Hosted By:
What is Echo?
ECHO is more than a conference — it’s a movement. Each conversation begins with a question, an idea, or a challenge, and its impact reverberates across organizations, communities, and the zoo and aquarium profession. Through digital dialogues, interactive forums, and an annual gathering, ECHO creates space for transformative dialogue, bringing together leaders in our field and visionaries from beyond it to reimagine what’s possible for our organizations and our world.
The ECHO Conference is the centerpiece of this work — a deliberately intimate gathering limited to 30 zoo and aquarium leaders. Hosted in partnership with leading zoos and aquariums across the country, the conference is curated space to sit in the unfamiliar: three days of candid dialogue, collaborative exploration, and collisions between courageous, creative leaders and provocative thought partners from unexpected fields. Together, participants surface assumptions, wrestle with big questions, and push the boundaries of what leadership can mean and look like in a time of urgent change.
The experience is intentionally small, deeply personal, and designed to send energy and ideas back into the profession — sparking ripples of change that extend far beyond the room.
Hosted by TESSERE | Zoo & Aquarium Division
ECHO27 Theme
The Edge Effect | Where Resilience Meets Innovation
Zoos and aquariums are navigating a period of profound change. New technologies, shifting community expectations, and urgent conservation needs are expanding what’s possible while dislodging long-held assumptions.
In nature, the richest biodiversity is often found at the edge, where ecosystems overlap. These transition zones create conditions for adaptation, resilience, and sometimes, the emergence of something entirely new.
At ECHO27, we’ll explore what happens at the edges: when different disciplines, perspectives, cultures, and experiences influence one another. Together, we’ll step into the productive tension between established tradition and emerging possibilities, where change becomes a catalyst for innovation, resilience, and impact.
