The Blue Ridge Foothills and Lakes Chapter will be hosting this year's conference. They usually call themselves the BRFAL chapter (pronounced Burr-full), so practice saying that so that you'll sound like a local when you come! The VMN state office and a team of volunteers from the Blue Ridge Foothills and Lakes Chapter have been working hard over the last several months to plan the 2016 VMN Statewide Volunteer Conference and Training. It is still almost four months away, but we are finalizing all the sessions and presenters, pinning down details at the venue, and preparing the conference website.
Registration will open in June, so we want to give you a preview of the conference now to whet your appetite for the natural resources smorgasbord that we will have for you!
Venue
The Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center at Smith Mountain Lake is a wonderful venue for our needs. Attendees will be able to choose from several styles of lodging rooms, all at affordable prices. There are many classrooms for breakout sessions, including a computer lab with tablets that we’ll make use of for training on some citizen science-related technologies. The grounds include trails and lake access that will be incorporated into some of the sessions.
On-site sessions
We have thirty (!) on-site concurrent sessions from which VMN volunteers may choose. Interested in plants? Attend a session on replacing turf with natives or on identifying sedges. Are herps your thing? Track box turtles, become trained for the Frog Watch USA project, or learn how snakes kill and eat their prey. Want to build skills for educating others? Get ideas for interactive and easy outreach activities for festivals and events or learn the best way to communicate about climate change. Instructors for these sessions include highly rated local presenters as well as state agency personnel and other presenters from across the state.
Off-site sessions
Many of the on-site sessions will make use of the outdoors since we have the 4-H Center campus available to us, but we will have field trips as well. Among them are hikes to two different DCR Natural Area Preserves, a fungi foray at Claytor Nature Study Center, and a BioBlitz at Booker T. Washington National Monument. We will also have pre-conference field trips at Booker T. Washington National Monument and at Smith Mountain Lake State Park.
Back By Popular Demand
Our program is old enough to now have some traditions, and we’ll be bringing back your favorites to the conference as well. Expect the Friday night “Chapter Share Fair” where you can show off the great things your chapter is doing and gather ideas from others. The VMN photo contest will return — rules are already posted at https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/custom.aspx?EventID=1831018&_i=sCWrb7lOOoE%3d. (Note that there are limited entries per chapter; some chapters have an internal competition to choose their entries.) We will also have program awards, so watch for information about nominations which will be sent out in the coming weeks. This and registration details will be available through the Volunteer Management System once they are posted.
We hope to learn, celebrate, and swap ideas with you in August on the shores of Smith Mountain Lake!
Registration will open in June, so we want to give you a preview of the conference now to whet your appetite for the natural resources smorgasbord that we will have for you!
Venue
The Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center at Smith Mountain Lake is a wonderful venue for our needs. Attendees will be able to choose from several styles of lodging rooms, all at affordable prices. There are many classrooms for breakout sessions, including a computer lab with tablets that we’ll make use of for training on some citizen science-related technologies. The grounds include trails and lake access that will be incorporated into some of the sessions.
On-site sessions
We have thirty (!) on-site concurrent sessions from which VMN volunteers may choose. Interested in plants? Attend a session on replacing turf with natives or on identifying sedges. Are herps your thing? Track box turtles, become trained for the Frog Watch USA project, or learn how snakes kill and eat their prey. Want to build skills for educating others? Get ideas for interactive and easy outreach activities for festivals and events or learn the best way to communicate about climate change. Instructors for these sessions include highly rated local presenters as well as state agency personnel and other presenters from across the state.
Off-site sessions
Many of the on-site sessions will make use of the outdoors since we have the 4-H Center campus available to us, but we will have field trips as well. Among them are hikes to two different DCR Natural Area Preserves, a fungi foray at Claytor Nature Study Center, and a BioBlitz at Booker T. Washington National Monument. We will also have pre-conference field trips at Booker T. Washington National Monument and at Smith Mountain Lake State Park.
Back By Popular Demand
Our program is old enough to now have some traditions, and we’ll be bringing back your favorites to the conference as well. Expect the Friday night “Chapter Share Fair” where you can show off the great things your chapter is doing and gather ideas from others. The VMN photo contest will return — rules are already posted at https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/custom.aspx?EventID=1831018&_i=sCWrb7lOOoE%3d. (Note that there are limited entries per chapter; some chapters have an internal competition to choose their entries.) We will also have program awards, so watch for information about nominations which will be sent out in the coming weeks. This and registration details will be available through the Volunteer Management System once they are posted.
We hope to learn, celebrate, and swap ideas with you in August on the shores of Smith Mountain Lake!
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