Roadtrip Roundup: 2020 Global Bed Bug Summit

The 2020 Global Bed Bug Summit took place virtually Dec. 1-3. The National Pest Management Association (NPMA) describes its bi-annual event as “designed to provide pest management professionals (PMPs) with the information from legal, technical, business and customer-oriented perspectives, so they can not only eliminate bed bug issues, but also create an environment of trust between themselves and their customers.”

Originally set to take place in-person in Denver, Colo., the NPMA and the event’s premier sponsor, BedBug Central, made the decision to take it virtual based on the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. The schedule followed a format of several live presentations over two days, interspersed with breaks so attendees could visit the virtual exhibit hall. Several additional, on-demand presentations also were made available to attendees through Dec. 31, 2020.

Event Sponsors
The National Pest Management Association and Premier Sponsor BedBug Central welcomed the following levels of sponsorship for the event:
Platinum
Allergy Technologies
ConidioTec
Gold
MGK
Silver
Douglas Products
Bronze
Bed Bug Battalion
Certemy
Mattress Safe
Nattaro Labs
Pest Management Professional
Polti USA
Rockwell Labs
Spotta
World Detector Dog
Organization (WDDO)
NPMA Event
Strategic Partners
BASF
Bayer
Corteva Agriscience
FMC
Syngenta

1Pest Management Professional was among the exhibitors at the event.

2Attendees had opportunities to network via video chat during the “Night with the Experts” on Wednesday and morning roundtables on Thursday.

3National Pest Management Association CEO Dominique Stumpf, CAE, CMP, and her team were on hand to introduce several of the speakers, moderate panels and ensure the event ran smoothly.

4In his opening remarks, BedBug Central President Rob DiJoseph hinted his company will have a new name and branding in 2021.

5Dr. Chow-Yang Lee, BCE, the professor and endowed presidential chair in Urban Entomology for the University of California, Riverside, kicked off the Global Bed Bug Summit presentations with a look at the “Global Perspective of Insecticide Resistance in Bed Bugs.”

6Joey Hoke, ACE, VP of employee engagement for Junction City, Kan.-based American Pest Management, and Jen Fox, the Murrietta, Calif.-based director, service for Terminix, tag-teamed a lively discussion on how to build a top-notch bed bug program.

7Dr. Dong-Hwan Choe, an associate cooperative extension specialist and associate professor of entomology for the University of California, Riverside, teamed up with Bayer Pest Management & Public Health for a new pheromone technology for bed bug monitoring. Interestingly, this technology is similar to what’s used for home pregnancy tests. Dr. Choe told Pest Management Professional studies continue to be underway, and the product could make its way to PMPs soon.

8Dr. Karen Vail, professor and extension specialist with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture’s Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, offered attendees a research overview about optimizing bed bug monitoring, as well as a DNA research project to determine different population strains, and another project that studied how likely it was that pet cats and dogs can transmit bed bugs to their owners (spoiler alert: not likely). She also noted that a treatment cost calculator is in the works for PMPs and property managers.

9Panelists for a robust discussion of performing bed bug work during a pandemic were Mike Panichi, co-founder and VP of Platinum Pest Solutions, Lansing, Ill.; Darren Van Steenwyck, director of learning and technical services, Clark Pest Control, Lodi, Calif.; and Galvin Murphy Jr., director of business development, Yankee Pest Control, Malden, Mass. Murphy called in by phone due to technical difficulties.

10Gail Getty, BCE, is president of Getty Entomological Research and Consulting, La Crescenta, Calif.; while Carmelo Torraca is with Cooper Levenson, Attorneys at Law, Atlantic City, N.J. Moderated by the NPMA’s Dr. Brittany Campbell, the pair shared advice and insights for PMPs from their longtime pest management industry careers as expert witness and defense attorney, respectively. The bottom line from both? Document, document, document.