FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Pest Management Association (VPMA) hosted more 200 PMPs, suppliers and industry expert speakers at its 11th annual State Technical Meeting in September. Held in Richmond, companies were represented at this largest gathering of PMPs in Virginia.
This conference combines two days of training, plus an exhibit hall with 35 exhibitors sharing the latest in technology and services available to our industry. Exhibitors that provided gold sponsorship for the 2016 – 2017 program included: BASF, Bayer, Bess Labs, Dow AgroSciences, Forshaw Distribution, Residex, Syngenta, Univar and Your CrawlSpace. There also was a record support at the Silver Sponsor level by: Allergy Technologies, Brandenburg, Briostack, Catchmaster, Cental Life Sciences, CNI, Ensystex, FMC, JT Eaton, Nisus, PBC Weisburger, PDM, Pest West, Target Specialty Products/Ehrlich and ThermaStor.
The State Technical Meeting is structured to provide a full day of business management training, AND a full day of technical training by nationally renowned speakers. The companies that invest in this highly specialized training, are not only using the latest research to back up their technical service offerings, but they are also putting into practice the latest business management strategies to build their business to last!
With employee issues being at the top of many PMP’s priority list, the business day training was headlined by Dennis Fox with the Client Development Institute. He shared his insights on how to pick the “good apples” and presented on the importance of coaching your employees. He was joined by Scot Hodges from Arrow Exterminators who spoke on the development, deployment and evaluation of a manager development program. Also in the employment issue arena, Andrew Bray with NPMA gave an update on the new Overtime Rule set by the Department of Labor.
Not to be outdone, the technical day started with Bobby Corrigan speaking on the role of PMPs as more investigator than applicator. In his third appearance at the STM since its inception, he also spoke on tracking rodents for effective trapping programs. He was joined by Dr. Dini Miller and her lab – speaking on three different bed bug tools: encasements, heat units and novel appliances for bed bug work. Finally, Dr. Laurel Hansen spoke on Carpenter Bees and Carpenter Ants, and finished our day with Odorous House Ants.
For more information, visit www.VAStateTechMeeting.com.