Fair beekeeping demonstrations

Fair beekeeping demonstrations

If Rob sent you a link to this page, it means that in addition to staffing the volunteer booth, you signed up to do a beekeeping demonstration (thanks!). This page has some tips and instructions.

When is the demo?

Officially, the demonstrations on the fair’s own events calendar are scheduled for 3:00 PM and 5:30 PM. However, you can get a bigger crowd if you wait until the moment the nearby pig races finish. I recommend getting ready (including having your smoker going) by these times, and then starting as soon as the crowd from the pig races walks past.

Tips and tricks

First of all, please take a look at these videos from last year’s fair, starting with the oldest one:

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B1nG60dj6bySkA

It should show you basically what’s happening. There are a couple of short clips of people doing demos. You don’t have to use the microphone, but it does help if you don’t want to focus on speaking loudly. (The wired microphone shown in some of the clips has been replaced with a wireless headset one.) My son Drake will help you with the microphone.
In the cage is:

  • A smoker;
  • Veil and jacket;
  • Nitrile gloves;
  • A hive tool;
  • Paper and smoker fuel;
  • An electric igniter to start the newspaper.

The fair security won’t let you bring your own smoker or hive tool, so you should use the ones that are there.

The electric igniter is for lighting paper, which you can then use to light burlap, cardboard, etc. Drake can help, but to make the electric igniter work, slide up the orange safety switch and then press the “power symbol” circled in yellow (not the top of the switch above):

Should I use a suit?

These are my own bees that should be really docile. I work them without a veil at home, although they will be under more stress at the fair. Many people last year did the presentation without a veil and gloves because it makes the audience feel more comfortable, but it’s up to you — you should do what keeps you comfortable, of course.

Some showbiz tips

Now, some tips about how to present. You’re in charge, but here’s what I’ve found works, in case it’s helpful:

  • Aim for around 20 minutes. It’s plenty, and you’ll probably go a little over what you expect anyway.
  • What people want to see are the bees, up close. They don’t want to hear a lecture. I recommend opening up the hive as soon as possible and talking as you go along, and holding frames up to the screen so people can see them up close. You can rest a frame on the ledge while you talk about something else if you want: people really want to see the bees! If you’re always holding a frame of bees up while you’re talking, people won’t drift away.
  • Remember that there are people on three sides of you; show the frames to people on all three sides, and turn around to look at people.
  • Keep it positive. Don’t talk about bee diseases unless people ask. Just briefly explain that a beekeeper opens the hive to inspect it to see how healthy it is and make sure it is growing, then show people what you’re seeing: for example, these are worker bees, this is a drone, here is the queen (if you find her — she’s marked), this is pollen, this is nectar, this is capped honey, this is larvae, this is capped brood. That’s honestly all you’ll have time for (especially if you let people ask questions), and all that people will be able to handle and understand. If you know more facts like “larvae are capped about 9 days after the egg is laid, and stays capped for about 11 days before emerging”, then you can work those in as you see things.
  • You can inspect as many frames as you want to, but you don’t need to take them all out if you don’t want to.
  • When people ask questions, repeat them so everyone can hear them, and don’t get too focused on them: other people tend to drift away if you are talking to just one person.

Finally, let me recommend that if you have an hour, you should watch this video from Randy Oliver that Robin Chatham found. It talks about doing a presentation at the fair and it’s full of useful lessons:

Thank you

Thanks again for volunteering!