(Philadelphia Zoo )
Zoos have a tremendous opportunity to engage our online and onsite visitors to save animals and habitats. Increasingly, our visitors trust and expect us to provide guidance on conservation and taking conservation action a part of a satisfactory Zoo visit. The Philadelphia Zoo has embraced the role of trusted guide for conservation action, envisioning an institution that leverages all of its resources to maximize positive conservation outcomes. This talk focuses on the journey that the Zoo has undertaken to bring this vision to reality—from exhibit design, graphics, guest amenities, educational programming, and evaluation, to everything in between—and examines how we are embedding our theory of change in all facets of the Zoo operation and experience.
Wei Ying Wong is the Director of Communication Impact at the Philadelphia Zoo, where her role is to figure out how to engage diverse stakeholders in conservation and achieve measurable outcomes. As an applied researcher, Wei Ying is interested in how audience research and evaluation can be integrated into education programming and institutional planning to maximize conservation impact. Wei Ying is committed to the establishment of inclusive discourses and socially just environmental policies, and dismantling the systems of power and privilege in the conservation arena. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Environmental Studies at Brown University and has worked in interdisciplinary and multicultural conservation projects both locally and internationally for almost two decades.