The TEC Talk Podcast: Presented by Natural Encounters, Inc.

Well, it took us over 200 episodes to get our act together and make it happen, but it was worth the wait because we're finally joined by our favorite "Queen of Team," Marty MacPhee! Marty shares her background as a member of the "NEI Extended Universe," her training and behavior background at Brookfield Zoo and Disney's Animal Kingdom, and many of the lessons she's learned along the way about team...

Ari and Chris welcome back NEI President and CEO, Steve Martin, back to the show to talk about his recently published journal aritcle, "A Reexamination of the Relationship between Training Practices and Welfare in the Management of Ambassador Animals"! Steve talks about how the article came about, the steep learning curve involved in the ins and outs of creating a peer-reviewed document, the revis...

Courtesy of the fine folks at the HBR on Leadership Podcast from Harvard Business Review, Chris brings a challenge for discussion to the table: what do you do when a top performer on your team that is up for promotion is also known for treating their collegues badly? We share the ins of outs of the case study "Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley" to reflect on the challenges leaders face when promoting -...

Zoo podcasters of the world, unite again! Join Chris on his "exciting first date" with Jon Rossi of the Rossifari Podcast and Elizabeth Johnson of the Mothering Wildlife Podcast to discuss the ins and outs of our shows! With Jon as host and ringleader, we talk about why our shows got started, how they've evolved over time, what we've learned about our audiences, how "the sausage gets made" in the...

Ari has feedback on the brain - shout out to The Sea Stories Podcast ( Apple Podcasts | Spotify ) - so she sits down with Chris to talk about the ins of and out of how it applies to coaching people on how to coach others. We discuss the difference between coaching coaches you work with versus coaching coaches you've just met, when and how to offer feedback during a coaching session you're not in c...

The TEC Talk Podcast is proud to welcome Kaitlyn Bohnet and BJ Rice from North Sky Raptor Sanctuary to the show! We chat with Kaitlyn and BJ about how they got involved with their current roles, their team's epic track suits that stole the show at the IAATE Icebreaker, why it's a strength to come to the animal field later in life with different skill sets, the importance of not being "gatekeep-y",...

Chris sits still while Ari flies down the road in order to talk about a wild week at That Theme Park show that started with an epic flyoff and rolled right into a new show experience AND a new staff evaluation process - just a Totally Normal Week Where Nothing Remarkable Happened. :-) If you have a suggestion for a question, topic, or guest you'd like to hear on a future episode of the show, let u...

Ari is back in Florida to regale Chris with tales from the 2024 IAATE Annual Conference in Eugene, Oregon! If you have a suggestion for a question, topic, or guest you'd like to hear on a future episode of the show, let us know at podcast@naturalencounters.com ! --------------------------------- The TEC Talk Podcast is proud to be sponsored by Audible.com! To support the show and get a free 30-day...

200 episodes, how is that possible! Ari and Chris are joined by land and by sea by Steve Martin, Amy Fennell, Scott Trauger, Cori Dawson, Brad Moore, Michael Van Horne, Adam Geltz, Shayna Gruman, Natalie Sunray, Hunter Peck, and Kevin O'Brien to celebrate a very special podcast-iversary! We share some of out favorite episodes, memorable moments, and wishes for the future of show - thank you all fo...

For our final show before we pass the 200 episode mark (wow!), Ari and Chris are joined by Margaret Rousser, former Conservation Manager at Oakland Zoo (and all-the-time awesome advocate for animals), to talk about the legacy of her groundbreaking talk, "Making Time for Psychological Wellbeing"! Margaret talks about her path through the animal care field (turns out she and Ari have some shared wor...

Chris is at the Ranch for our Professional Contemporary Animal Training and Management Workshop, so Ari is hosting alongside a very special returning guest, NEI's own Aaron Rose! Aaron and Ari talk about how to navigate the animal care field when you are neurodivergent. Aaron shares his personal expereince with ADHD, along with his tools and tips for others in the field. They chat about reasonable...

Chris and Ari discuss their day with the visiting students of Drake University's Animal Behavior Program and Sante Fe Community College's Zoo Technology Program before answering some questions from r/Zookeeping, the subreddit dedicated to folks interested in the professional animal care field! If you have a suggestion for a question, topic, or guest you'd like to hear on a future episode of the sh...

