| Conference Program: Keys to Success: Spring & Summer
Date: August 9, 2023 .... Time: 1:00 - 1:45 p.m.
How do you attract birds, bees and butterflies to your store AND consumers who love and want to attract them? Bird Man Mel will share tips on selling plants that target consumers and attracts birds, butterflies, and bees that have their wants and needs during the spring and summer months. He'll teach you how to be a problem solver and not just a product seller with merchandising and marketing tips for wild bird and backyard nature products.
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Conference Program: Keys to Success: Fall & Winter
Date: August 9, 2023 .... Time: 4:00 - 4:45 p.m.
How do you attract birds, bees and butterflies to your store AND the consumers who love and want to attract them during the fall and winter? Join Bird Man Mel as he presents Bird Seed 101, what is junk seed, and what seed is best for birds and consumer value. He'll provide tips on selling plants that provide winter food for birds, what feeders, and where to place them, for specific birds, and which are the best water, shelter, and other winter needs, and the sales opportunities available. And finally, he'll give you merchandising and marketing tips for winter and fall wild bird and backyard nature products.
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 Mel Toellner, Semi-Retired Founder and Co-Owner of Songbird Essentials
Songbird Essentials is a major producer of wild bird nest boxes, feeders, and accessories, and Gold Crest Distributing, the largest distributor of backyard nature products in North America. An avid outdoorsman since childhood, Mel was an Eagle Scout involved in conservation projects, attended the Audubon Summer Camp on a scholarship, and in 1976 graduated cum laude with a BS in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri Columbia, a degree paid for in part by funds from his first business, Mel’s Plants. With his knowledge and passion for wildlife and nature rooted in his faith, Mel has served as a board member for the Wild Bird Feeding Industry and the Bring Nature Home – Grow Native Organization, founder of Wild Bird Expo, and Head Elder of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mexico, MO. He has also written for and edited numerous publications. His column “Backyard Nature Notes” has been published in Pond Boss Magazine since 2011. Through these endeavors, he has made his name as one of the top experts in helping consumers attract and enjoy wild birds and other pollinators.
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About Songbird Essentials -- Birding & Backyard Nature
At Songbird Essentials we specialize in unique patented products that help consumers attract the beautiful songbirds they love to their homes or office grounds. Whether it is attracting Cardinals, Goldfinches, Bluebirds, Hummingbirds, Purple Martins, Orioles or your favorite; we have proven products to help you attract desired songbirds. Our award winning line up includes:
- Twirl-A-Squirrel - mechanical squirrel baffle that is the only product to win best new product of the year at both the Bird Watch America and Lawn & Garden Distributing Show
- Hummer Helper Nesting Material - The first product proven to be used by hummingbirds to build their nest and recommended by the Hummingbird Society
Many of our products have been recommended, designed, and tested by Backyard Birding enthusiasts and/or Wild Bird Nature Store owners and employees. We are a family owned company located in the middle of the US in Mexico, MO and strive to have as many of our products domestically made as possible (over 95%). Besides our own dedicated staff of employees, we provide meaningful work to several outstanding sheltered workshop organizations.