As students, we attend the meeting to share our research, learn about new ideas, and rub elbows with many awesome ecologists. Critical to a productive meeting experience is networking with a wide range of people and forming relationships with other students from around the world. This is not a natural skill set for most people; the second half of this session will focus on networking with fellow students to build relationships and foster future collaboration. We will provide some brief tips on how to start and maintain conversations with time for student networking. This session targets first time attendees, but advice and discussion/networking opportunities are relevant to students at all levels as well as recent graduates in attendance.