VMN Statewide Conference

Virginia Master Naturalist Statewide Conference and Volunteer Training 2025

New for August 19, 2025: Registration has closed. Thanks to all who have registered!

Overview

When

The 2025 Virginia Master Naturalist Statewide Conference and Training will be Friday, September 5 through Sunday, September 7. Pre-conference field trips and activities will take place during the day on Friday and the main event will run Friday evening through Sunday mid-day.  

Where

Our Pocahontas and Riverine Chapters welcome VMN volunteers from across Virginia to the Richmond region. We will be based at the Westin Richmond in Richmond, Virginia.

What

The Virginia Master Naturalist Statewide Conference and Volunteer Training is an opportunity for VMN volunteers to share ideas and learn from each other, to participate in high-quality continuing education sessions, and to learn about a region of Virginia that may be different from their home communities. 

Each year, one or more of our local VMN chapters serve as the host chapter(s) for the conference, helping to choose programming that showcases their local natural areas, presenters, and style.  The programming includes both on-site sessions and off-site field trips to visit natural resource highlights of the area.  We emphasize hands-on learning and skill-building, trying to choose sessions that relate to the education, citizen science, and stewardship volunteer work that VMN volunteers do.

Who

Due to the nature and limited space of our VMN conference, only certified VMNs, VMN members, VMN trainees, and partners from our state agency sponsors (including chapter advisors) may attend.

Registration

Registration Dates

Registration will open on July 24 at 6:00pm.
Registration will close on August 18.
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Steps to Prep for Registration
*STEP 1 – Choose your Sessions
Before registration opens, take some time to look through the conference sessions on offer and decide your first and second choices for each time slot. You can find all session information in the Sessions and Instructors section below.

*STEP 2 – Do you have a VCE Account?
For 2025, online registration will be done through Virginia Cooperative Extension’s (VCE) online registration system, which is managed by VCE – not VMN. If you have, at any time in the past, registered online for any type of VCE program, you might already have a Destiny One account. This includes the 2023 VMN in-person and the 2024 VMN virtual conferences.

In preparation for our online registration, you can check to see if you have a Destiny One account here. Look under “I have an account already”, “I already have a program participant account”. 

Since our conference registration will open in the evening, there will be limited technical support until the next morning, when VCE offices reopen. Any prep you can do before August 10 will help your registration go smoothly.

Registration Types and Fees
There are 4 registration types to choose from for the conference.

​Full Conference, $295
This registration type includes the following:

1. Access to Optional Pre-conference Field Trips on Friday
2. Training sessions on Saturday and Sunday
3. Reception, Dinner and Share Fair on Friday evening
4. Lunch and Dinner on Saturday
5. Boxed lunch on Sunday
6. Access to Optional Evening Activities on Friday and Saturday

Friday & Full Saturday, $275
This registration type includes the following:

1. Access to Optional Pre-conference Field Trips on Friday
2. Training sessions on Saturday
3. Reception, Dinner and Share Fair on Friday evening
4. Lunch and Dinner on Saturday
5. Access to Optional Evening Activities on Friday and Saturday

Friday & Partial Saturday, $225
This registration type includes the following:

1. Access to Optional Pre-conference Field Trips on Friday
2. Training sessions on Saturday
3. Reception, Dinner and Share Fair on Friday evening
4. Lunch on Saturday
5. Access to Optional Evening Activities on Friday

NOTE: This option does NOT include Saturday dinner. It ends after the last training session on Saturday

Saturday – Trainings Only, $125
This registration type includes the following:

1. Training sessions on Saturday morning and afternoon (evening activities not included)
2. Lunch on Saturday

Breakfasts on both Saturday and Sunday are on your own.