24th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals

SMM2021 will be the first fully hybrid, live-virtual conference of the Society of Marine Mammalogy, and will attract the largest number of attendees since the first conference held in Santa Cruz in 1975.

Going hybrid means there are two ways to participate in SMM2021: live and in-person in West Palm Beach and/or virtually through our new online experience. All attendees will have access to the virtual conference so people who will not be able to join the conference in person will still be able to participate, present, and interact with other conference attendees and vendors. It will be a whole new conference experience!

SMM2021 will span 5 days, each day there will be a plenary session with distinguished keynote speakers that will be live-streamed. Concurrent sessions will be accessible to all attendees via pre-recorded content. All presenters in all formats (e.g., regular and speed talks, poster, video) will be required to record and upload their presentation 4 weeks prior to the conference start date. Virtual content will be available on-demand for all in-person and virtual attendees during the conference and for 30 days post-conference.

Workshops on crucial topics in marine mammal science and conservation will be held prior to the main conference, December 11-12, 2021. Virtual participation in these workshops will depend on individual workshop organizers, but will not be included in the virtual conference experience.

Despite these challenging times, the organizing committee and the board of the SMM are working very hard to make this conference safe, diverse, and inclusive. Our top priority is to provide a safe and healthy environment for all participants at SMM2021.