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Speaking

I will try to keep a calendar here of my speaking engagements. Currently some of them are tentative. I will update as I get them finalized.

Tentative Schedule through the end of the year. Some links are provided and details for venues and times will be posted on those as they become available.

18-22 May 2024    Work week for Bee Camp, Nehawka, NE
23-27 May 2024    Bee Camp, Nehawka, NE
30 May 2024    Mount Diablo Bkeepers Asc., Pleasant Hill, CA, Zoom
3-5 Oct 2024    Florida State Beekeepers Association, Ocala, FL

CANCELED 25-27 Oct 2024    Virgina Beekeepers Asc., Wytheville VA
2 Nov 2024    Plymouth County Beekeepers Asc. MA
25-26 Jan 2025    Midwest HoneyBee Expo, Waukesha, WI
17-21 May 2025    Work week for Bee Camp, Nehawka, NE
22-26 May 2025    Bee Camp, Nehawka, NE

Speaker Fees

I am available to speak most any weekend I'm not scheduled already if we can work it out so I don't miss work. Currently I am working Monday through Friday. I may be able to fly out on a Friday night if a club or group of clubs wanted to do something on Saturday and Sunday.

The question that comes up, of course, is what my fees are. I wish this were simple to answer, but it's not. First, let me say if you think it's not in your budget give me a call and we will see what we can work out.

There are things that we can do to reduce my costs and time and therefore the fee. For instance, if you schedule something where I'm already in the area and I don't have to spend a day travelling to get there and another travelling to get back, it saves me two days and it may save you some on the expense of paying my transportation. There are, however complications with this. Since I only have weekends it will depend on airline schedules etc. how doable it is.

Keep in mind, also, I have found that when people pay me to come they often feel taken advantage of when someone else cashes in on my presence without sharing the cost and possibly competes with their event (i.e. people may go to the other event to hear me rather than theirs, and I'm only there because they paid my way). I find it works better if the two parties that want to share my presence in the area work out the details rather than with me. Then they can arrive at something they think is fair as far as sharing the expenses and the benefits without anyone feeling taken advantage of. It is also helpful to make such arrangements quickly if you see I am going to be in the area as it is expensive to change dates on plane tickets and the cost benefit drops.

A day whether travelling or presenting costs me the same as far as my time and work. As far as room and board, I'm more than happy, and would actually usually prefer to stay with some beekeeper who doesn't mind staying up all night talking bees, and will feed me, rather than a hotel and restaurants. Part of my dilemma, of course, is that I don't want to price my time so high that I miss something I could have otherwise done, but at the same time, especially during queen rearing season, it could cost me more than I make to speak. If I miss a round of queens, it could be pretty significant income that I could have otherwise made. So my base price here is different for "queen rearing season" than "not queen rearing season". Also I am assuming that I will be allowed a table somewhere to sell my books (some written by me and some not). Since I got booked up all through queen rearing last year, I'm raising that price this year to hopefully keep my queen rearing season open for queen rearing. Also I need at least a week to get ready for Bee Camp so I need to keep the weekend before my "work week" clear.

As far as what I am available to do, I can do as many presentations as you like while I'm there (within reason of course). I often start at 9am and run to 5 or 6pm. I can do seminars on queen rearing or hands on demonstrations on any topic if you can provide the bees and the equipment.

So my fee per day (whether travelling or presenting) is:
Apr 20 through August 30: $400
Sept 1 through Apr 20: $175

As an example, a typical seminar might be two days travelling and one day presenting. That comes to 3 days. In queen rearing season that is $1,200 total plus travel expenses (airline tickets, etc.). In the off season that is $525 total plus travel expenses.

Travel can be lowest air fare that fits my schedule or IRS mileage (I prefer to drive if it's 500 miles or less so I can take boxes of books). You should probably plan on me flying out 12-24 hours in advance to minimize cancellation issues by airlines.

Here are the presentations I've done and could easily do again. If you have something else you would like, let me know.

I've been speaking fairly regularly at bee conferences since 2004. Here are some past speaking engagements back to 2012:

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