Giving a talk - need pointers

[tillie]

I'm participating as a beekeeper who has harvested honey on behalf of my bee club in the Harvest Day at the Tullie Smith House http://www.atlhist.org/calendar.cfm?calid=309 at the Atlanta History Center this Sunday. 

They have a set up to show my little videos of harvesting cut comb and doing crush and strain honey harvests.  I'm taking a demo medium hive that belongs to the president of my bee club, some frames of honey filled comb, some natural comb in frames, some honey and tongue depressors for them to taste the honey.

It goes from 12:30 - 4:30 and people will be coming in and out (there are other harvest demos going on - sheep shearing, etc.)

Any ideas of what would you do if you had this assignment? 

[Kathyp]

sounds like a great opportunity!

i would just try to anticipate all of the questions that people might ask.  if you felt really motivated, you could do a quick facts paper for kids to take.

  maybe a cork board of some close up shots of stuff.  people don't think of bees as being vulnerable to much.  you could point out bee killers like swallows, etc.  you pics of SHB, or wax moth.

anything that is easy for you, but adds a special twist to your presentation and will help people remember.

[Understudy]

Okay here is my list:

1. Bring an observation hive.

2. Bring a frame that has been extracted. Let them touch it and feel it. They will mess up the cells and crush the comb that is okay they will remember it. And the bees can fix it.

3. Bring some chocolate candy, almonds, coffee, fruits and veggies. This is to show the pollination aspect of beekeeping.

4. Bring a smoker

5. Pry bar

6. If you have some propolis bring that also.

7. Cute little bee stickers for the kids. Or cute honey or Winnie the pooh getting into the honey stickers. Something fun for the kids.

Have fun. :D


Sincerely,
Brendhan

[annette]

I just recently volunteered the California State Fair in Sacramento. The main question that people ask is about the "disappearing bees" and if it is true. Have a list of facts about CCD you could point people to read. Other than that just relax and have a good time.

Annette

[TwT]

I would sleep late that day  :-D  ;) ,  but do wish you luck that day,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Scadsobees]

I find that unused popsicle sticks work better than tongue depressors. :-P
Unused being the key either way.... :roll:

I'm doing an hour presentation to teachers in 2 weeks.  Planning on bringing along whatever will fit in my car (hive tools, smoker,veil, clean gloves, hive products pollen, propolis, honey,etc) as well as an obs. hive.  Everybody wants to see the veil.

And a box of honeybears and quarts just in case anybody wants to buy some awesome honey!  :-D

Rick

[Old Timer]

people always ask me how the bees make honey. they always seem impressed by the fact that the bees collect 5 lbs of nectar to make 1 lb of honey. people seem impressed by simple bee facts to. like how fast a bee flies, how far it will fly, how many eggs a queen lays, how many flowers a bee visits in a day, etc...

[KONASDAD]

My nephews and other kids just love tasting honey right from a frame itself w/ a little wax too!

[BMAC]

If you can get a poster of the life cycle of the honeybee and bring that, it would also be great. 


Kids love to listen to the facts about bees.  Some adults do too.  Possibly future Beeks.  I had one guy make a comment at the state fair to another person standing by.  He said, this guy will tell you everything you want to know and more about honey bees.  of course he we talking about yours truly.  I really wasnt giving him as much info as I did the kids though..

The kids love the observation hive.

[super dave]

if i lived closer i would to help you out -- i am a great pointer

[Gail Di Matteo]

Tillie,
You probably are out of time, but I would go watch other beek club members give speeches. Maybe you can touch base with them and see if they have ideas on what holds attention and what doesn't for your area. You hardly seem like an amatuer, your confidence will shine through.


I too got sucked in asked to do a presentation. I volunteered to help and no one else volunteered, so I am it. I have time on my hands, so I have two lectures to watch before I'm up. My audience is 4th graders, so (hopefully) they won't know how stupid I feel (I'm a first year beek and it's for Virginia Tech). sigh.

