What're your bee related winter plans?

[Neils]

I'm doing the module 3 exam so we've got a workshop running in the new year. I've got a couple of talks to do (also available for weddings and Bar Mitzvahs) and write and I dare say I'll try and pick up a couple of new books to chew through.

Think it's time to start learning a little more about the internals of our little friends so that's my aim for this winter.

Finally, if I ever get the time I want to pull apart the database I put together last year and refine it a little more. It worked out reasonably well, but was far too complicated and asked for too much information. A couple of days experience with a bee inspector really opened my eyes to just how much/little information you actually need to record to get a decent picture of what's going on in the colony.

[gavin]

Excellent that you are doing talks already. One thing you should learn very soon is how to say no. I haven't mastered that yet so I've already done 4 this year and it looks like I may be doing another 4 before the winter season is out. I'm hoping to get away with the one talk for all 4, but that one needs written first. Usually I end up taking the day off work to write it in those last few hours before I have to set off to some far corner of Scotland, but this time I *will* be more organised (honest).

Main thing for the winter is to get our association apiary properly underway. Things are being held up at the moment thanks to planning permission issues for a shed, but once that is sorted it will be full steam ahead.

Then there is the bee breeding workshop in Fife later in November. There is quite a lot to do for that, and getting properly to grips with the wing morphometry of some of my colonies will be part of that. And helping get an SBA Varroa survey underway. And there's that possibility of running classes in Perth to help get the association there revitalised. Oh, and install Tapatalk on SBAi! Which I'll bet is really easy and quick once you decide to do it.

I've been trying to lose responsibilities, and the load just seems to grow. Something will have to give.

[Neils]

Excellent that you are doing talks already. One thing you should learn very soon is how to say no. I haven't mastered that yet so I've already done 4 this year and it looks like I may be doing another 4 before the winter season is out. I'm hoping to get away with the one talk for all 4, but that one needs written first. Usually I end up taking the day off work to write it in those last few hours before I have to set off to some far corner of Scotland, but this time I *will* be more organised (honest).

Doesn't feel excellent at the moment. I've actually managed a half decent slideshow, I'm just struggling getting what I want to say down in a conherent manner but it's been a good 15 years since I last gave a presentation and that was using acetate slides!

Saying no would be nice but all talk requests come through me so if I can't give it to someone else then I have to do it!

The talks I'm working on at the moment, all aimed at non beekeepers, should become standard talks that we can hand out with a projector and a memory stick. So we can hopefully spread things around a bit.

[beebreeder]

hi nellie and gavin
suprised that more kit is not on your lists, I have another 20 plus nuc boxes to make and as many hives as time allows, never seem to have enough, I do like the idea of standardising talks, give everyone a subject and just email it to anyone that needs a new subject whether its for beekeepers or non beekeepers, personally I avoid that sort of thing like the plaque, just a loner by nature.
kev

[gavin]

I've got boxes of spare kit in the corner of the room here from Thornes sales which will also occupy time this winter. Brood boxes for Bailey comb changes which I didn't need as my winter losses last year were too high. Extra supers which I haven't needed but *will* need in 2011. Also fancy trying making some of Jon's correx nuc boxes, or maybe ply if I can't find the recycled election material.

The best talks are rather personal to the speaker I think, and often use few words on the screen. Most of it has to be in your head, and the pictures just illustrate those points. Sometimes I let others have copies of the talks I've done - somewhat reluctantly - and wondered just how well they used them. So yes, offer PPTs on memory sticks but I hope that users will tailor them and make them their own. Maybe someone should write a guide to actually delivering talks (not another winter for me though).

cheers

Gavin

[Jon]

Most of it has to be in your head, and the pictures just illustrate those points.

I think that's the key thing.
It's fair to assume your audience can read, and does not need the speaker to read out 5 bullet pointed statements on every slide.

