Updated: random thoughts about the No Kill Conference 2011 in DC

Updated to include more links to other people's write-ups on the No Kill Conference below.

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Well, I'm home finally. And, as usually, I have a lot of thoughts from the No Kill Conference and will be diving deeply into a lot of those over the coming weeks. Today is just some thoughts and observations on the 3rd National No Kill Conference.

-- First off, the conference continues to get better.  The quality of the speakers continues to improve -- just in the depth of quality speakers and experiences. This is in part to the growing popularity of the movement, the growing number of communities that are having success, and the growing level of talent attracted to the movement.  There were a lot of new speakers this year, and I'm still saddened by the number of good presentations I still haven't seen in 3 years of attending the conference. 

Obviously this year's conference was highlighted by a keynote presentation by Seth Godin. If you are a reader of this blog, you know I'm a fan -- and seeing him present in person was huge for me. I confess that I was scared to get to meet him in person. My biggest fear is meeting someone I respect so much and them being arrogant jerks. I'm pleased to report that Seth was extremely nice and gracious throughout.

-- I had a great time being a presenter, and feel really honored to have been included among so many great presenters and thanks to everyone that came up and said hello and attended Shirley and I's workshop. 

-- Three years ago when we attended the conference, and there were a small handful of communities that had become no kill, and only a handful of others that were even working on it. Now, there are a lot more success stories, like Austin, that have met no kill success, and others like the Upper Peninsula Animal Welfare Shelter, and Lynchburg, VA that have done so very quietly.  But whether noisy, or quiet, the success is fantastic, and it's great to see so many communities that are getting it done.

-- With so many great workshops, everyone can walk away with a slightly different takeaway - -which is great. There are a lot of important steps to the No kill Equation, and people getting what they need to be successful, is important.

-- When walking back from lunch on Sunday, I passed two women sitting on a bench in a courtyard on the George Washington University Campus. In the time I took to walk by them, I heard one woman tell the other "Our adoptions have been down lately and I just thought it was the economy -- but now I think our marketing efforts have been lacking".  I couldn't help but smile.  The economy no doubt has impacted many pet owners, but we can either make excuses that there is nothing more we can do, or become more innovative in creating solutions.  This woman got it.

-- Shirley over at YesBiscuit! left with some key takeaways too -- primarily that many organizations seem to have all of their eggs in the spay/neuter basket but the final solution is getting more pets who are in the shelter into homes -- which also means ending all of the ridiculous reasons why we continue to deny people who are looking to adopt pets from doing so. We need to look for more ways to adopt pets, not continue to look for reasons NOT to adopt pets. We're loving them to death.  I will most certainly be commenting further on this in the coming weeks.

-- David Greene (who it was also a pleasure to finally meet) at the Pet Connection left the conference in anticipation of the who wil be next to step up and lead their city to No Kill.

-- And Mike Fry, of Animal Ark, left with a huge sense of pride and inspiration in seeing a movement he was an early partner in become as large and powerful as it has become and embracing the new wave of community leaders.

David Greene and Christie Keith over at the Pet Connection -- as well as Hannah Senac from No Kill Nation -  were live blogging many of the sessions they attended. Check out some of their work on some of the sessions.

Shelter Directors who are saving 90% or more

Turbocharging Pit Bull Adoptions -- I went to this one and will be writing more about it later, but David did a great job of capturing the presenation. Animal Farm Foundation and the National Canine Research Council also unvelied some new research reports which I will be sharing.

Here Comes Social Media -- I attended this one -- and it was fantastic.

Get your paws on more media - David live blogging Christie's presentation.

Reforming Animal Control -- Ryan Clinton's presentation remains one of my favorites from the conference.   I blogged about this one last year after the conference.

Advocacy Blogging - -This is Christie live-blogging Shirley and I's presentation -- which made me nervous as heck. How do you give a presentation about blogging with someone in the audience who a) is live blogging about me talking about blogging  and b) I think does such a great job on their own blog that they couldn't possibly learn anything from me.  I'll probably include some thoughts on my own presentation as well at some point.

Updated Links:

Advocacy Blogging with KC Dog Blog and YesBiscuit! - -an overview of my presentation from Save Shelter Pets

The Power of You - Winograd's introductory presentation to the conference

No Kill Conference Wrap-Up: #3 - YesBiscuit discusses Mitch Schneider's presentation on No Kill Animal Control and Turbo Charging Pet Adoptions

Get out there and lead -- from Save Shelter Pets

Dear kill shelters: Please close your 'open' doors -- by Christie Keith

Geat time. Great people. Great information.  Now let's go make successful communities with the info we gathered.

Comments

[New Mexico Pets ALIVE!]

Thank you for the great tweets for those of us not able to be there. Hope you and those unable to make it to DC can join us along with Nathan Winograd, Ryan Clinton, Bonney Brown, Mitchell Schneider and Michael Mountain, who will be the featured speakers delivering informative seminars at the upcoming Western States No Kill Conference. More info at: http://www.westernstatesnkconference.org

Melissa/New Mexico Pets ALIVE!

