Elevating Wildlife Conservation Projects Using AI Tools

Monday, September 14th | 12:30–4:15 p.m.
 
*Note: Participants will need to bring a laptop with access to at least one of these LLMs: Google Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot.*

You're managing public dollars - every inefficiency has a cost. Staff time is limited, deliverables are complex, and the expectation to do more with less
isn't going away.

AI tools are already changing how conservation work gets done, but most agencies and contractors are either behind the curve or using these tools at a fraction of their potential.

In this hands-on workshop, you'll bring a real, current project and use AI tools to elevate it - right in the room. You'll leave with practical strategies to stretch your funds further, move work forward faster, and free up your team to focus on what only humans can do: collecting data in the field, building partner relationships, and engaging communities.

You'll walk away with:
  • Real-world examples of AI in conservation work today
  • A live, elevated version of your own current project
  • Access to a participant-only virtual training notebook
This isn't a theoretical overview. This is your work, made better, before you leave the room.


Resources






Building Your Bench: 
Succession Planning for Conservation Agencies
Tuesday, September 15th | 8:00 a.m.–Noon 

The people who built your agency won't be there forever. Do you have a plan? Senior leaders in state wildlife agencies are facing a quiet crisis: decades of institutional knowledge, field expertise, and leadership capacity walking out the door, and not enough of a pipeline to replace it.

Succession planning isn't just an HR checkbox. It's how you protect the mission.

In this working session, you'll map the career continuum inside your agency, identify the gaps on your bench right now, and build a basic succession plan you can actually use. 

You'll also learn how MAT's training programs can move people along that continuum, so you're not scrambling when the next retirement hits.

You'll walk away with:
  • A clear picture of where your agency is strong and where it's exposed
  • A basic succession plan for your team and yourself
  • A participant guide to agency succession planning
  • Knowledge of how Management Assistance Team resources support leadership development throughout
  • every stage of a career
  • An invitation for one additional agency colleague to join a follow-up webinar
Session Resources
FOLLOW-UP: SUCCESSION PLANNING WEBINAR
Thursday, October 1st | 1:00 p.m. ET
This session provides a high-level review of succession planning strategies discussed during the conference. Participants are encouraged to invite one additional agency colleague to join this deep dive into institutional knowledge transfer and pipeline development.