Snake Awareness Day Presentation

[SpartaDog]

As soon as I heard about Snake Awareness Day, I contacted my school supervisor about doing a presentation for the school. At first he thought it was a great idea and told me about how he wanted me to talk about northern pine snakes, our local endangered species. But as much as I love pine snakes, our students already know enough about them, because they and diamondback terrapins are kind of our school's unofficial mascots. The environmental classes talk about them regularly.

So I emailed him back and said I'd rather talk on a broader scale, covering things like snake myths, how to ID/handle wild snakes, responsible ownership, and maybe some legislation, things like that. I still want to include a few slides on pine snakes, but that doesn't really get the message across that I want to convey. He didn't seem too thrilled I wasn't doing a 20+ min presentation on a single species, but he said that if I send him a detailed plan of what I actually want to talk about, he'd review it and let me know.

So now that there's been an official date released, I'm working on putting that together. But I realized I probably haven't covered enough.

So what other topics do you think I should include?

[Annarose15]

I think those are great topics, but what is your time limit? You should pick only the most important (and researched) topics you can comfortably discuss in that timeframe. It's always nice to leave time for questions and discussion, too, so you don't have to assume they are interpreting your information the way you believe you are presenting it. Oh, and keep it as neutral as possible in tone, so the Sup doesn't worry that it will become a political/emotional sales pitch. Just my $0.02. Good luck!

[crepers86]

That sounds awesome I doing some educational presentations. One in two weeks here on Galveston Island at the rec center. and I am planning on one for my church as well Plus some at a few libraries. I have made contact with a few people on craigslist and from hanging out at pet stores. that are all in the Houston area. The next couple months are going to be awesome. I got some permitted venomous snake keepers, some that own babies and full grown burms and retics. plus some colubrids.

[Crazy4Herps]

Sounds like you've mostly got it covered. Maybe do a slide or two on basic snake anatomy / digestion? There's some pretty interesting stuff out there on that.

And I agree with Annarose; keep it neutral! I would urge you not to mention the Everglades or snake-related legislation.

[Trackstrong83]

Those are great topics. I would DEFINITELY do something on snake misconceptions/myths. People always judge snakes wrongly!

[Evenstar]

Sounds terrific! But did I read that right that you only have about 20min?? If so, I think you're going to be hard-pressed to fit in everything you've already mentioned without having more to cover.

One thing to consider, how old are the students you're going to be talking to?? Are they your age or younger? You'll need to gear your topics and how you present those topics to the age of your audience....

Keep us updated on this! I, for one, would love to hear how it turns out. I want to eventually do something like this regularly in my local school districts.

[SpartaDog]

Sounds terrific! But did I read that right that you only have about 20min?? If so, I think you're going to be hard-pressed to fit in everything you've already mentioned without having more to cover.

One thing to consider, how old are the students you're going to be talking to?? Are they your age or younger? You'll need to gear your topics and how you present those topics to the age of your audience....

Keep us updated on this! I, for one, would love to hear how it turns out. I want to eventually do something like this regularly in my local school districts.

I have a MINIMUM 20 min. I have to ask my supervisor about exact time before I go writing up the slideshow. It's probably going to be closer to an hour or so, if he lets me do it like other people have done it.

And they're high school students at a marine biology/technology academy XD They're intelligent and mature.