Speaking engagements - who else does them and what works for you?

Bounce

TreeHouser
Joined
Oct 15, 2015
Messages
178
Location
Washington State
For the past 10 years or so, I?ve been giving presentations and speaking in front of various groups about trees and proper tree care, and have found it to be a successful form of marketing. It started out by getting an invitation to speak from somebody who had heard my drunken rant at a party, and has progressed into a steady income earner, which simultaneously keeps me active and engaged in learning more about trees as I develop new presentations. I have 7 of them so far, and for the past 5 years I?ve been developing a new one every year. I travel a lot (but only in the PNW so far) to talk to garden clubs, homeowners associations, landscape conventions, land owners, contractors, and sweet little old ladies who worry way too much about their dogwoods. I will talk to anybody who is willing to listen. Even though I usually do it for free, its a successful strategy for me because it has helped me establish myself and my business locally as a thought-leader in the industry, and resulted in a lot of jobs.

What I want to know is, (1) who else does this sort of thing, and (2) what subjects/medium(s) works and what doesn?t work for you, and (3) why?

I?ll go first. The presentation I get the most requests for that attracts the biggest regular crowd is Basic Pruning. I do it at my local arboretum, and have expanded it into a 4 hour class with two 2 hour sessions. The first is a classroom PowerPoint lecture, and the second is a hands on field day. I think this works because the general level of knowledge about trees in my area is super low (topping is still commonly practiced) and because the arboretum pushes that class more than the others through their website.
 
I think people might offer me money just to shut my yap for a few minutes. It's kinda like the old protection rackets the mob engaged in. Pay me money to prevent a migraine headache, sort of thing.
 
Sorry Sean, I poached on your turf and did one in chehalis last year.

I reckon there's a lot of topping in Chehalis.

I've thought of putting on a pruning/ tree health basics and fruit tree pruning for the local vicinity (my target market). Just can't seem to find time. I have lots of people interested when I put out feelers on NextDoor.com. Maybe this year.
 
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Really? I’m the only one? I would’ve thought everybody would be doing this. It’s my best form of advertising. Huh
 
Really? I’m the only one? I would’ve thought everybody would be doing this. It’s my best form of advertising. Huh

I think public speaking is supposed to be one of the biggest fears most people have. Which makes you an uncommon individual, and gives you a decided advantage over your competition in your local area. In my humble opinion.

Tim
 
When I was still working for the Forest Service, and doing a lot of training for climbers, sawyers, ATV and 4x4 operators, some few other specialties...I received quite a few requests from non-governmental organizations to present talks or even full on trainings.

I couldn't take recompense as a gov't employee, of course...there are rules :). Strange rules, but there it is.

I did a few gratis, probably earned the USFS some good karma, but since it was all just extra work after hours and on weekends for me with no benefit...I dodged them, mostly.

Good for you, Sean. It's a special skill, and I'm sure it helps your business opportunities.
 
When I first came here and was scratching around for work I got a call.

An English bloke who had some kind of gardening club wanted me to do a demo/talk type thing.

Wanted me to trim his apple and remove some branches from an oak over his garden in front of his “members” and he would give me the phone numbers of three people who wanted quotes for tree work.

So I said to him that basically he wanted his treework done free for the chance to quote some tree work.

The call ended badly.

I wasn’t that desperate.
 
Bounce,

I joined the North Dakota Urban and Community Forestry Association three years ago, after being appointed to the position of Urban Forester here in Cando, North Dakota.

Since that time I've been asked to give presentations regarding basic climbing techniques, pruning classes and aerial rescue.

This year I've been asked to take part in a community tree inventory program that will place every public tree in our State on a database. Some 80 communities in our State have been inventoried already, but the database is on paper and is not easily updated. The new system will allow us to update inventories on the spot, using our smart phones to access and update the database. When a tree is removed, we can subtract it from the inventory. The same is true when we plant new trees.

Following the classes that I'll be taking this coming week I'll be asked to help many communities implement this new tree inventory system. It will aid us tremendously if and when the Emerald Ash Borer arrives in North Dakota. We don't expect that it will be too long from now, because it's already been positively identified in Winnipeg, Manitoba...about 60 miles from our border.

I'll soon be traveling across the State to make presentations at city council meetings in many small towns here in North Dakota. My goal is get every community to take part in the tree inventory program and to make the database available to all city personnel, urban foresters, shade tree committees, etc.

Joel
 
I teach Arbo. and PHC at Columbus State and have given some talks for gardening clubs and the Master Gardeners program. Extra dough is nice but far more time goes into developing PPTs and lectures when teaching part-time than it's really worth. Hands on type stuff is great for many folks as opposed to class time.
 
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