Blathering on,
Understudy, great list!! I am going to use it.

Good luck Tillie. I think you will be great! :)

[tillie]

This is such a resourceful group.  The woman who invited me to do this has transferred all my videos to DVD so I can show them - that is directly how to harvest.  I love your list, Brendhan, and with the other suggestions, I'm going to make up a handout about bee facts like the ones many of you mentioned in your posts.  I'm also going to take popsicle sticks for tasting honey.

My friend has an observation hive, but I think for this talk it will be more than I want to manage - although it would certainly be a hit.  I do have a medium 2 box garden hive with pictures in the frames that will be helpful and that I will take.

I give lots of talks all the time and have presented to my bee club on bee-ing and beekeeper last February and will again in January for the short course that we give, but this audience being regular non-beekeeping folks who happen to be visiting the History Center for Harvest Day intimidate me a little. 

Don't get me wrong - I'm never uncomfortable talking in front of people - I teach all the time and give speeches all over Atlanta, and usually people find me rather funny (I'm always a little shocked by that) and do seem to listen.  For some reason, though, this is intimidating me.

Thanks for all the suggestions thus far and keep 'em coming!

Linda T a little shaky in Atlanta

[twb]

Scadsobees, is your talk limited to teachers?  We would be interested in coming to hear you, too if possible.

[Brian D. Bray]

Tillie,  A lot of people might freak (parents) about having live bees in a classroom so I would not use an observation hive--instead I would take pictures of the bees on the frames, print those out life size, and glue them back to back so that the pictures can be incerted into a frame yet looks like the real thing.  That way you can take a entire hive full of frames or just 1 or 2 to illistrate the various cells, bees, bee bread, eggs, larvae, etc within a hive. 

[tillie]

Hi Brian,
I borrowed a demo hive from our bee club and it has pictures in the frames in the brood box of queen cells, bees, larvae, etc. so I'm planning to take that.  I don't feel brave/responsible enough to borrow my friend's observation hive and expect that I would get it back in one piece!

I have given my daughter's boyfriend plans for an observation hive to see if he can build it for me, but not for this year or this talk on Sunday  :-D :-D

Linda T in Atlanta

[Cindi]

Linda, you make me smile, and that makes my day.  I love to hear your voice, and this I do through my mind's eye, I love to listen to the comments that you receive, this gives me pleasure, because I know others are appreciating you as much as I do you.

All I can say is, "go girl go", you are special, you have this way, and you can reach the stars!!!!!!  Again, go, girl, go!!!! Cindi

[Scadsobees]

When I brought my hive to school, many parents later commented on how fascinated the kids were by the bee hive that I brought along.

1.  Keep it simple.  Really simple.  I use humor a lot, and it was completely lost on the kids.  They understand knock-knock jokes, not the ironic life of drones (they live to die, etc).

2. Keep it interactive.  This is where it gets tricky when you are trying to interact with 30 kids at a time.  Bring along things that you can pass around.  Wax, peices of disposable comb, maybe a little jar of bees taped shut, jar of pollen, even wax moths or SHB.

Idea: get everybody involved doing a bee waggle dance.  I was too intimitated to it myself  :roll:, but if I got the kids involved..I think they would love it.

Honey for them to try, perhaps honeycomb, etc.  Just becareful about allergies... :-x

3. Don't be intimidated by the blank stares from the kids.  They really are listening.  I got a bit flustered because I'm talking and all the kids are blankly staring at me.  Or playing with their shirt.  Or picking their nose.   

Rick

[TwT]

nice post Rick, sounds like a good arrangement and list of thing to do...

[Cindi]

Rick, you have some excellent recommendations for Linda, she will have lots of information to help her out with her talk, yeah!!!  Have a wonderful day, greatest of life.  Cindi

[Old Timer]

tillie, i was doing some reading and came across this for you. finally figured out how to cut and paste :-D
http://shopgpn.com/stores/1/guides/rr/36sci.pdf