2017 Iowa State Fair martin presentation information

[Dave Duit]

Hi everyone. If you are going to the 2017 Iowa State Fair on Friday August 11th, please stop by to
see us at the DNR Building Courtyard stage. Tim Gedler and Dave Duit will be presenting,
"Attracting Purple Martins to Your Backyard"
The time and date: 1:00 PM on Friday August 11th
It is a good idea to arrive at least 15 minutes early to get a good seat.

[Dave Duit]

About two more weeks for the Iowa martin landlords to gather at the state fair. We had a huge showing last year; hopefully you bring a friend interested in purple martins this year. Our theme is "How to attract purple martins to your backyard". It is always fun to see new people.

[JRow]

Hey Dave,

I would love to attend but I will not be at the fair. In the future, I would also like to do some outreach regarding the martins. Do you represent yourself, pmca, or the dnr? Just curious if you are sponsored/endorsed by an organization. Also, does PMCA provide materials for the presentation? If so, are you allowed to modify based on your own personal experience and local pm preferences?

Have fun with your talk and I hope all the seats are full
Jen

[Dave Duit]

Hi Jen,
Outreach educational presentations are a huge boost to increase interests in martins as well as increase the overall population of the species. I'm the President of the Iowa Purple Martin Organization. Our organization is an affiliated organization of the PMCA. We are also a recognized leading bird organization by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and many local Audubon chapters throughout the state. We abide by their basic goals in helping martins and getting people involved with martins. Each affiliate organization has it's unique challenges based on their location. For example, the Minnesota Purple Martin Working Group has an interest in cold weather and insulating their housing for early spring arrivals and placement of housing at the end of docks due to the close proximity of the pine trees along the lake shores. Based on these differences, each organization can give more attention to these aspects and create their own unique educational materials. The PMCA is vital in helping each affiliated organization succeed by providing necessary educational information such as pamphlets to hand out during presentations. We are not allowed to alter PMCA educational materials. There is no need to do so since they provide an excellent source of materials to choose from for the public. in fact, the PMCA has material that you can download and print for free use under their education tab, just scroll down to download center. Our organization here in Iowa has about 90 active members. A few of our members just happened to be tied into conservation, DNR, wildlife rehab, etc... One of our members,Tim Gedler, is a DNR officer and made a connection for our organization to present at the Iowa State Fair. So, we provide materials from the PMCA to the public and we also provide our own educational materials, such as power point presentations, brochures, a website, etc... Members get together for the Annual Iowa Purple Martin Fest, which is organized by another of our members, Tim Millard. We fill all the seats during our presentations at the state fair. Several of our members have used both our organizations material as well as the PMCAs material. If you wish to start an affiliate organization you will need to contact the PMCA and they will let you know what is required. There is some paper work involved and you will need to have a mission statement and let them know your long term goals for the organization. Our organization is open to anyone regardless if the live in Iowa. A few of our members are from the Dakotas, Minnesota, Illinois, etc... You can check us out at www.iamartin.org

[JRow]

Thanks for the info Dave!
Yes, I agree, at a local level, challenges vary from housing and climate to predation. As you mentioned, general information would need to be value added to support success in the local area.
I'm most interested in presenting to local lake associations and could have been more clear about my intent. My apologies. The Dakotas have an association although I'm not sure how active the group is. I am certainly not suggesting that I duplicate efforts of the pmca, state/local chapters, or other affiliations. Instead, I would be willing to host informational seminars in this area while also aligning with the goals of the larger organization and community. This type of approach leads to the dissemination of consistent information and support while reducing confusion for those who want to learn more.
I may contact you directly if that's ok. And if anyone is who is interested is involved with the Dakota chapter, please let me know.
Best, Jen

[Archer]

Paul Mammenga and Perry D. Vogel are the founders of the Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas. Not sure how active they are. Here's their facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/PMAD2012/

[Dave Duit]

Hi Jen,
You are more than welcome to contact me at: dave@iamartin.org
If you want to present to groups on your own you can use the PMCA education download center for handouts. Basic information is a great way to go with the public in seminar presentations. You would be suprised at the misinformation people still hold on to; such as martin eat lots of mosquitoes. I try to give five large presentations each year.

[JRow]

Paul Mammenga and Perry D. Vogel are the founders of the Purple Martin Association of the Dakotas. Not sure how active they are. Here's their facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/PMAD2012/

Thanks! I will contact them. Appreciate the info!

[JRow]

Hi Jen,
You are more than welcome to contact me at: dave@iamartin.org
If you want to present to groups on your own you can use the PMCA education download center for handouts. Basic information is a great way to go with the public in seminar presentations. You would be suprised at the misinformation people still hold on to; such as martin eat lots of mosquitoes. I try to give five large presentations each year.

Hi Dave,
I will send you an email-thanks in advance for helping out!

[Dave Duit]

Ten more days for the big gathering at the fair. This is a must see for those in Iowa wanted to get started in the martin hobby. We will have informative handouts and a presentation on how to attract martins and how to keep the martins. There has always been a big turn out each year for the fair program and we want to keep the tradition going.

[Dave Duit]

Tomorrow is the big day. Hope to see all the martin landlords at the fair. 1:00 PM DNR building courtyard fairgrounds August 11th.

[Dave Duit]

Thought I would share the official poster for the fair and you can see our time on Friday.

[taxidermy lady]

I would like to see your poster and some pictures Dave! Thanks for spreading the word!

[Dave Duit]

I would love to show it to you, but I'm terrible on technology and how to attach it to the thread. lol.

[Dave Duit]

Oh my goodness. We had the largest crowd ever attend this years Iowa State Fair presentation. In fact, we ran out of space so many stood during the presentation and we handed out every piece of educational material we had available. I guess you can say the martin hobby is really taking flight in Iowa. Pun intended. Anyway, thanks for all those who attended.

[JRow]

Oh my goodness. We had the largest crowd ever attend this years Iowa State Fair presentation. In fact, we ran out of space so many stood during the presentation and we handed out every piece of educational material we had available. I guess you can say the martin hobby is really taking flight in Iowa. Pun intended. Anyway, thanks for all those who attended.

That's awesome!!! Glad you had a full house!

[Dave Duit]

Thanks JRow. I do the educational presentations in hopes that the people will take home their new knowledge about martins and put it to work.
People are truly interested in getting started with martins, but most don't know where to start. So, I point them in the direction of the PMCA and our own Iowa website to absorb as much information as they can to be successful responsible landlords.

[dubluv]

Oh my goodness. We had the largest crowd ever attend this years Iowa State Fair presentation. In fact, we ran out of space so many stood during the presentation and we handed out every piece of educational material we had available. I guess you can say the martin hobby is really taking flight in Iowa. Pun intended. Anyway, thanks for all those who attended.

that's great news, thanx for educating the public. another thought came to my mind about ways to educate the public. ask your local library about adult education programs that you could give, i'm sure many people would come for an evening to learn about our martins.

[Dave Duit]

Thanks dubluv. Interestingly, I give many presentations for retirement homes and individual school classrooms. I vary the presentations depending on the age group or groups particular topics they are interested in hearing.