AMAZING. It is one thing to read white papers and look at tech sheets but it’s another thing to be able to do it. The only wish I have is to have more time to do more workshops

Really appreciated the “choose your own adventure” pacing of the conference.  I felt like I had the opportunity to shape my week’s schedule in a way that best suited what I needed versus getting stuck in one track.  Offering the hands-on workshops multiple times through the week was appreciated.