After signing up for the annual meeting, I felt overwhelmed at the list of sessions over the four day conference, not to mention the one session a week before the official meeting, and one full day of sessions on the ‘Before the Event’ day. Imagine over 93 sessions, 130 speakers, all 48 established chapters in attendance, and 1,146 registered attendees! Given conditions pushed our annual meeting into the virtual world, it went extremely well.
What sessions did I attend? Well, I went to:
- Behind the Scenes Tours from Prairie to Mercer Botanic Gardens
- A River Runs Through It – Geology of the Coastal Prairie
- From Fallow to Fabulous: Transforming a City Park into Wetlands, Bird Habitat and Prairie
- Flo Hannah Prairie and the Follets Strand Prairie
- Spring Creek Greenway
- Lower Trinity Basin Chapter – A Commitment to Texas Water
- Virtual Howdy! Welcome to the Texas Master Naturalist 2020 Annual Meeting!
- Are Chapter Newsletters Relevant in the Age of Social Media?
- Get Over It! Using Social Media to Educate and Engage
- Doc and Martha – Texas Master Naturalists
- Bats: Scary Disease Carriers or Invaluable Neighbors?
- Just Enough Latin to Go Plant Shopping
- Texas Seagrass
- Screech Owls A-Z; how to get your own owl
- Nature’s Best Hope – Restoring Nature’s Relationships
- Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird
- Plant Identification by Family Association and use of Written and Online Botanical Keys
- Corvids: The Amazing Crow Family
- Current News and Research on Horned Lizard Conservation
- Texas Master Naturalist Town Hall
- Membership Retention-Galveston Bay Area Style!
- The Personal Botany Field Trip–A Learning Adventure for Trainees Sheltering in Place
- Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) stations across Texas
- Building Dirt Paths: Lessons from the Spring Creek Nature Trail
- Annual Awards Ceremony
And what did I get out of the long week?
You know that commercial of the Energizer Bunny? I feel charged up and ready to go! I saw the great work other chapters are doing and feel we do the same, but do others know about it? I saw superb leadership in other chapters and know we have the same, but do we see it every day? I heard new ideas and exciting projects and know we have great talent and desires too, but are we executing on them? Why not…and why am I not helping us get there?
So, what am I going to do now?
Besides being more supportive on the technical side in our new virtual world, I have some ideas I would like to propose. These include:
- A documentary on the evolution of Hugh Ramsey Nature Park accessed virtually through our website with stories, images, videos, and interviews
- Prepare to present our Hugh Ramsey Nature Park at next year’s Texas Master Naturalist Annual Meeting
- Convert our Private Facebook page to Public so that we can re-energize out virtual outreach and marketing to the larger RGV community
- Revamp our RGVCTMN website to share our stories:
- Get to know our members: a page capturing member information including images and video interviews
- Member pages: a page for anyone wishing to share their passion and projects
- Partner pages: pages for each of our partners to showcase their mission and work plus share our contributions
- What are we doing: a page documenting the work we do year-round through images and videos
- Online newsletter: a page to present our newsletter in dynamic fashion
In addition, I accepted my nomination to be Chapter President for the 2021 year. I joined our Chapter in 2014 and learned so much about the valley I was so eager to leave when I was 18. I have seen our officers, directors, and committees keep our chapter moving over the years and, after our annual meeting, I decided it was my turn to step in. I know our success is a team effort. I certainly can’t do anything alone. I also know, unlike the Energizer Bunny, I don’t have limitless energy and endurance. My hope is that many of you will help raise our group to new heights.