Austin Event Reminder

Austin is this year's site of the largest gathering of
insect geeks in the world. 

Got the pesticide applicator CEU blahs?  Are you looking for training that keeps you awake, and introduces you to new people and perspectives?  An upcoming A&M AgriLife Extension-sponsored event, "Under the Lens" may be just the thing. The day-long program runs from 7 am to 5 pm at the Austin Convention Center on November 13.  Cost is $100 and includes a continental breakfast, and lunch.  More importantly, it features national speakers talking about some diverse topics including delusory parasitosis, bed bugs, pest control in public housing, rodent control, mosquitoes and changes in pyrethroid label requirements.  Each of the speakers are experts in their field and sure to provide new and useful information.

For full information and links to the conference, see the AgriLife Today Press Release.  
Under the Lens will also features the annual business meeting of the Texas Integrated Pest Management Association for Public Schools (TIPMAPS) during the lunch break.  This event is the association’s annual meeting, but anyone with an interest in schools will have the chance to share ideas and issues and catch up on the latest developments within our field of school-related pest control.

The entire program is being held in association with the Entomological Society of America's 2013 Annual Meeting.  It's the largest gathering of entomologists in the world, if that excites you.  To learn more, check out my May blog post.

A unique opportunity for Texas IPM professionals

In case you haven't already heard, Texas gets to play host to a major event in the world of entomology and pest control this year.  The annual conference of the Entomological Society of America will be held November 10-13 in Austin.  The theme of this year's meeting is Science Impacting a Connected World, and approximately 3,000 entomologists from all over the world are expected to attend.

Many of you might be asking, "What's in it for me?"  In my opinion, plenty. The ESA meeting draws urban entomologists from all over the country to hear the latest in structural pest control research and activities. For a taste of the kind of information that you can hear at ESA, check out my past posts on ESA meeting highlights. In recent years ESA has become very welcoming to the pest control industry, even to the point of sponsoring special sessions for ACEs and other PMPs.

Rates for attending the meeting include early bird and on-site  registrations.  If you register before September 23,  ACEs can register for for $455 (comparable to the member rate of $430). Others pay $635 for early-bird and $765 for late registration. The meeting will be held at the Austin Convention Center.

This year the Texas IPM Affiliates for Public Schools (TIPMAPS) will be holding their annual meeting jointly with ESA. The TIPMAPS group is Texas' professional association for Public School IPM Coordinators.  They and Texas A&M University will be sponsoring a day-long program called Under the Lens, a CEU granting educational program and annual meeting featuring entomologists speaking on various topics including delusions of parasitosis, mosquitoes, pyrethroid label changes and fire ants, bed bugs, and rodent management around schools.  Advanced registration for the day is $100 (includes lunch) and $125 for on site registration. Although the program is designed for school IPM professionals, PMPs should also find the presentations and speakers of great interest. Registrants for the program will get access to the meeting exhibits and limited access to some of the scientific paper sessions. If you are interested in registering, or just want to learn more, click here.

Besides the TIPMAP event, a few of the symposia and paper sessions at the ESA meeting that might be of special interest to PMPs include:

• Applied Research on Bed Bug Management
• Arthropod Associated Allergy 
• Healthy Schools: Research, Benefits and Impacts in the Classroom 
• The Impact of Repellent Research and Development of New Arthropod Repellents 
• Chagas Disease in the USA? A New Risk?  
• Transmitting Mosquito Information: From Laboratory to Surveillance and Management in the Field 
• How Cool is Entomology? 
• Red Imported Fire Ants: Global Approaches to a Global Invasive Species 
• Stored Product Entomology: Impacts on a Connected World 
• Urban Entomology Presented Papers
• Medical/Veterinary Presented Papers
• Informal Conference on Insects of Ornamentals
• Click here for a full listing of special symposia topics

Though some of the papers are highly technical, most of the urban entomology sessions should be accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of entomology and an interest to see the latest science behind the craft. I hope many of you will consider attending. 

A meeting for schools AND PMPs

Past TIPMAPS meetings have included presentations by
Regulatory officials such as then TDA Assistant
Commissioner of Pesticide Programs, Jimmy Bush.

This November will mark the fourth year that Texas school IPM coordinators have gotten together for their annual TIPMAPS (Texas IPM Affiliates for Public Schools) networking and educational conference on integrated pest management for school facilities.  If you want to talk with an enthusiastic group about IPM, this is the place to be.

A handful of PMPs have attended this meeting in the past, but the doors are open to much wider participation. TIPMAPS welcomes pest control contractors to attend and become members, and the meeting could be a great way to make contacts with new school districts as well as building stronger relations with the districts you are already servicing.  In addition, I guarantee that you will gain insight into how school IPM programs operate under the Texas school IPM rules and regulations. Associate membership for pest control professionals, manufacturers and other vendors is $100 per year.  Click here for an application.

