Thought I should open with a screen shot of the Alaska Marine gala website as its a true one stop shop - you can find out about the program, register and pay for your tickets, learn about our incredible guest speaker, track and support our generous sponsors, nominate candidates for Alaska Ocean Leadership awards, anticipate the amazing array of auction items and even arrange your dance card! ...well maybe the latter is a bit of stretch, but you get the idea!
After months of great lead up work by a very dedicated team led by Nikki Nelson, our Director of Education, we are now in the final stages of preparations for the 2011 Alaska Marine Gala. The event will again be held at the Dena'ina Center in downtown Anchorage on the 16th of January which is the Sunday night immediately before the 2011 Alaska Marine Science Symposium. We were a little nervous about whether a Sunday night event works in the middle of winter in Alaska, but our very positive experience with the 2010 gala (see http://sealifeceo.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html) indicated that time works well. It seems that there was a pent up demand for such an event among the Alaskan marine community - we continue to be asked about future events and we have been overwhelmed by the support of our donors, members and friends to this event!
Initial response to opening the 2011 gala site for registrations has already been phenomenol - we have sold some 200 seats within the first 2 weeks and so once again expect a sold out event! hence my suggestion to register early...
Our special guest for 2011 is one of the world's leading photographers, Joel Sartore (read his bio on the gala website). I have been a fan of his photography for many years (mostly via his National Geographic assignments), and first met Joel in person at a similar event in Vancouver a few years ago. I was struck by the thoughtful approach he brings to his work - his planning for assignments is meticulous. I was also struck by his great humility - after accomplishing so much, he is still keen to learn more about the natural world and to do more to engender in others the same sense of awe about that world. I am truly delighted that he accepted our invitation to come up to Alaska for this event and can't wait to see what he has in his presentation!
This year we have re-arranged the ballroom and auction spaces and have added another big screen to ensure everyone has a better view of Joel's images. We have also added a few very very cool exhibits from the Center to amuse everyone before dinner... and did I mention the auction items?? I could go on and on about what a fantastic night we have planned for our guests but that would spoil the surprise(s) that Nikki and team have in store for you.
So I encourage you to look at the website, organize your table, polish those dance shoes and register soon - we really hated having to turn folks away last year...
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