Public beekeeping talk

[Pete D]

Hi all, I am after a bit of help here

I have been asked to give a talk on beekeeping to our local village WI next Tuesday evening. I have been given a powerpoint presentation to use from my association but in typical me mode I dont think its quite suitable and want to re jig it a bit.
I had in mind I would introduce them to the bees, tell them basic information about the queen, drones and workers and then tell them about a bee hive and get my glamourous assistant to strip one down and show each bit whilst I talk. I then planned to talk them through the beekeepers year to give them a feel for what we did and when, this would end at honey crop where I would produce some for sale. I plan to use various props, tools etc throughout the talk that will last about an hour.
So does anyone have some more slides / presentation that I could either use or amalgamate with the best bits from the one I already have. I am happy that you keep your copyright etc and would give mention to where the info came from and if appropiate could get it stickied or linked on here.
If you can help PM me and I will give you my e mail address etc.
I have done a search on here and google and did a lot of wading to come up with .............. nothing really
many thanks
Pete D

 

[pargyle]

Hi all, I am after a bit of help here

I have been asked to give a talk on beekeeping to our local village WI next Tuesday evening. I have been given a powerpoint presentation to use from my association but in typical me mode I dont think its quite suitable and want to re jig it a bit.
I had in mind I would introduce them to the bees, tell them basic information about the queen, drones and workers and then tell them about a bee hive and get my glamourous assistant to strip one down and show each bit whilst I talk. I then planned to talk them through the beekeepers year to give them a feel for what we did and when, this would end at honey crop where I would produce some for sale. I plan to use various props, tools etc throughout the talk that will last about an hour.
So does anyone have some more slides / presentation that I could either use or amalgamate with the best bits from the one I already have. I am happy that you keep your copyright etc and would give mention to where the info came from and if appropiate could get it stickied or linked on here.
If you can help PM me and I will give you my e mail address etc.
I have done a search on here and google and did a lot of wading to come up with .............. nothing really
many thanks
Pete D

You might consider adding in a bit about what flowers bees like ... and that they hate pesticides. Anything that gives your local bees a bit of extra forage and helps them along - ideal opportunity to do a bit of education with what is bound to be a receptive audience that will spead the word. I'd also give them a bit of info about the difference between honey bees, bumble bees and wasps as I find there is often lots of confusion. The BBKA site has some downloadable bits there you could use under General Information. (Despite their Forum antics they do have some useful stuff !). The biggest problem you will have is getting it down to the time you have available ... try and leave some space for Q & A at the end. Keep it light and leave them wanting more - always good advice ! I did a similar talk on backyard hens vs shop bought/caged hen eggs a couple of years ago ... went down very well and quite a few of the audience started keeping hens as a result. Very rewarding.

Good luck with it Pete - I'm sure they'll love it.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Make sure they know you are talking about Honeybees and not bumbles, you know the way talks like this go

"aren't those wasps"

 

[Pete D]

Thanks both, I have an hour - hour and half so will try and talk for an hour (ha ha no problem) and then do some questions and show some more bits and pieces, tools, honey for sale etc.
I have a set of slides already that I want to add to / tweak but included already is a slide showing bumbles, wasps, hornets and honey bees so I am hoping to have that covered. Good idea to talk about the plants and I think I will cover this in the beekeepers year by saying what they forage on locally and by season and what they can plant to help.
Thanks again
Pete D

 

[Chris B]

get my glamourous assistant to strip one down

Is that "one" in the royal sense?

give them a feel

Don't do it Pete!

I plan to use various props, tools etc

Please no!

will last about an hour.

I'm impressed.

 

[busybee53]

Chris B - Wicked sense of humour.

Let us know how it goes Pete - it looks really good. I think I read that the WI were instrumental in getting the government to spend more money on bee research a few years ago.

 

[Pete D]

Thanks Chris,
if I drink the last 2 cases of your honey beer that I have left in the garage then who knows..................



Pete D

 

[Tom Bick]

The last couple of years I have done a couple of bee workshops. Mostly talking and a bit of demonstration and found that people love it when I talk about the relationship between the drones (male, lazy, no contribution to the hive only lives in hope to get lucky) and the worker bees (female, hard working, house cleaning, food provider, temperamental ect ect) and the eventual fate of the Drones. I bet the WI will love that and relate to it. I think you are a brave man.

 

[Pete D]

The last couple of years I have done a couple of bee workshops. Mostly talking and a bit of demonstration and found that people love it when I talk about the relationship between the drones (male, lazy, no contribution to the hive only lives in hope to get lucky) and the worker bees (female, hard working, house cleaning, food provider, temperamental ect ect) and the eventual fate of the Drones. I bet the WI will love that and relate to it. I think you are a brave man.

Hi Tom, yes I have always found that the ladies like that bit, several friends wives love it and always have a dig at their husbands when it gets mentioned.
You can imagine it....... Pete tell us again how the men are lazy, just eat, drink and make a mess, dont do anything useful except have quick crap sex with anyone who wanders by and is up for it, then they die..........ha ha or they dont manage the sex bit.............reminds me of someone they giggle........and just loaf around untill the little woman finally has enough and kicks them out........ ha ha , giggle giggle.......hic

Brave..........I just want to sell them some honey from my bees that have nicked the nectar and pollen from their gardens and maybe get one of them to make me a honey cake for the National this year

Pete D

Any slides anyone ?