The 2012 TIPMAPS meeting will be held November 14-15 in San Marcos, TX at the Embassy Suites.  Vendor booths are two for one this year ($500 for both the Facility Masters and TIPMAPS meetings), and regular registration for the two-day TIPMAPS meeting is $125. The facilities are top-notch, the speakers are engaging, and CEUs are offered; so if your business is involved in servicing Texas school districts, this may be one meeting to get on the calendar early.  Hotel rooms will be limited, so it's recommended to make your reservations early (by Oct 22 to get the group rate) by clicking on this special link, or when calling the hotel directly, by mentioning the group name TASBO/group code TAI (phone 512 805 5340).

To learn more about the conference go to http://www.tasbo.org/about-the-conference-mao-tfm To learn more about TIPMAPS, visit their website at http://tipmaps.org/

TIPMAPS 2.0

Keynote speaker, TDA Assistant Commissioner Jimmy Bush, connected
with the crowd on Day One.

In case you're new to this blog, you may not have heard me talk about our state association for school IPM coordinators, TIPMAPS.  Short for Texas IPM Affiliates for Public Schools, the group is an affiliate of the Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO), a well-respected professional organization for school professional in our state. 

The TIPMAPS group recently held its second annual meeting.  According to TASBO, the conference was attended by over 220 attendees and vendors, representing 108 school districts.  The business meeting on the second day of the conference held over 90 participants, significantly more than 2009.  This is wonderful growth for this new group, and seems to indicate that school IPM coordinators are beginning to take ownership of their relatively new profession.

For me the highlights of the meeting were hearing coordinators and school administrators present their own take on how IPM works in Texas schools.  Jim Olenski, Greenville ISD, gave an excellent presentation on how to get staff on your side in a school IPM program.  "Don't be a battleship [trying to bend people to will]," Jim said.  Instead, "be a cheerleader." Encourage folks in the positive things they do, and respect the contributions everyone makes to the district.

Martha Buckner, Humble ISD, shared her insights as to how to work with school boards.  Knowing your board members as individuals, knowing what makes them tick, their special interests and their connections in the district is key to developing a working relationship there.

Charles Adams, Sherman ISD, shared his extensive experience with trapping wildlife with two classes.  The highlight of his talk was watching him do an outdoor inspection of the hotel and find rat activity (one jumped out of a burrow in front of the class) and raccoon scat a few feet from the elegant outdoor dining area.  Everyone in the training was also treated to a whiff of several baits guaranteed to drive critters wild.

This year's keynote speaker was Mr. Jimmy Bush, Assistant Commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, over all pesticide programs including school IPM.  Many people cited Bush as one of the highlights of the conference, as he gave an understandable overview of how pesticides are regulated in the state.  In addition to Bush, Randy Rivera gave an informative session on IPM and ag science programs; and inspector Perry Cervantes explained the licensing process and how to get the necessary training for unlicensed employees.

Comments from participants included:

• Appreciated the fact that unlike some CEU programs, speakers were not spokesmen for particular products
• Enjoyed the opportunity to network and see what other schools are doing
• It was nice to meet and greet the vendors
• Hearing from people from different fields [of expertise] helps
• Well prepared and knowlegable speakers.  I appreciate the in-depth information
• Wish I had come last year!
• Can't wait till next year...

To see more photos from this year's conference, click here.  And if you couldn't make this year's event, don't miss it in 2011.  The hotel is reserved and ready for next time.

Countdown to School IPM Conference

I just have to brag on the new Texas group, Texas Integrated Pest Management Affiliates for Public Schools (TIPMAPS). The group is so new it doesn't have a web page yet, but this hasn't kept these folks from getting over 10% of the school districts in the state to register for a first-of-its-kind conference on IPM, to be held at the Embassy Suites in San Marcos, TX on November 18 and 19.

As the newest affiliate chapter of the Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO), TIPMAPS is a fledgling group. The conference is their first open event and will focus on a variety of pest management issues facing school IPM coordinators. The concept of an association for school maintenance officials with pest control duties is novel and sets the bar for other states wanting to see IPM take root in their public school districts.

I've just been looking through the list of badges for the meeting and I count 107 different public school districts represented among the approximately 180 early registrants. This represents more than 10% of the approximately 1030 school districts in the second largest state public school system in the nation.

Speakers for the meeting will include some of the state's own school IPM coordinators, along with speakers from industry and the Extension Service. The highlighted speaker for the conference is Dr. Bobby Corrigan, or Dr. Rat, as he's known in New York City where he oversees one of the largest rodent IPM programs in the world.

The last day of the conference will include an organizational meeting to discuss membership dues and formation of regional chapters. Online registration is now closed, but it's not to late to attend. On-site registration will be available for $100. To see a schedule and map to the conference hotel in San Marcos, go to the Texas AgriLife Conference Service website.