New Product! Worm Watcher Biome in a Box!

Introducing the WormWatcher^® - the only clear, indoor composter that is lockable and portable. Talk about trash, watersheds, sustainability, earth science and more as worms recycle food waste into healthy soil inside the classroom. Bury different items in each corner and compare results. Spark student curiosity with this hands-on tool! Perform experiments with the worms, worm castings (vermicast used as a soil supplement), and worm tea (liquid fertilizer). This easy-to-clean container with excellent drainage and air flow is a low-maintenance, odorless composter that requires no tumbling or turning! See fast results in days to weeks. It is easy to carry with handles in the base, so share it with other classrooms. The middle/high school kit includes a reading book, a teacher-ready workbook full of worksheets indexed by topic, a sample unit lesson plan from the National Science Teachers Association, the WormWatcher^®, DVD, directions, Vitamix, curtain, and landscape cloth. 60-day Warranty. Grades 6-12.

Contact me at JGura@fischertech.com if you'd like to offer this product on your website or have any questions.

Pittcon 2012 Review

It was very nice to have Pittcon back in Orlando. If I had to pick one place for this show to stay, it would be in Orlando! Weather was unseasonably warm to boot.

Walking the floor, I immediately noticed the impact that the economy is having in our industry as the show was significantly smaller again. I heard numbers in the "thousands" instead of "ten thousands" this year. Although, I will admit, I have not seen the final numbers.

New this year was a big screen in the middle of the show floor showing the live twitter feed from Pittcon. While this idea sounds "cool", I did not see one person looking at it and the few minutes I looked at it didn't really offer much value to me.

I'd love to see an app designed to help easily link manufacturer's with distributors. Specifically, I'm looking for a place where attendees and exhibitors can register what type of companies they are looking to meet and then have a way to connect with each other, perhaps even set an appointment. When I go to Pittcon, I have two purposes: 1. Visit my distributors and 2. Find new products to either introduce to the education market or into our network of laboratory distributors. Having an app with this type of technology would help me and many like me who are looking to find new business relationships.

I'm off to NSTA next week and look forward to seeing more of our distributors there! Have a great day everyone and to those of you in the midwest like me....enjoy the weather!

Trade Show Season starts

Just a quick FYI:

I will be at Pittcon in Orlando starting Sunday, March 11 through Wednesday March 14th. My calendar is quickly filling up, I still have a few slots left open if you'd like to meet with me.

I'll also be at NSTA in Indianapolis from March 29th through March 31st. I'm very excited to see many of my distributors to tell them about all of our fantastic new products for this catalog cycle!

United Scientific will also have a booth at CAST this November in Corpus Christi, TX. Start planning early as this is always one of the best science education shows in the country every year!

Safe travels!

John