 

[Tom Bick]

Pete a man with a plan

 

[Chris B]

Thanks Chris,
if I drink the last 2 cases of your honey beer that I have left in the garage then who knows..................



Pete D

What you really need Pete is a custom made velcro rip-off bee suit. (I can name one or two rip-off beekeeping suppliers but unfortunately that probably won't help).

Are you still planning on a pre-convention visit by the way? I'm probably not going on the Saturday after all but still around here on Friday.

 

[Pete D]

I have a thin white suit which is slightly too small, could slip into that and get hosed down...........sort of wet bee suit competition............

Yes, would like to drop by and say hi and have a cuppa at least..........
wife will be with me and last I heard Emyr might also plan to meet up at yours too, so tea and fruit cake all round me thinks !
Probably will be around mid morning and would like to have a quick look at what might be available if the weather ever warms up

Pete D

 

[Chris B]

I'll get baking.

Have you ever done the WI before? There's no such thing as one WI talk. You soon find their mates in the next group/coven/troop/pack a few miles away also invite you along, whatever kind of show you put on. But anything to sell a bit of honey at premium rates and get some free spongecake thrown in too.

 

[itma]

...
So does anyone have some more slides / presentation that I could either use or amalgamate with the best bits from the one I already have. I am happy that you keep your copyright etc and would give mention to where the info came from and if appropiate could get it stickied or linked on here.
...

For a one-off participants-only non-commercial educational presentation, I think that Google Image search should provide you with LOTS of stuff.
At short notice, I think that crediting the source of the image would be more than most people would bother with.

Swarms. Maybe include what and why a swarm actually is. And what it looks like. And what a swarm isn't (like bees living in the house wall cavity, or inside the roof ...).


Are there specific points/topics/detail that you are seeking images for? The specific might get a better response than the totally general!

There are images in presentation outlines (but hardly wonderful ones) in the Course-in-a-Case packs. Have you got access to those?

 

[Beauhawk]

Don't have any slides but I am sure between everyone on the forum we would make an excellent audience to present too...!

Be careful you don't buy more jam than you sell honey!!!

 

[Pete D]

Swarms. Maybe include what and why a swarm actually is. And what it looks like. And what a swarm isn't (like bees living in the house wall cavity, or inside the roof ...).


Are there specific points/topics/detail that you are seeking images for? The specific might get a better response than the totally general!

Hi Itma, I will include a bit on swarms so at least if they see one they may call me. My specific topics of
what a honey bee looks like compared with wasps etc,
the 3 different castes of honey bee, their role, what they do and how long they live etc
and the beekeepers role through the year / seasons are largely covered by the presentation I have but I felt some of the pictures were old and some of the info was .......er lacking. Yes I can download some new images, add some information to the existing and I am sure thats what I will end up doing.
My thoughts were just about short cutting that as there must be somebody out there who has done something similar previously who may be willing to share / swap some slides that I could copy paste etc...............or indeed disregard and discard. Anyway I will pull something together over the next few days and will try and post it on here for similar use in the future.
Thanks
Pete D

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I have a thin white suit which is slightly too small, could slip into that and get hosed down...........sort of wet bee suit competition............

Yes, would like to drop by and say hi and have a cuppa at least..........
wife will be with me and last I heard Emyr might also plan to meet up at yours too, so tea and fruit cake all round me thinks !
Probably will be around mid morning and would like to have a quick look at what might be available if the weather ever warms up

Pete D

Looks almost definitely i'll be going now just for the social round more than anything!

 

[itma]

... I felt some of the pictures were old and some of the info was .......er lacking. Yes I can download some new images, add some information to the existing and I am sure thats what I will end up doing. ...

There is of course the Photography section of the forum, where VM posted a nice link today ... http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=316925#post316925

 

[Pete D]

Well I went along and did my talk which seemed to go down very well. Took a hive and some frames, stripped it down and showed them what was what, passed frames and tools around. Talked about the honey bee, varroa and went through the beekeepers year ending on honey harvest. This led me into tasting 4 honeys, spring, summer, soft set and Ivy. This then led to sales of 15 jars.
I then had to judge the cake competition, the Easter bonnet competition and the home made bee craft competition.............
Ate cake, tried all the hats on and squeezed all the cuddly toys.
They offered to pay me £30 for the talk but I said it was foc but please call me if you see any bee swarms this year !
I have the powerpoint presentation and would happily share it but dont know how, cant seem to post it anywhere
Pete D

 

[Chris B]

I then had to judge the cake competition, the Easter bonnet competition and the home made bee craft competition.............
Ate cake, tried all the hats on and squeezed all the cuddly toys.

Wot no raffle?
With all that excitement I bet you had trouble sleeping.
I'll give it a month max. before you get your next invite from the neighbouring WI.