Bee Meet & TED Global Presentation

Town & Country Club1. Club Events

BackgroundTwo years ago, we installed on-site honey bee colonies to pollinate our gardens and produce honey. The honey is used by our Chef and sold to members. The University of Minnesota Bee Lab partners with Town & Country to tend to our bee colonies. Dr. Marla Spivak, a world renowned bee expert, is the Director of the U of MN Bee Lab. In June 2013, Dr. Spivak traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland and gave a TED Global presentation called, “Why Bees are Disappearing.”

ChallengeWe wanted a way to educate our members on the significance of our bee colonies and get them excited about theirpresence at our Club.

SolutionDr. Spivak hosted the Town & Country Club Bee Meet and Honey Tasting. At the meet, members of all ages sampled the T&C honey and enjoyed a beeeautiful buffet featuring food prepared with our honey. Dr. Spivak spoke about our bees and their honey yield; then treated our members to the first public screening of her TED talk video. T&C honey was available for purchase at the end of the event.

ResultsThe Bee Meet event sold out and members, both adults and children were highly engaged in the presentation. Dr. Spivak opened up for questions at the end, and members lingered for 40 minutes for the Q and A session. Honey sales were robust and our stock sold out shortly after the Bee Meet event!