Tonight, Catherine and I are packing, because tomorrow we fly east to attend the Entomological Society of Canada/Entomological Society of Ontario Joint Annual Meeting in Guelph Ontario!

Highlights of this conference will be:

1) A macrophotography workshop with Alex Wild! The forecast for Saturday looks wet and cool, but I have high hopes we will find a few insects outdoors. If not, there will be some studio subjects available. I am sure I will learn a lot, especially about how Alex teaches a course. I am thinking of doing a “photograph your study” workshop at SFU soon, and this will definitely hep!

2) Grant-writing, teaching, plant recognition and job-search workshops throughout the conference. These are all important skills, and a great reason to attend this conference. Catherine and I attended a professional development workshop sponsored by CANPOLIN at SFU this summer, and it was great material! Thanks go out to Dr. Elizabeth Elle for opening it up to other students!

3) A Graduate Student Showcase, which I am honoured to have been invited to! This will give me  20 whole minutes to spread the word about the coolest wasp-eating birds on the planet! The lineup looks great, with talks on Lycaenids, Salticids, Coleophorids and Noctuids!

This should be a great meeting!