Highlights from the Tropical Andes Observatory (TAO) Workshop

Focal Ecosystems, Conceptual Models and Essential Biodiversity Variables

The first TAO Regional Workshop was held between May 17th – 20th. During this 4-day productive timespan, specialists, users, and producers of biodiversity data met in 8 different working sessions that allowed to deepen the knowledge regarding biodiversity data needs in our region to improve decision-making for conservation, applied to different sectors of society, such as ecotourism, gastronomy, industry, education, risk management, resource use by communities and international agreements. Thanks to all participants, the project will be able to move to its next stage, starting from data users’ needs in these sectors, bringing biodiversity information closer to the user and improving biodiversity management in different contexts of society.

Monday, May 17: Opening session of the Regional Workshop of the Tropical Andes Biodiversity Observatory

Facebook: 58 live viewers
YouTube: 21 live viewers, 148 views (may increase over time)
ZOOM: 109 viewers
Total: 188

Countries with the highest participation on Facebook (in that order): Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.
ZOOM viewers (in bold the most prominent): Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Germany, Spain, United States and Peru.

Live broadcast in Spanish on Facebook
Live broadcast in English on YouTube

Thursday, May 20: Closing of the Regional Workshop TAO 2021
Facebook: 20 live viewers
YouTube: 8 simultaneous viewers, 69 views (may increase over time)
ZOOM: 55 viewers
Total: 83

Countries with the highest participation on Facebook (in that order): Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
ZOOM viewers (in bold the most prominent): Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Germany, Peru, Spain, and the United States.

Live broadcast in Spanish on Facebook
Live broadcat in English on YouTube

Lessons learned in terms of communications:

We are very grateful for the great support provided by all TAO Project partners to promote the events (opening and closing) through their social media.

• For the next workshop, we consider promoting the events and workshops two weeks in advance to have a greater reach.
• It would also be interesting to generate surveys at the end of each workshop, to be filled out by attendees.
• If possible, budget permitting, it would be useful to have a production company that manages the Zoom platform for all meetings (workshops).
• It would be useful for translators to familiarize themselves with the technical terminology of the workshop topic (usually with more time in advance).
• Finally, it would be interesting to create content in partnership with the TAO Project allies (infographics, videos with testimonials from workshop participants, photos) about this last workshop to promote the next one; with the goal of promoting increased public awareness.

From Conservación Amazónica – ACCA, we have greatly appreciated the participation of all speakers, panelists, and attendees at the Regional Workshop TAO 2021. We also like to express our sincere appreciation to all the partnering organizations that supported us with the dissemination of the opening and closing event of the TAO Workshop through their social media.