At the 40th Annual Conference and General Meeting of the Waterbird Society, a symposium and workshop titled Herons of the World Symposium was convened to address the current world status of Ardeidae (herons). This paper introduces the origin of this symposium, demonstrates the geographical areas of study and proposes a framework for future world symposia on coastal and freshwater colonial waterbirds. In that way, it complements the coverage of pelagic colonial waterbirds by the World Seabird Union. The Herons of the World Symposium was held in New Bern, North Carolina, USA, during 21–23 September 2016. The purpose of this first symposium was to bring together heron researchers and enthusiasts from around the world to meet and discuss local, regional and international advances in their biology. In this Special Section, four papers from the symposium are presented. Additional papers and research summaries of participants can be found in the online Journal of Heron Biology and Conservation.