A five-day professional conference focused on invertebrate education, research, animal care, and conservation. Participants included representatives from zoos, museums, universities, conservation organizations, insect-rearing programs, educational institutions, and the wider invertebrate community.

The program featured scientific presentations, workshops, professional discussions, networking, daytime field studies, and nighttime insect exploration. Activities included observing and collecting arthropods across southern Arizona’s desert, grassland, wetland, canyon, and mountain habitats; guided night hikes to observe native tarantulas, scorpions, sun spiders, and other wildlife; and black-light surveys of nocturnal insects.

The conference also included a keynote presentation, research talks, educational workshops, husbandry and conservation sessions, and opportunities to exchange knowledge with researchers, animal-care specialists, educators, and conservation professionals.