Speaker at podium

 

What is the Speakers Bureau?

The Speakers Bureau provides knowledgeable Master Gardner speakers for events and meetings in the Bexar County area; including garden clubs, fairs, HOA and neighborhood associations, schools, senior centers, and more.

Master Gardeners can participate in the Speakers Bureau as a

  • Speaker – give presentations.
  • Assistant – assists the speaker at an event.
  • Presentation developer – works with the Speakers Bureau librarian to help develop new presentations for the Presentation Library.
  • SB Coordinator – connects requests from the public with speakers from our speaker list.

How to Volunteer

Speaker – To volunteer as a speaker, email our Speakers Bureau Coordinator, Nora Fellows, or fill out and submit the online Speakers Bureau Volunteer Contact Form below.  She will put you on the speakers list along with your list of topics on which you would be willing to give a presentation. When a request for a presentation comes in the SB Coordinator will contact the speakers listed for that program. Please respond yes or no so they will not have to follow up with a phone call. (Use volunteer hour Code 500)

Assistant – To volunteer to be an assistant, sign up for opportunities on VMS.

Use volunteer hour Code 500 when you assist a MG speaker, use Code 1100 when you assist David.

Presentation developer – To volunteer to help develop presentations, email our Speakers Bureau Development Team Lead, Nancy Mills.

Speaker Bureau Volunteer Contact Form

At the first of each year, speakers need to renew their commitment to the Speakers Bureau by submitting the following form. This provides the Speakers Bureau Coordinator with an updated list of MGs interested in participating for the coming year, along with current contact information and topic interests. If, at any time during the year, you would like to change the topics you are interested in giving you may use form to do so. Please list all topics for which you are willing to be a presenter each time you use the form.

    Contact Preference: EmailTextPhone

    Topics of Interest:

    Are you interested in attending a training of the presentations located in the Bexar County Master Gardener Library? YesNo

    Resources for Speakers

    Presentation Library – The BCMG Speakers Bureau Library contains PowerPoint presentations that are available for all speakers to use. While not all topics are in the library at this time, we are adding more each year. All presentations have research-based information, appropriate logo and branding, and speaker notes.

    The Presentation Library also contains presentation templates for Master Gardeners who are preparing new presentations.  Templates have current logos and shared slides.

    To have access to the Library you will need to

    • Be on the Speakers Bureau list of speakers
    • Provide the Speaker Bureau Team Lead, Pat Simpson, with a gmail email address

    Digital Gardening Library – The Gardening Library contains links to gardening and water conservation publications and websites to make it easier to access great researched-based information. This library is also available for the general public.

    Master Gardeners will be able to use the digital Gardening Library for presentation development and, instead of printing and taking paper copies of handouts to their presentations, they will be able to direct their audience to the publication and/or website in our library.

    Presentation Topics- Currently, the Speakers Bureau Presentation Library has the following presentations:

    • Container Gardening
    • Container Gardening with Succulents
    • Butterfly & Pollinator Gardening
    • Drip Irrigation
    • Earth-Kind® Roses
    • Easy Plant Propagation
    • Fall Gardening Tasks
    • Finding Plants That Thrive
    • Growing Citrus in Bexar County (2 hrs)
    • Growing Herbs
    • Irrigation Efficiency – Managing Water in the Landscape
    • Japanese Gardening: Texas Style!
    • Keep Calm and Compost On
    • Making a Rain Barrel
    • Pollinator Gardening
    • Propagation – Cuttings
    • Pruning Ornamental and Shade Trees
    • Rainwater Harvesting
    • Shady Characters in the Garden (Shade Gardening)
    • Spring Into Landscape Gardening (Spring Gardening Tasks)
    • Surviving the Summer Heat
    • Texas! It’s a Whole ‘Nuther Country – Newcomer’s Guide to Gardening in South Texas
    • The Basics of Landscape Groundcovers
    • Texas Native Ornamental Shrubs for Your Landscape
    • Texas Native Perennials and Annuals for Your Landscape
    • Texas Superstars – More Than Just Pretty Plants
    • Texas Superstar Annuals
    • Texas Superstars Perennials
    • Texas Superstar Plants for Fall
    • Texas Superstar (master deck – used to build targeted Superstar programs)
    • Wild About Texas Wildflowers