Green industry professionals will be descending on the Charlotte Convention Center in Charlotte, N.C. Nov. 3-6, for the 15th annual Green Industry Expo (GIE).
Sponsored by the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA), the Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA) and the Professional Grounds Management Society (PGMS), GIE combines a national trade show and outdoor product field day to create a learning, buying and selling event that applies to most every aspect of green business.
Widely considered a vital networking opportunity, GIE’s trade show will bring together more than 360 national brand manufacturers of industry-relevant products. Approximately 100 of these manufacturers will have products available for testing during the show’s product field day. The open-air product field day will occur on the first day of GIE, Nov. 4, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The indoor trade show will run from noon. to 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 5 and again on the following Saturday, Nov. 6 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
GIE’s conference segments run throughout the event’s three days and are positioned as five comprehensive educational tracks: a technical, personnel/human resources, marketing/sales, and business track and irrigation. Each track contains sessions conducted by speaker-experts who will explore various aspects of that track’s topic.
“One educational track to be excited about is personnel and human resources,” says Tom Delaney, PLCAA vice president of government affairs. “This year Tim Doppel with Atwood LawnCare will be speaking and he’ll be discussing employee retention, which is probably the No. 1 issue for most green industry managers out there.”
“We have more educational sessions this year,” adds Lynn Melosche, director of marketing, ALCA. “With such a wide range of tracks, there really is something for everyone.”
This year’s educational green industry conference will run throughout the event, from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Nov. 5 and 6 between 8:30 and 10a.m. and again later that day from 1:30 to 5 p.m.
Networking is another much-touted aspect of the GIE experience. An expected 5,500 professionals will have the opportunity to rub elbows with peers conveniently wrangled into one location.
In addition to the scheduled events, a breakfast buffet will be offered Thursday and Friday to coincide with roundtable networking opportunities to be facilitated by on-site experts.
The three events scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 3 are ticketed events requiring prior payment arrangements. A golf outing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. that day. Later, a tree and shrub workshop offers more than an education. “The workshop will be conducted by arboricultural consultant Marty Shaw and it’s an opportunity to earn pesticide recertification credits,” says Doppel.
Also Wednesday is PLCAA’s welcome reception and raffle.
PLCAA also hosts its annual meeting/dinner on Thursday between 6:30 and 10p.m. This year’s meeting will celebrate PLCAA’s 25th anniversary and feature comedian, Tom Ryan.
Vince Poscente, author of Masters n Organizational Management, is this year’s GIE keynote speaker and Jim Paluch, JP Horizons, will be conducting the show’s grand opening session.