Looking for a knowledgeable speaker for your beekeeping club or organization’s event? You’ve come to the right place! The Missouri State Beekeepers Association (MSBA) has compiled a list of local experts who have generously offered their time and expertise to share their passion for beekeeping with groups across Missouri.
We want to emphasize that this directory is a resource, and MSBA acts solely as a facilitator in connecting speakers with requesting organizations. The content of presentations, speaker availability, and all logistical arrangements are the responsibility of the speaker and the requesting group. This includes negotiating presentation topics, dates, times, and any associated costs, such as speaker fees, travel expenses, or lodging.
MSBA is not involved in these negotiations and will not mediate any disputes. We encourage both speakers and requesting groups to communicate clearly and establish a written agreement outlining all terms and conditions before any event. Please conduct your own research and due diligence when selecting a speaker. By using this directory, you acknowledge and accept these terms.
About Speaker
Willing to drive 45 miles from Nixa MO
Beekeeping for 30 years
Willing to teach on
Comb Honey – History and Production
Trees For Bees
Swarm Trapping and Collection
As a boy, Dave watched his grandfather tending beehives. Dave’s first opportunity with bees of his own came after college when he found a swarm in a whiskey barrel at a garden supply store in Rochester, NY. He found local beekeepers to ask advice from and soon joined the Rochester Beekeepers Club. Back then, Dr. Richard Taylor was a local professor and frequent speaker at the club. Dave learned how to produce comb honey as well as many other things from him.These days, Dave lives on 10 acres outside Nixa, Missouri with his wife Paula. The property has several varieties of trees beneficial to honeybees. Dave is actively planting more varieties of trees and other plants for pollinators. He is a member of the Bees Alive Club in Nixa, the Beekeeping Association of the Ozarks, and the Missouri Beekeepers.
Valorie Nichols
About Speaker
Valorie Nichols has been a beekeeper since 1994, I started out, taking the beginning beekeeping classes for the first time and won a hive from what was soon to be my mentor. Unfortunately, I fell victim to losing my first hive in the winter, but got back up and decided that this hobby was something that I really wanted to pursue. So I bought two additional hives, those two became four, four became 16 and you know the rest of the story.
I retired in 2017 from United Parcel Service with 34 years of blood sweat and tears and decided that I wanted to turn my hobby that was on steroids into a business.
I have held several positions in our local club Beekeepers Association of the Ozarks, and with my current position as Vice President and South West Missouri Regional Director for the MSBA.
I am currently keeping around 100 hives of bees, and do a lot of custom extraction to complicate my life even more!!!
Tom and Melissa
About Speaker
Tom and Melissa began their beekeeping adventure in 2017 when a video of a cut out caught Melissa’s interest. Over the next year they began researching and taking classes to learn to become successful backyard beekeepers. In the Fall of 2018, they captured a late season swarm and tried to grow it in a nucleus box. Unfortunately, the swarm had other plans and absconded their new home. In Spring of 2019 they started the season with 2 nucleus colonies and 1 package of bees, that Fall they ended the season with 8 colonies. They successfully overwintered those 8 that quickly became 16. They have since doubled and tripled their colonies annually now having 150+ colonies spread out over 6 different apiaries.
Their beekeeping goals are education, sustainability, and local nuc and queen sales. Their education goals are being met through both participating in the Great Plains Master Beekeeping program as well as helping teach the monthly classes. They also do local speaking engagements at schools. They were also asked to sit in on board meetings with the Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association and were elected to board positions in 2023, Melissa as Vice President and Tom as Program Coordinator. These positions further allow them to help bring quality speakers to their club meetings and promote beekeeping education. They also attend several beekeeping conferences throughout the year to help continue their own education. Sustainability practices for them include being able to use any products produced from the hive to help fund their beekeeping adventure. They sell honey, honey straws, creamed honey, comb honey, lip balms, pollen, soaps, beeswax candles, queens, and nucs as well as preform bee removals. In 2022 they also built a wax dipping tank and began wax dipping all their woodenware equipment to help preserve their investment.