New England Grows, well, grows

BOSTON – New England Grows, the Northeast's largest educational conference and green industry exposition, will be held in Boston Wednesday, Feb. 1 through Friday, Feb. 3. As opening day draws near, New England Grows is reporting a 25 percent increase in attendance compared to this time last year.
 
"These strong registration numbers clearly illustrate the value that all of us in the green industry place on the New England Grows' experience," said Rich Clark, of Clark Farms in Wakefield, R.I., and president of New England Grows. "It is the place to learn what we need to stay competitive and to get business done."
 
New England Grows offers a year's worth of business building education and networking opportunities in three days. Along with its trademark world-class education seminars, the more than 1,100-booth exposition is filled with offers on the latest products and equipment.
 
Today's hottest trends and best management practices will be presented by well-known industry professionals, academics, researchers and marketing specialists. Among these are: plant expert extraordinaire Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery; marketing guru Mark Roberge of HubSpot; Brooklyn-based landscape lifestyle designers Brook Klausing and Rebecca McMackin; tree and soil expert James Urban; renown stone designer, Lew French; and Fenway Park's Director of Grounds, David Mellor.
 
In addition to a three-day line up of 30 business-building seminars, a special Garden Center Success! seminar will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 1. Opening to rave reviews last year, this daylong program will focus on helping garden center professionals buck retail market predictions and fight for their businesses in these turbulent times. Keynote speakers include business leader and best-selling author Bill Taylor, who will share the tenets of his latest book, “Practically Radical: Not-So-Crazy Ways to Transform Your Company, Shake Up Your Industry and Challenge Yourself.”
 
New England Grows registration is $45 per person before Jan. 16 and $65.00 thereafter. When four or more people from the same company sign up before Jan. 16, the price per person is just $39.00.
 
To learn more and to register visit: www.NewEnglandGrows.org.

Also, check out our virtual tour of last year’s show. Click here, go to "Latest Multimedia" and choose New England Grows 2011.