VPMA Hosts 11th Annual State Technical Meeting
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FREDERICKSBURG, VA November 7, 2016 - The Virginia Pest Management Association (VPMA) hosted over 200 PMPs, suppliers and industry expert speakers at its 11th annual State Technical Meeting in September. Held in Richmond, September 20 – 22, 107 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. Headlining our exhibitors were those that provided gold sponsorship for the 2016 – 17 year: BASF, Bayer, Bess Labs, Dow AgroSciences, Forshaw Distribution, Residex, Syngenta, Univar and Your Crawl Space. The financial support provided by these great companies enables VPMA to provide top quality training all year long.
We also had 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. Together, our sponsors support VPMA in such a way as to allow us to bring in heavy-hitting speakers who provide timely and pertinent education for our members!
Not all training meetings are created equal! There is more to operating a successful pest management company than controlling pests, which is why 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!
Considered by many as the premier training event in the Mid-Atlantic States, the 11th State Technical Meeting delivered the top-notch, cutting-edge training that has made this the go-to meeting of choice for owners, managers and technicians alike. 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 a national favorite, Bobby Corrigan, speaking on the role of PMP’s 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.
VPMA has confirmed our 2017 State Technical Meeting dates as September 27 and 28, 2017 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Richmond – Midlothian.
For more information, visit www.VAStateTechMeeting.com.
VPMA is a professional organization of approximately 250 member companies employing over 3000 people throughout Virginia and generating over $280 million in annual revenues. VPMA is dedicated to promoting the interests and general welfare of the pest management industry and to supporting scientific, technical and business research in the areas of pest management. For more information, please call our Executive Director, Andrea Coron, at 877/875-8722 or visit our website at www.vpmaonline.com.