Chris gives Ari some "daywork" by challenging her to follow the format of the " 3-2-1 Thursday " weekly newsletter from James Clear, author of Atomic Habits (a great book that Chris reviewed in Episode 177) and come up with the following to share with our listeners: three short ideas, two quotes from other people, and one question for ponder for the week. If you have a suggestion for a question, t...

For this week's episode of the show, forget about Chris and Ari: tune in for the Adam and Lucy Takeover! Our special guest hosts discuss what makes a good mentor, admirable leadership qualities, how to get into leadership, and the importance of enjoying what we do! Whether you have the title of "leader" or not, they touch on how everyone can have a bigger impact on team growth than you might imagi...

Hello, 2024! You are 4 days old and full of hope, and will be using you as an opportunity to make New Year's Resolutions. If you find yourself in this boat, Ari shares a few ideas in this episode to help you on a path to succeed at whatever goal you set for yourself through the use of positive reinforcement. And hey, Chris jumps in with some thoughts too! We wish everyone a healthy and happy year...

Ari and Chris wrap up the year by sharing how our holidays have gone so far and looking back at how we ended the first year of our show: 2020 (aka "The Year That Nothing Big or Interesting or Weird or Devastating Happened). We hope everyone had a good 2023 and we look forward to being back for more fun in 2024! If you have a suggestion for a question, topic, or guest you'd like to hear on a future...

Ari and Chris are back in the office to discuss the following question that Chris posed on the ABMA Community online forum: does more control in an animal's life equal objectively better welfare? Joins us as we explore what one might generously call a dichotomous key (does it count if each question only has one answer?) to dive into the relationship between welfare inputs and behavioral outputs, t...

Ari is in Florida and Chris is in Austria, but through the magic of editing they chat "together but apart" about the NEI holiday party and some challenges we're having with our pets before tackling a few questions Ari pulled off the Facebook ZooKreepers group. Thanks for listening, join us again next week when we're both on the same continent! If you have a suggest for something you'd like us to t...

On this episode, Ari chats with Tim Sullivan (Director of Behavioral Husbandry at Chicago Zoological Society's Brookfield Zoo) about how to grow great keepers and animal care staff into great leaders. They discuss "that sticky spot" when your peers become your direct reports, how to manage expectations by doing some introspection, and examining what you can control, as well as Tim's experience wit...

Ari and Chris are back together and joined by NEI Supervisor of Humaning Amy Fennell! In this wide ranging conversation we talk about the challenge of moving a team of human and animal learners to a new city, the dangers of forgetting to take care of yourself when you're trying to take care of others, the importance of finding the right fit in coaching and therapy, and the challenge of normalizing...

With Chris avoiding microphones for the time being (thanks, strange upper respiratory infection from the other side of the planet), Ari catches up with Katelyn Ferringer, Lizzi Fricker, Keegan Freese, and Cori Dawson from the Winged Encounters team! The gang sit down on Turkey Day Eve to revisit the progress that's been made with the young macaws they've worked to integrate into their show flocks...

Ari and Chris play a bit of catch up on our lives at opposite sides of planet Earth, describing their past few weeks and individual experiences with New Zealand's Bird of the Century vote (aka "The Pūteke Situation") before throwing things back for a replay of an older episode about trust accounts, relationships, and communication featuring NEI Supervisor Amy Fennell!  Wish Ari luck back home help...

Chris and Ari are joined by San Diego Zoo's Curator of Mammals, Ambassadors, and Applied Behavior, Nicki Boyd! We asked Nicki to join to tell us all about the zoo's "Enriched Experiences" program that's taking environmental enrichment to a whole new level! She shares how brainstorming around desired behavioral outputs allowed her teams to "replace the pace" and "outplay the sway," how an analysis...

Ron Magill returns to the podcast this week to chat about walking the talk when it comes to conservation efforts! The Florida Bonneted Bat is a critically endangered native Florida species of bat that is only found in a handful of places in South Florida, and one of the largest populations live in the Pine Rockland habitat directly adjacent to Zoo Miami. Currently, developers are pushing to put a...

Fresh off his visit to NEI for AZA's Animal Training Applications course, Ari and Chris are joined by Tim Sullivan, Director of Behavioral Husbandry at Chicago Zoological Society's Brookfield Zoo! Tim talks about his journey from being a "17 year old punk" to a member of zoo leadership, the important of "getting the $#%@ out of Brookfield" to learn from other institutions, balancing the role of th...