SAVE THE DATE! The Texas Master Naturalist 18th Annual Meeting will be held October 20th-22nd 2017 in Corpus Christi!
This page contains information about the following aspects of the 2016 Annual Meeting:
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- Presentations
- Registration
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Agenda and Advanced Training Descriptions
- Sponsors
- Vendor Opportunities
- Texas Waters Day 2016
- Call for Proposals
- Project Fair
- Silent Auction
- 3rd Annual Video Contest
- Photo and Art Contest + Chapter Scrapbook, Newsletter, and Brochure Contest
- Chapter Advisor Award
- Commuter Options
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To stay up to date with the Texas Master Naturalist Annual Meeting, learn about registration details as they are posted, and be the first to see the meeting’s agenda, join the TMN Listserv. The TMN Listserv acts as the main communication tool for the Master Naturalist Program. Event details, local training opportunities and statewide announcements are frequently sent out on this email list. Details on how to join the TMN Listserv can be found here: Texas Master Naturalist Listserv.
Photos from the 17th Annual Meeting can be viewed on our Flickr account.
Presentations
Some of the presentations presented at the 17th Annual Meeting can be found here.
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- TMN Annual Meeting Awards Presentations (Saturday Night & Sunday Morning) – Michelle Haggerty
- Big Business & the Environment-Forming Partnerships-Mary Waters
- Big Chapters-Unique Challenges
- Designing Rainwater Harvesting into Landscaping Systems– Chris Maxwell-Gaines
- Facebook for Members-Michaela Kral
- Hill Country Flora Virtual Herbarium– Raul Pena
- Interpretive Trail Guiding-David Powell
- Lake Creek Greenway-Krien VerBerkmoes
- NTMN Creating an Outreach Trunk- John White
- North Texas Master Naturalist Native Plants & Prairies Day, Social Media Case Study 2016-Kristi Kerr Leonard
- Smoke Signals-Kristi Kerr Leonard
- Texas Master Naturalist Program Perpetual Funding Campaign-Darin Paine
- TMN VMS Administrators Training 201 (eCoordinator-Admin-201)– Cheryl Foster, Dale Hughling, Brad James and Clyde Camp
- VMS Roundtable-Cheryl Foster, Dale Hughling, Brad James and Clyde Camp
- Weather and Climate Extremes-John Nielsen-Gammon
- Wildlife Watching using Automated, Autonomous Cameras-Claire Moore
- Big Chapters, Unique Challenges – Jo Lynne Merrill, Bruce Stewart, Whitney Wolf
Registration Closed
***The deadline to register was Friday, September 30th at 11:59 PM. ***
If you have any questions, please check out our Frequently Asked Questions page, or contact Mary Pearl Meuth at mpmeuth@tamu.edu.
Frequently Asked Questions
txmn.org/2016-annual-meeting-frequently-asked-questions/
Annual Meeting Agenda
17th Annual Meeting Agenda-Updated 10-13
17th Annual Meeting Advanced Training Descriptions-Updated 8/29
Sponsors for the 17th Annual Meeting
Once again this year, we are seeking sponsorships for the 17th Annual Meeting. In addition to general meeting sponsorships we are also seeking sponsorships for specific events on the agenda such as coffee breaks, awards, evening socials and more. These events allow our meeting to continue to provide participants networking opportunities, team building meetings, recognition for the great work they are doing and a healthy environment for productive educational seminars. All sponsorships will receive special recognition through conference communication, fliers, announcements and programs.
Sponsorship for the 17th TMN Annual Meeting
For more information, contact Mary Pearl Meuth at mpmeuth@tamu.edu or (979)-845-7294.
Current 2016 Sponsors:
Longleaf Pine
Audubon Texas
Seedling
Texas Wildlife Association
Texas A&M Institute of Renewable Natural Resources
The Nature Conservancy – Texas
(as of May 24)
Vendor Opportunity
With our larger than ever meeting space at La Torretta, we are looking to open up a few key spots for naturalist and conservation related vendors. The vendor booths will be located in the main foyer of the convention area of La Torretta. They will be limited to those vendors providing educational materials, selling naturalist related goods and/or artwork, or partnership programming opportunities for our Texas Master Naturalists. Vendors will receive one 6’ table and two chairs. Electricity and other display items can be discussed if needed.
Vendor set up will be on Friday, October 21st from 10am to 12:00 noon with take down and move out on Sunday, October 23rd starting at 10am. There will be ample time throughout the conference for attendees to browse the vendor areas, with breaks and socials scheduled to be held in the vendor space. We kindly ask that all vendors donate an item for the Silent Auction if possible. The money raised from the silent auction will be used to pay for scholarships for Master Naturalists from each chapter to be able to attend our conference the following year. Vendors will also receive special recognition through the conference programs at time of press. Vendors space is provided with a $200 fee. More information and the application can be found on the Vendor Application.
