<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------</div><div class="gmail_quote"><b>From:</b> Whigham, Dennis [mailto:<a href="mailto:whighamd@si.edu" target="_blank">whighamd@si.edu</a>] <div lang="EN-US" link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div><div><div style="border:none;border-top:solid #e1e1e1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in"><p class="MsoNormal">
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, August 03, 2015 7:59 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Whigham, Dennis <<a href="mailto:whighamd@si.edu" target="_blank">whighamd@si.edu</a>><br>
<b>Subject:</b> simply amazing<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">August 3, 2015<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Dear </span>Colleagues:<span style="color:black"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We are sending this to ask that you help significantly raise the North American Orchid Conservation Center’s public visibility! We need your help and the help of everyone in your network of contacts.
<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">At the end of my email is a description of a Smithsonian competition called the Smithsonian
<span style="color:black">Summer Showdown that takes place each year. Public voting for the “most seriously amazing” thing or project at the Smithsonian will begin on August 6. Our goal is to win the competition, but we face an enormous uphill battle as we
are only a small bit of an enormous organization and we face competition from such icons as the Hope Diamond and the National Zoo’s endangered species. We believe, however, that we can do it if we spread the word among the folks who appreciate native plants
and support our efforts to conserve native orchids. As you will read, there will be three rounds of competition. If we can even get to the final stage of the competition it will be an enormous boost to our efforts to conserve native orchids.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">We seek your help to spread the word and ask that you use every means available to contact everyone in your network of contacts and encourage them to reach out to their friends and acquaintances so that an enormous
number of supporters visit the web site and vote for NAOCC during each of the three voting periods listed below.
<b>The can vote once each day</b>!<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Thanks for your help and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. We will be sending out a similar appeal using several email lists. If you get something like this again, sorry for the duplication! <b>
Also, let folks know that they can vote once per day during the three rounds of voting</b>.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">Let’s GO ORCHIDS<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b>ABOUT THE SHOWDOWN<u></u><u></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt">The Smithsonian Summer Showdown is a bracket-style voting competition for the public to choose the most amazing thing at or about the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian museums, research and cultural centers, and
zoo, nominate contestants in their subject category (art, science, history or culture) and then battle the other contestants on social media with educational and entertaining posts to convince the public that their contestant should win. The public gets introduced
to the many aspects of the Smithsonian through a fun competition where they have to choose between contestants, allowing them to learn more about parts of the Smithsonian they didn’t know about before.
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black">SERC’s nominee is the North American Orchid Conservation Center. There are three rounds of voting, and the public can vote online once a day at
</span><a href="http://go.si.edu/voteorchid" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:10.5pt">http://go.si.edu/voteorchid</span></a><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">.
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Showdown Timetable:<u></u><u></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Round 1 (Thursday, Aug. 6 – Wednesday, Aug. 12) – Public votes once in each category (science, art, history, culture). The top three advance. NAOCC needs to be one of the top three for science to remain in the competition.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Round 2 (Thursday, Aug. 13-Tuesday, Aug 18) – Public votes once in each category. The top entry in each category advances.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Round 3 (Wednesday, Aug. 19-Monday, Aug. 24) – Public votes on Final Four.<br>
Tuesday, Aug. 25 – Winner crowned<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;color:black">WHAT WILL APPEAR ON THE SHOWNDOWN WEB SITE ABOUT NAOCC<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black">Smithsonian Environmental Research Center</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
</span><a href="http://northamericanorchidcenter.org/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif">North American Orchid Conservation</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
<br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif">CONTACTS:</span></strong></span> Kristen Minogue; Heather Soulen<u><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#0563c1"><br>
</span></u><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black"><br>
<strong><span style="font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif">PICK ME</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;font-weight:normal">: Protecting the world’s smartest plants</span></strong><span style="background:#c0f0ec">
</span><br>
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<strong><span style="font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif">ABOUT ME: </span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;font-weight:normal">More than 200 orchid species blossom in North America. Over half are threatened or endangered somewhere.
Beautiful, cunning and occasionally deceptive, orchids are also red flags for extinction. When an environment is in danger, orchids are often the first to go. That’s why scientists launched the Conservation Center, a continent-wide network based at the Smithsonian:
because saving orchids can hold the key to saving entire ecosystems.</span></strong></span><span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;background:#c0f0ec"><u></u><u></u></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> </p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u><img width="154" height="150" src="cid:image003.jpg@01D0CDDB.91C827D0" align="left" hspace="12" alt="SERC_50_RGB_smaller"><u></u>Dennis
Whigham<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Senior Botanist<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Smithsonian Environmental Research Center<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Box 28<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Edgewater, MD 21037<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Phone: 443-482-2226<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Email: <a href="mailto:whighamd@si.edu" target="_blank">whighamd@si.edu</a><u></u><u></u></p>
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