The professional group of biologists who prioritize studies of the forest canopy hosted their first international conference in Sarasota, Florida, in 1994, and the field’s first textbook was published the same year. Subsequently, canopy scientists have convened a dedicated conference every 4 years, with a mission of advancing the scientific field through collaborative exchange of ideas. For its first time ever, the fifth International Canopy Conference (ICC) convened in an emerging country, hosted by Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in Bangalore, India. Also, for the fi rst time ever, education outreach was added as a new session to the conference agenda, including a highly popular canopy education workshop that drew Indian students, teachers, scientists, and stakeholders from all regions of the country. This session was advertised as an open forum where laypersons and teachers could interface with canopy scientists, who enthusiastically shared their experiences, thereby taking science outside the conventional walls of academia. In a country like India, this was groundbreaking. In subsequent feedback, we were inspired by the reports of burgeoning education outreach activities in India spawned by this conference session.