Trade Shows, Associations, Events, etc

[lukus223]

Hello All, I am usually a lurker as I almost never post. I was wondering if anyone knows of tradeshows or events relevant to the landscape maintenance biz? I am planning all my finances this year and maybe a little trip on the company tab could be squeezed in. Thanks!!

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

I would say the big national one is http://www.gie-expo.com/ but there are a lot of state run and even local run events. Are you a member of any lawn care business trade groups? If you aren't, you could do a quick search and see which ones are around you. I bet they have events relatively local to your area that wouldn't require much traveling. What kinds of things are you looking for from the events?

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Like Steve said, the GIE=Expo is a very good one. I attended the last one (in October 2009) and really enjoyed it.

I am just curious, is anyone planning to go this year? I expect to go again this year and think it would be cool if we could meet and say hi to each other.

[lukus223]

Originally Posted by Steve

I would say the big national one is

http://www.gie-expo.com/

but there are a lot of state run and even local run events. Are you a member of any lawn care business trade groups? If you aren't, you could do a quick search and see which ones are around you. I bet they have events relatively local to your area that wouldn't require much traveling.

What kinds of things are you looking for from the events?

Thanks for the info Steve. I am going to keep looking for any regional groups that I could join. Do you know of any national? I'm on the west coast (Oregon).

I was hoping to go to the even and check out equipment, software, etc that is relevant to my work. Maybe hear some speakers about new business practices and trends in the industry. With other work I've done, I have always found them very helpful and worth the money. Plus, if it's someplace I could plan a "family vacation" and write off some of the expenses, all the better!!

[Steve]

I bet there are a bunch of Oregon landscape associations.

I did a quick search and found this one

http://www.oregonlandscape.org

Check that out and let us know what you think of it.

I am just curious, is anyone planning to go this year? I expect to go again this year and think it would be cool if we could meet and say hi to each other.

That is a good idea and it would potentially be a lot of fun.

Originally Posted by Steve

That is a good idea and it would potentially be a lot of fun.

I am a member of a Dealer forum and this past year we had a "meet and greet" with other forum members. It was very interesting and helped put a face with a name. In so doing, several of us were also able to go together and buy something that all of us wanted, but none of us wanted to pay full price. We were able to split the cost, etc. Either way, if we do meet, I think it would be nice if we all wore a ribbon or something that would help us immediately identify each other as a Gopher. We have some time to plan it and come up with some ideas and get a tally on who all plans to come.

As far as vacation ideas, remember, you are relatively close to the Smoky Mountains which are BEAUTIFUL that time of the year! I do the same thing. I have a brother that lives in Knoxville and this year I went to visit him and on the way back stopped at the Expo. It is very interesting, showing you what the new equipment is that has hit the markets. There are also booths with info about lawn care and landscaping products and practices.

On that note Steve, have you considered getting a booth at the Expo for your Gopher software?

[Steve]

Those are all great ideas and a lot of things to consider!

In so doing, several of us were also able to go together and buy something that all of us wanted, but none of us wanted to pay full price. We were able to split the cost, etc.

What kinds of things were you all able to split? Is this something lawn care guys could do at a trade show as well?

Originally Posted by Steve

What kinds of things were you all able to split? Is this something lawn care guys could do at a trade show as well?

Without getting specific, let me just say that it was something that we could all use simultaneously without each having to buy our own "copy" (so to speak). You could refer to it as reference material. And no, it was not software and no laws were broken!!