TTPG 2015

[Kapidolo Farms]

2015 TTPG Conference on Captive Care and Breeding of Turtles and Tortoises
Wednesday, November 11th, 9am-5pm
Thursday, November 12th, 9am-5pm
Friday, November 13th, 9am-12pm

http://www.ttpg.org/index.html

It's never to early to make a plan to attend this conference.

I had attended many conferences up until about 2005 and just gave up on them as the a$$hole coefficient was so high. For some reason in 2013 I ventured to this conference and found myself in wonderment. It's really really good. The speaker caliber is all over the place, but the underlying information communicated is valuable no matter how well any particular presenter does. We are not all professional stage hams, yeah!

It tends to be about leadership and the trickle down from it, no matter if it's a Boy Scout troop, a giant corporation or a Mom and Pop Cantina. Russ, the TTPG director, keeps the conference edgy and interesting, two things I need to drag me out into the open.

@ALDABRAMAN maybe you might venture this far west? And bring along some other Floridians.

 

[Neal]

I will, of course, be there. I have no excuse not to go being that it's < 10 minutes away from my house.

It's always good. Some parts are long and dry, but for not being a turtle guy I usually walk away with some worthwhile information from even the turtle presentations.

This year we're going to try to dump the kids of somewhere so we can be more social. Maybe a TFO zoo trip or get together of some type could be organized.

 

[Tom]

I will, of course, be there. I have no excuse not to go being that it's < 10 minutes away from my house.

It's always good. Some parts are long and dry, but for not being a turtle guy I usually walk away with some worthwhile information from even the turtle presentations.

This year we're going to try to dump the kids of somewhere so we can be more social. Maybe a TFO zoo trip or get together of some type could be organized.

The only Zoo I wanna see is in your backyard or the backyard of some of the other locals like Jerry last year!

 

[Tom]

I will be there as usual.

For anyone who has not been, Will is underselling it. It is a fantastic conference will some great tortoise people of all levels of interest and experience.

 

[Yvonne G]

I really wish I could go, however, I just can't make myself leave my property and animals. Even a day trip is stressful for me. But seeing all your pictures when it's over and you've posted them here, makes me very jealous. I really, really want to go.

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

I will be there as usual.

For anyone who has not been, Will is underselling it. It is a fantastic conference will some great tortoise people of all levels of interest and experience.

And why would I want to go ?

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

I have put in for my vacation so I don't miss it !

 

[TurtleBug]

I really wish I could go, however, I just can't make myself leave my property and animals. Even a day trip is stressful for me.

I wonder why they don't record the presentations and then sell the DVD's as a fundraiser after the meeting...? This would be great for people who cannot attend the conference but would love to hear the speeches.

 

[Neal]

They do record the presentations, but I don't recall ever seeing the recordings available for purchase or otherwise available to the public. Maybe send an email to someone at TTPG.

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

@ALDABRAMAN maybe you might venture this far west?

~ At this point i truly see no value other than another social event!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

The only Zoo I wanna see is in your backyard or the backyard of some of the other locals like Jerry last year!

~ That is value!

 

[Tom]

~ At this point i truly see no value other than another social event!

A lot of learning goes on. They have presenters from all over the world presenting on all sorts of topics and species. I have learned things from watching presentation on South American side-necked turtles that gave me ideas and insight into my tortoise species. Seriously. There are so many things to learn…

This is the conference where I met Tomas Diagne from Senegal who helped to explain WHY all my "desert" tortoises were thriving in tropical humid and hydrating conditions. I already knew that warm and humid was the way to go, but he explained how the seasons work over there and what the tortoises are doing all year long in the wild.

 

[GotTort]

Always enjoy this meeting. Of course it's in my backyard, so easy to justify going.

 

[immayo]

You know I'll be there! It's my once a year tortoise nerd indulgence. The rest of the year people just think I'm crazy when I talk about owning 8 tortoises. Haha

 

[Tom]

You know I'll be there! It's my once a year tortoise nerd indulgence. The rest of the year people just think I'm crazy when I talk about owning 8 tortoises. Haha

Only 8? Man… what's wrong with you?

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

~ That is value!

I get it, it is a social venue among other things. I'm sure to as much delight as concern I do not stay up 'till the whee hours drinking beers and telling war stories, and I suppose there is value in that, I just don't seem to find that value.

When I ran a conservation program, it was to bring people into an already working model/system, the value in that is they all spoke English as a second language, so lecturing was not going to be transcendent. However doing and seeing real things happening made a great structure for the people in the program.

The point Greg, is last year we visited Robert Bloom's place and Jerry Fife's place. Jerry's is a cool large some of these and some of those collection with great results. But Bloom's place, well, having a background in production agriculture and working on a large scale poultry farm, did not diminish the impact of what he had going on. My guesstimate is he produces +/- 10,000 sulcatas a year for export. You can't get that in photos and a lecture.

So, it would of course be great to meet you and socialize, I'm sure you have some great "war stories" and frankly it's better to talk to someone live than on a phone, let alone always via email. I think someone here on TFO recently lamented the quality difference between phone and email, scratching my head, I can't remember who, but live is better yet.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

You know I'll be there! It's my once a year tortoise nerd indulgence. The rest of the year people just think I'm crazy when I talk about owning 8 tortoises. Haha

Just in case you miss Nick's constant ribbing I'll pinch hit for him. "People think you are crazy anyways". In my own voice I agree with @Tom , what? only 8.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

I wonder why they don't record the presentations and then sell the DVD's as a fundraiser after the meeting...? This would be great for people who cannot attend the conference but would love to hear the speeches.

Cost of effort, time, and resources, to income - would very likely not even break even. No body likes the AV part of a conference, let alone producing it. Maybe someone there will record and upload to YouTube, but I think the speaker and TTPG would have to be on board with that, then their might be editing and message control interest that, go back to 'effort, time, and resources'.

 

[TurtleBug]

Cost of effort, time, and resources, to income - would very likely not even break even. No body likes the AV part of a conference, let alone producing it.

How about a high school kid or a college film student? Maybe even as a project for school credit...? Blank DVD's are cheap so the material cost would be minimal.

 

[Kapidolo Farms]

How about a high school kid or a college film student? Maybe even as a project for school credit...? Blank DVD's are cheap so the material cost would be minimal.

To be blunt, if it's that interesting to you, sort out those details and I'd be willing to guess Russ might let you do it.