I have to do talks and fundraising stuff quite regularly for the charity I work for and I mainly use photographs as memory joggers which remind me of the key points I want to make.
To talk about rural urban migration I use a photgraph of a woman with a baby on her back begging at traffic lights. It better than putting up slide after slide of stats.
There is a Dilbert cartoon called 'Death By Powerpoint' which shows the audience all curled up dead on the floor like over etherised fruit flies while the speaker continues pointing to a bar chart.
I actually did my first bee talk last night, but not with Powerpoint. It was to a non beekeeper audience (Belfast Winemakers Circle) so I brought along a few props such as a queen excluder, an Apidea, a drawn frame of comb, two bottles of mead, and honey samples to taste. I had a jar of ivy honey from two years ago and everyone loved it.

Jon's correx nuc boxes

I made 15 this year and have 13 in use at the moment.
I am scheduled to do a talk on this at my bka within the next couple of months.
I have about 10 sheets left.
I see Nellie mentioned Shep on another thread.
I intend to do this in true 'here's one I prepared earlier style' only using gaffer tape instead of sticky back plastic.

A friend of mine got John Noakes to autograph his T shirt and he was so pleased with it he got the signature carefully sewn in.

I have whipped up a frenzy about bee breeding in my bka and have promised to coordinate the various stages so I have to get all of that sorted out.
I need to work out how to cover costs and allocate tasks. There is a good thread on the bbka site where Roger Patterson gives a lot of ideas about organising courses.

[GRIZZLY]

Come on Gavin ,don't forget that you're coming to our "far flung corner" soon .I expect your talk to be REALY polished by the time you get down your list to us !!!!. As for winter activities I plan to buy a bulk load of W.R.Cedar,let it season for a bit,then start some serious hive and neuc making with a view to expanding my beekeeping again.I want to get in before the hike in V.A.T .I need also to make a decent warming cabinet and an efficient solar wax extractor in place of the cobbled up gear I've used this year.I also MUST make up frames EARLY this year rather than the usual last minute scramble.

[Roger Patterson]

I have another couple of talks planned, but disagree about sharing. I believe beekeeping is much richer for the personalities that are in it, and whether it is classroom or apiary teaching I think the character of the person giving it is much more important. There are the standard titles "Queen Rearing", "Swarm Control", "Wintering" etc, and each speaker has a different story to tell and information to give. Let it stay that way please. There is a growing view in beekeeping that all you have to do is produce the material and anybody can teach, which I disagree with.

Nellie, I think you will need to be careful as you will always get the clown who will try to rip you to bits. A good Chairman should deal with this swiftly, but so many are soft. If you have a load of experience you can deal with it yourself. I would stick to what you know, and be prepared to say what you don't know. On several occasions I have been asked questions that may appear innocent, but are often asked to embarrass someone or to make a point for political reasons.

I have a list of 19 things I would like to do, and as usual I guess most won't get done. It's a good job I'm young enough to say "perhaps I'll do it next year".

I have just had an invitation from a publisher to write a beekeeping book, that's on top of the one I'm mapping out on queen rearing. I read slowly and don't write much quicker, so I guess that will take up most of the winter.

Roger Patterson.

[Jon]

I have just had an invitation from a publisher to write a beekeeping book, that's on top of the one I'm mapping out on queen rearing. I read slowly and don't write much quicker, so I guess that will take up most of the winter.

Roger Patterson.

Hi Roger.
Why don't you invite suggestions for a working title?

'Supersedure -my struggle!'
Or what about
'Queen for a day'

I hope you aren't going to write a chapter slagging off Apideas.
You know they make sense!

[Calum]

make 25kg of comb sheets, make 40kg candels, make a larger solar wax melter, buy 50kg of wax (anyone got any for sale?)
sell 90kg honey, get my oxalic acid treatment done at the right moment, buy a self turning extractor, make 50l mead, get 5*8 candle dipping jigs made, revamp the club website,
buy a hive scale, organise a lease on a 30 hive bee house with extraction room I have my eye on, buy and resell 20kg honey, if I manage 80 % of that I'll be satisfied!