Spring IPM Seminar in Dallas Next Month

Continuing education doesn't have to be a painful experience.
Last fall's IPM Seminar attracted nearly 400 applicators.

If you're a pesticide applicator in need of CEUs this year, I have some good news: no more yellow chairs.  For years, pesticide applicators have come faithfully to the Texas A&M AgriLife Center in Dallas for continuing education training.  And for years one of the consistent evaluation remarks we've received is that we need to "do something about" the hard, 1960's era Fiberglas chairs.

Starting next month we're no longer going to be sitting in those chairs for pesticide training. Instead, this spring the IPM seminars will be moving off campus to the nearby Richardson Civic Center.

The 2017 Spring IPM Seminar is scheduled for Thursday, February 23.  We have an excellent line-up of speakers, and offer a good lunch.  Cost will remain the same for 2017.

To register for the 2017 event, go online to http://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/IPM.

For a copy of the program, including directions to our new location, click here. This year's speakers and topics include:

• Michael Kelly, with the Structural Pest Control Service/TDA in Austin, will speak on Pesticide Rules: What's new and what it means to you.
• Sam Kieschnick, with Texas Parks and Wildlife in Dallas.  Urban Wildlife, including biology and behavior of bobcats and other troublesome mammals.
• Dr. Casey Reynolds, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, will talk on Herbicide Selection, including understanding how different herbicides work, and how to select the best product for your needs.
• Doug Van Gundy, Zoecon/Central Life Sciences, will talk about Pesticide formulations and their uses, also important for selecting the right product.
• I will speak on Control strategies for the crapemyrtle bark scale, an important and difficult to control pest of the most common flowering shrub in north Texas.

If you attend, I can't guarantee that the new chairs will be any better (they won't be any more durable). The new facilities, however, will be great. We'll have more space, in a more comfortable environment, and bigger screens.  I believe you'll appreciate the change.

Are you and your employees growing professionally?

I'm convinced that one of the most important ways to keep good employees is to instill a sense of professionalism and pride in what they do. And what better way to do that than to provide top notch training opportunities?

I know some pest control companies who discourage employees from pursuing continuing education. They fear that if their employees learn too much, they will move on to find a better job or start their own company. Of course this is also the best way to ensure that your employees don't get better at what they do.

In my experience, the best companies embrace training and professional improvement for their employees. I know one company who links commissions their employees earn on sales to their licensing achievments and courses completed. The higher licenses and certifications employees achieve, the more they make. This encourages the good employees to stay and generates a higher level of service at all levels.

Fortunately, there are more continuing education opportunities available to the pest control industry than ever before. One of the highest achievments available to PMPs is the certification program offered by the Entomological Society of America. Seven years of experience is required to sit for the Associate Certified Entomologist (ACE) exam. The test is rigorous, and anyone who qualifies and passes should be justly proud of the achievement. A higher level of entomology certification (BCE) is also available, and is principally sought by degreed entomologists. Decals, patches and the right to use the ACE emblems in company advertizing are available to certified PMPs.

Other courses that are worth adding to an employee training program include the Texas A&M University-sponsored, Philip J. Hamman termite training school. Purdue University offers one of the longest-standing pest control correspondence courses. The University of Florida recently opened Pest Management University, which offers classes designed for anyone in the pest management business, including office staff (Basics classes), technicians (Foundations and Master’s level classes), and certified operators (Foundations, Master’s and Expert level classes).

Companies who service school districts in Texas might want to consider the quarterly training offered by the Southwest Technical Resource Center for School IPM. This training provides an excellent opportunity for your company to become more familiar with the unique laws and regulations affecting how pest control must operate in Texas public schools.

So what kind of pest control company is yours? Is it one that strives to provide customers with the best service by continually training its employees? Or is it one that fears making it's employees too good to want to stay?