(01/15/19)
By Jenifer Wisniewski, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

ACI President, Jenifer Wisniewski

There are 2 things on my mind that I hope are on yours too. It is ACI awards season, and the ACI Conference will be here before you know it!

So, what are you going to enter this year? I hope we break our record for entries again like we did last year. The competition is heating up, and it makes our awards even more prestigious with all of that stiff competition! The contest will open in February, and there will be a few additional categories this year centered on video and photography.

If you haven’t already put the ACI Conference on your schedule, it’s time to do it! It will be July 7-11 at the Desoto Savannah in Georgia. Registration will be open at the end of January. We have some great things materializing for this year, with topics including crisis communications, how to build media relationships, communicating about wildlife issues like CWD, relevancy campaigns, R3 and marketing from some really great speakers and industry experts.

What about for fun you ask? We’ll have a riverboat cruise down the Savannah River on Sunday evening! If that’s not enough excitement, our Wednesday field trips will offer a choice of a dolphin tour, where you’ll get to see dolphins leap and play around the boat; a walking history tour of Savannah, which is rich with all kinds of history, from pirates and ghosts to the Civil and Revolutionary wars; or visit Wormsloe Historic Site, the oldest structure in Savannah, and go for a beautiful nature walk under a live oak tunnel.

If I can help anyone convincing powers that be to let you attend, please let me know! I would gladly make calls, write letters, call in favors, you name it.

I hope to see everyone there!