Vendor Application for TMN 17th Annual Meeting
For more information, contact Mary Pearl Meuth at mpmeuth@tamu.edu or (979)-845-7294.
Texas Waters Day 2016
Please join us for the inaugural Texas Waters Day, Friday October 21st, 2016 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM!
Texas Waters Day will launch the new curriculum produced by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Waters: Exploring Texas Water and Watersheds and the new Texas Waters Specialist certification program. Through this program, we want to develop a corps of well-informed volunteer specialists who provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of aquatic resources and aquatic habitats within their communities for the State of Texas. Texas Waters Specialists will be fundamental in informing the public of conservation issues specifically related to the need for fishable, swimmable and drinkable waterways for our state.
Texas Waters Day participants will receive printed copies of the new curriculum Texas Waters: Exploring Texas Water and Watersheds, presentations by recognized experts in the field of Texas water and watersheds, enjoy lunch networking with these professionals’ discussions potential volunteer project opportunities, and can earn up to four Advance Training hours.
Registration for the Texas Water and Watersheds Day is $35 per person, and lunch will be provided for the attendees. A final agenda will be emailed to all registrants as the meeting approaches. If there are any questions about the Texas Waters Specialist certification program, the Texas Waters: Exploring Texas Water and Watersheds curriculum of the Texas Waters Day 2016 program, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions page: FAQs Texas Waters Specialist Training or email Johnnie Smith, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department – Johnnie.smith@tpwd.texas.gov
Frequently Asked Questions
You can find some of the frequently asked questions about the 17th Annual Meeting at the link below:
txmn.org/2016-annual-meeting-frequently-asked-questions/
Call for Proposals
Call for Proposals for the Texas Master Naturalist 17th Annual Meeting is now closed.
Annual Meeting Project Fair
The Texas Master Naturalist Program holds this competition during our Annual Meeting each year to share and award the premier projects of the TMN Program. Members continually list this method as a favorite way to learn about projects other chapters are doing and how they may be able to replicate such projects in their areas.
Chapters entering a display into the contest will need to provide a short paragraph describing the project no later than Friday, October 7th, 2016 to Michelle Haggerty at: mmhaggerty@tamu.edu
Awards this year are being supported by a generous grant from the Wildlife Diversity Program of Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Awards will be in the form of a certificate and monetary project grants to the winning chapters which are intended to further support the winning projects or new project implementations of the chapters’ choice.
Full details on this years Project Fair guidelines can be found here: TMN Project Fair 2016
Silent Auction
The Heartwood Chapter will be hosting the 17th Annual Meeting’s Silent Auction. As they begin to develop their requests for donations, be thinking of items that your local chapter or local partnership organizations can bring to support this year’s Silent Auction. If you have questions, contact Mary Pearl Meuth, mpmeuth@tamu.edu.
Request for Silent Auction Donation
SILENT AUCTION AT THE TEXAS MASTER NATURLIST ANNUAL MEETING
AT LA TORRETTA RESORT ON LAKE CONROE, TX
OCTOBER 21-23, 2016
We are just a couple of months away from the Texas Master Naturalist (TMN) Annual Meeting at La Torretta on Lake Conroe. The meeting will be here before you know it! Thus, it is time to prepare for getting donated items for the Silent Auction. Money raised by the Silent Auction is used for TMN project grants, scholarships to the Annual Meeting, and to bring in speakers and trainers for future annual meetings.
We are asking each TMN chapter to donate a minimum of $100 in items or cash to the auction. There are many types of items that are appropriate for the silent auction. Cash will be used to purchase great items at below market prices and/or to package items attractively. Below are some ideas from previous years.
- Travel packages, vouchers and gift certificates for trips, tours, experiences, hotels and sights. These always stimulate heavy bidding and high bids. Anyone have a week at a time share they’d like to donate J ?
- Items and gift certificates solicited from businesses
- Purchased items such as outdoor gear, tools, nature guides, books about nature and generally anything related to nature.
- Hand crafted items such as art, paintings, sculptures, photographs, jewelry, wood objects and natural arrangements.
- Theme baskets and grouped items. These may represent your region and members may join together to complete these. Some theme ideas include coastal, birding, outdoorsy, décor items, kitchen, cooking, regional cuisine, etc.
Use your imagination and keep naturalist themes in mind. If it’s something you would like to have, someone else probably would too! Items or groups of items in new condition with a value of at least $25 may be donated.
