@timcliff provides a guide on witness voting and also a weekly collection of witness update posts... could be a good place to start.

As for whales powering down, it's hard to convince them to stay if they want to move on. But, they selling their steem to the free market means there will be more available to potential buyers who really want the tokens more.. the next wave of investors. This is the ideal redistribution event and adoption that will help in the long term.