SFOS SPEAKERS DAY 2009

SFOS will host its annual Speakers Day on Sunday, October 4, 2009 at Signature Gardens, 12725 S.W. 122 Avenue, Miami, FL. We have a wonderful panel of highly respected speakers presenting an enjoyable and educational program. Speakers Day also includes AOS Judging and SFOS Medal Judging. Plants for judging must be registered by 10:00 A.M. and can be picked up at 12:00 P.M. Speakers’ Day has AOS approval for judging seminar credits as well. Several of our speakers will have plants to sell and sales will be open only to registered seminar participants.

This year’s speakers are:

Bob Burkey – owns Kamuela Greenhouse/Specialty Orchids along with his wife where they raise Odontoglossums, Oncidiinae Intergenerics, Cymbidiums, and Paphiopedilums. For the past four years Bob has also been the Director of the Hawaii Biotech Tissue Culture Center. He is an accredited Cymbidium Society Judge and an accredited American Orchid Society Judge. He has written many articles on growing orchids and judging, and has lectured on the subjects throughout the U.S., New Zealand, Japan, and the U.K. He is currently the Vice President of the Odontoglossum Alliance. Bob will speak on talk on “Judging Oncidiinae/Odont Intergeneric Hybrids” and will have plants to sell.

Jason Fischer – Jason has had a life-long education in orchids mainly from the opportunity to be raised in a family orchid business. Jason Fischer works at and helps manage Orchids Limited in Plymouth, Minnesota with his father Jerry Fischer. Their operation consists of four greenhouses with 15,000 square feet of growing space, a shade house, and laboratory. He took interest in orchid hybridization and lab work around 14 years of age, and first started breeding with Phalaenopsis, which later on lead to Paphs, Pphrags and miscellaneous hybrids. Jason’s first lecture on Neofinetia Falcata at the Minnesota Orchid Society in 2004 was the kick-off for an amazing journey of lectures across America including the WOC in Miami in 2008. Jason will speak on “The Phragmipedion Craze” which will cover breeding and growing techniques. Jason will also have plants to sell.

Norito Hasegawa - is the owner of Paphanatics, unLimited. He has been a judge in both the American Orchid Society and the Cymbidium Society of America for over 35 years. He is primarily a hybridizer of Slipper Orchids (Paphiopedilum) although his interests and collection of 15,000 orchids include Miniature Cattleyas, Phalaenopsis, Cymbidiums and variegated orchids of all sorts. Norito is a 3 million miler travelling to many foreign countries talking and/or judging in places such as Japan, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Taiwan, England, France, Switzerland and many cities in the USA. Norito will speak on Paph. Species and How They Influence Their Hybrids. Norito will also have plants to sell.

Tom Mirenda - trained as a Marine Biologist, and has been an orchid addict since his childhood. Tom is presently the Orchid Collection Specialist at the Smithsonian Institution where he cares for a huge collection of orchid species and hybrids, and produces a four month long orchid exhibit each year and supplies information about orchid cultivation, ecology and conservations to the public year round. His mission in life is trying to bring the horticultural, scientific and conservation communities closer together. He has been writing two popular monthly columns in Orchids magazine ‘The Orchid Checklist’ and the ‘Genus of the Month’ for the last four years. Tom will speak on “Judging and Breeding of Miniature Art Shade Cattleyas”.

Marguerite Webb - Marguerite Webb began her orchid growing career in the mid-1970’s when she took a job at J&L Orchids in Easton, CT. In 1979 she and her two partners Cordelia Head and Lucinda Winn purchased J&L, a small nursery that specializes in unusual species and miniature orchids. Marguerite has become an authority on certain New World genera such as Masdevallia, writing and lecturing about them and other aspects of orchid growing. She has traveled to places like South Africa, New Zealand and Japan to speak at orchid conferences and seminars, as well as lecturing at many World Orchid Conferences including Miami in 2008. She is a frequent contributor to orchid publications such as The Orchid Digest and Orchids. Marguerite will lecture on “Warm Growing Pleurothallidinae” and will be bringing plants to sell.

Speakers Day Schedule:

8:00 - 9:00 Breakfast, plant registration (for judging), plant sales open

9:00 - 10:00 Jason Fischer

10:00 - 11:00 Bob Burkey

11:00 - 12:00 AOS Judging and panel discussion, plant sales open

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch

1:00 - 2:00 Marguerite Webb

2:00 - 3:00 Norito Hasegawa

3:00 - 4:00 Tom Mirenda

4:00 - 5:00 Plant sales open

* Plant sales area will also be open during breaks and between speakers

Tickets for Speakers Day are $45.00 per person. The price includes a continental breakfast and cold buffet lunch. This is one of the major orchid events held annually in South Florida! Be sure to register early since tickets are limited and sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets are not available at the door. To register, please send your check and this order form to the SFOS office: 10801 S.W. 124 St., Miami, FL 33176. For more information call (305) 255-3656.

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Please return this form to: SFOS, 10801 S.W. 124 St., Miami, FL 33176.

We also accept Visa & MasterCard. Please call the SFOS office (305-255-3656) to process your charge.