Items should be brought to the Annual Meeting on Friday, October 21, if possible but will also be accepted Saturday morning. Each item should have a Silent Auction Bid Sheet with it, filled out in advance , identifying the item(s), the donor, estimated value and suggested minimum bid. Silent Auction Bid Sheets will also be available at the Annual Meeting.
The Heartwood Chapter is the local host chapter for the meeting. Julie Vickers and Ann Meador of the Heartwood Chapter are co-chairs for the Silent Auction. Please let us know in advance what you plan to contribute so we can plan the space accordingly. Contact us if you have any questions about the Silent Auction or need to ship items.
Please consider contributing to this event. It’s a great way to support the TMN mission. We look forward to seeing you at La Torretta!
Sincerely,
Ann Meador ameador@consolidated.net cell 281-731-8626
Julie Vickers jvickers@consolidated.net cell 713-294-7366
Heartwood Donation Receipt for TMN Silent Auction
3rd Annual Video Contest (Deadline Extended)
Spring has filled the outdoors with new life and activities. Take advantage of this time to Create a New Video, highlighting a(n)
- Experience as a Trainee
- Experience as a Master Naturalist, or
- Chapter Project.
You can either upload the video to YouTube or send an .mp4 or YouTube ready video file to mmhaggerty@tamu.edu
The deadline HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th. The top three videos will be announced and receive an award at the 17th Annual Meeting.
Set your length goal for 1 minute, 30 seconds to 3 minutes max. The videos will be posted on the Texas Master Naturalist Playlist on YouTube. See samples of last year’s winners at: TMN 2015 Video Contest Submissions including First Place winner by the North Texas Chapter.
Additional guidelines for this year’s contest can be found here: 3rd Annual Video Contest
Find tips and resources in the YouTube Video Creation Guide and on our Texas Master Naturalist Facebook page.
Photo and Art Contest + Chapter Scrapbook, Newsletter, and Brochure Contest
The Photo & Art Contest Chair for the 2016 Annual Meeting is Jerrel Geisler from the Gulf Coast Chapter.
The Photo & Art contest at the Annual Meeting has seven categories. If no one from your chapter will be attending the Annual Meeting, yet you would like to still enter a chapter item into the popular vote contests, please send the chapter item to Michelle Haggerty at 309 Sydney Baker South, Kerrville, TX 78028.
Entries must be submitted by 9:00 PM on Friday, October 21st (the opening day of the Annual Meeting) in the Americas Ballroom at La Torretta. The entries must be labeled with the owners name, chapter, cell phone number, category and title of the work.
- all entries must be the original work of and submitted by a Master Naturalist volunteer.
- Photos must be Texas-specific (i.e. taken in Texas).
- Entries are limited to one per category per individual.
- Photographs should be 8×10 and mounted on a stiff backing for display purposes.
- The photos must be unmatted, unframed and have no digital enhancements.
- Categories: (1) Plants, (2) Wildlife, (3) Scenic and (4) Master Naturalist at work/play.
- Art categories: (1) drawings & paintings, (2) sculpture & carvings and (3) sewing and stitchery.
- The scrapbooks, chapter newsletters and chapter brochures each compete in separate categories.
Judging may be done by: (1) by a panel of judges where available and (2) popular vote of the attendees. Awards may be given for both judging types. Ballots for the popular vote are found in your registration welcome packed upon Annual Meeting check-in. Winners will be announced during the Awards Ceremony on Sunday morning. if there are less than five entries in a given photo or art category, a placement ribbon may not be awarded.
Check out last year’s winners here: TMN 16th Annual Meeting Photo & Art Contest Winners
2016 Chapter Advisor Award (Deadline Extended)
The Texas Master Naturalist Program presents the Chapter Advisor Award to outstanding advisors and/or teams of advisors each year. the goal of the awards program is to encourage and recognize exceptional work and support of local Texas Master Naturalist Chapter advisors. The Chapter Advisor Team category was established to recognize the exceptional support of TMN chapter advisors working in partnership to support a chapter, just as the TMN program is supported by a partnership between Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service at the statewide level.
The winners will receive, at minimum, a plaque at the Annual Meeting awards ceremony detailing their accomplishments. Chapters are invited to nominate the advisor(s) for the award(s) by completing the TMN Chapter Advisor Award Application. In addition to the application, all other nomination information (a description of their nominee’s activity in each area described on the application) must fit on a total of 2 pages, and an electronic file of at least one picture of the nominee(s) must be included. Applications, nomination information, and picture(s) should be submitted electronically to Michelle Haggerty at mmhaggerty@tamu.edu by September 30th.
More information about the Award and nomination process can be found on the first page of the application, linked above.
Commuter Options
Information from the 2015 Annual Meeting can be found in the Past Meetings Archives, linked below.