[Clara Miller]

I'm not sure, but I think I might have been the woman who was on the bench saying our marketing has been lacking. Obviously it could have been any of us as we all learned at the conference that making excuses is not going to help - action is. Thank you for a wonderful conference and a wonderful presentation. I learned a lot as well. One of the key moments I took away was from Aimee Sadler when she stated "We have to stop using behavior evaluations as culling tools". So true. After spending years working with shelters and rescues that hold their protocols close as if they are the crown jewel, it was wonderful to see so many people and groups that were not only open to sharing their success, but thrilled to be asked.

Clara Miller
Buffalo Humane
http://buffalohumane.org

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=771166728]

It's a whole mutual admiration society thing, good sir. I was probably even more excited to meet you! You do great work, and your session with Shirley was a treat...particularly for me because since Christie was the one blogging it, I could just sit back and appreciate an informative presentation from two talented and influential bloggers.

[Brent]

Clara,

You are right, it could have been any of us talking about it -- but I think the key, important point is that the conference really puts the pressure on us to figure out what WE can do better for the good of the animals, and not figure out who we can blame for it not being perfect. And regardless of how that manifests itself for each of us, it is important that we see ourselves as the solutions to the situation, not victims of it.

[YesBiscuit!]

haha - Being liveblogged didn't bother me. I was REALLY worried about working the clicker for the slides though...

Push button.

- D'oh! I messed it up!

[Dani]

Since I was unable to attend, I am definitely looking forward to your future posts! Thanks for "reporting" on the conference for us!

[FrogDogz]

Thanks to all of you who attended - you've brought back some great news, and some great ideas, many of which can be used for *any* type of rescue group.

I've recently been pushing our rescue groups heavily to embrace social media, and it's sort of funny how many are loathe to do so, seeing it as... unseemly? I'm not sure what the issue is, honestly, but I know they all need to get over it and learn to love FB and Twitter and all the other tools we can use to get those dogs out there and marketed to the right people.

My new project: iPhone/Android apps for rescues. This part is almost fun!

[kmk]

Thanks, Brent, we look forward to all of your updates.

[As the World Turns in KCKS]

Brent,

Did you get a chance to attend Mitch Schneider's presentation? I am really interested in how he has increased the RTO (return to owner) ratio so high.

I would really like his information to share in my community, which currently has a big fat 0% RTO ratio.

[Debbie Tucker]

Fantastic, inspiring, and wonderful! Thanks for the blog on this.

Could you specify what you meant by your comment that you are "still saddened by the number of good presentations I still haven't seen in 3 years of attending the conference"??

[TwocentsCanada]

No kill shelter needs your help: City is undermining efforts, causing dogs to be neglected.

I was checking out the No Kill Nation Blog & read the June 23, 2011 post "Cuba, Missouri, Votes to Go No Kill". I decided to click on the link to the group's FB page & found out the city appears to be undoing all their hard work!

Their Animal Control Officer, Jeff, was ordered to read water meters the last three days of each month instead of doing animal control. Apparently, dogs weren't fed & their pens weren't clean for three days because the ACO was ordered to read meters instead.

"Jeff was told by city officials, including the mayor and the supervisor at the police department and the supervisor at public works that he was not to go to the shelter to work, that it would interfere with the reading of water meters. Jeff called the police department and public works officials last month to remind them that someone would need to come and clean the shelter and feed the animals while he was reading water meters."
See note: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cuba-Missouri-Animal-Control/151716464899718#!/notes/sue-rhoades/cuba-missouris-animal-control-officer-was-fired-tonight/2299803376330

But that didn't happen, and it's been two months in a row that their ACO has been asked to do this. Officials appear to be undermining all the work that's been done! People are now worried if the arranged transfers of dogs will happen now! Why are officials doing this?

Cuba Missouri Animal Control FB page for those reforming their Animal Control,
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cuba-Missouri-Animal-Control/151716464899718

[Brent]

Debbie,

Each of the breakouts is sectioned off into six different sessions that you can attend based on your own self-interest. It's great, because it allows people to attend sessions that are most relevant for them, but sad for me, because after three straight conferences, there are STILL presentations i want to see by great presenters because I've been unable to attend them all.

[Brent]

As the World Turns - -I did attend Mitch's session and will be specifically posting about it.

[Cee]

Cuba, Missouri has fired their ACO. No one knows who's looking after the dogs now.

Cuba Missouri Animal Control Facebook page has been deactivated. Residents are concerned about the welfare of the shelter's animals.

Note: http://www.facebook.com/notes/sue-rhoades/cuba-missouris-animal-control-officer-was-fired-tonight/2299803376330

I know this is off topic, but they need attention brought to this matter.

[Brent]

Frogdogz -- if you see any good uses of iPhone/iPad/Android apps for shelters or rescues please let me know or post on your blog --- I'm really interested to see how some are using new technology for benefitting animals and getting more safely into homes.

[love quotes]

Hey, very cute dogs !!