Reception

In addition to the social scheduled for the conference hotel on the night of arrival, we have just completed arrangements to host the conference's 2006 formal reception at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Those who attended the First Florida Conference in 1988 will remember that the formal reception for this initial conference was held in the original Florida State Museum of Natural History then located on Museum Road.

The 2006 conference reception will be held in the new Florida Museum of Natural History, which houses more than 20 million specimens of amphibians, birds, butterflies, fish, mammals, mollusks, reptiles, vertebrate and invertebrate fossils, recent and fossil plants. The Florida Museum is the largest natural history museum in the Southeast. As can be noted below, the Museum's newest permanent exhibit is the Butterfly Rainforest.

The reception will be held in the Museum's Central Gallery and Galleria. Heavy hors ‘dourves, beer, wine, and soft drinks will be served, providing an excellent atmosphere for socializing and networking with other participants, while enjoying Museum exhibits and the new Butterfly Rainforest venue.

Come face-to-face with exotic, vibrant butterflies fluttering atop a lush tropical canvas of foliage and flowers as you experience the Butterfly Rainforest, the Florida Museum of Natural History's newest permanent exhibit. The screened vivarium houses subtropical and tropical plants and trees to support 55 to 65 different species and hundreds of free-flying butterflies. Guests can stroll through the Butterfly Rainforest on a winding path and relax to the sounds of cascading waterfalls year-round.