Excellent Charlotte Education
Sessions Available Now on TEC Te 2019 Education Conference presented many options to address key business challenges—which earned top ratings from attendees. On Tuesday, Keynote Speaker Shawn Rhodes, a former U.S. military war correspondent and now owner of Shoshin Consulting, opened the conference sessions with his talk, “Creating A Pivot Point: Leveraging Change Without Sacrificing Results.” Mr. Rhodes has provided a recap of this session, and the breakout session he also conducted, in the article beginning on page 38. In addition, he offers access to follow-up information to all those requesting it to help TPI members proactively adapt to change and to get their staff working together as a team. As Rhodes says, “For businesses to succeed, it’s not just about individual success; it’s about crossing the finish line as a team.”
TPI Executive Director Casey Reynolds, PhD, in the session, “Natural Turfgrass Consumer Research and Upcoming Public Relations Initiative,” shared the results from TPI’s consumer research including what reasons people cite for choosing natural grass. He also introduced TPI’s new tools that will help you to promote, market and brand natural grass locally. See the article on page 20 for more details on the Keep It REAL campaign. In a second session, “Government Relations and Regulatory Updates,” Dr. Reynolds provided details on his work on behalf of TPI members with legislators and federal agencies concerning a variety of issues, including new regulations in transportation impacting TPI members, the finalization of regulations on MSMA for use in sod production, general building regulations involving turfgrass use, and other relevant issues.
Nearly all the conference education sessions were captured by videographers onsite and are now posted on the Turfgrass Education Center (TEC), TPI’s online learning platform. You can access the sessions on your desktop computer, tablet or smartphone, anytime, anywhere by visiting TPI’s website,
TurfGrassSod.org.
Wednesday morning keynote speaker Philip Davis of Tungsten Branding presented, “Te Grass Is Always Greener... Until It Isn't: Te Changing Perceptions of Public Opinion." Mr. Davis highlighted how industries, such as the dairy, pork and egg industries, have faced perception challenges and how they have successfully rebranded themselves by highlighting their strengths and repositioning their brands’ public perception, connecting that information to TPI’s Keep It REAL public relations campaign.
Concurrent Breakout Sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday gave attendees the opportunity to select topics best suited to their needs. Along with the two sessions conducted by Dr. Reynolds, options included: “Business Office Best Practices” (panel discussion); “Innovative Farm Management;” “Plant and Soil Interactions for Turfgrass Producers;” “Principles and Practices for Extending Sod Shelf-Life**;” “Turfgrass May Not be as Tirsty as Your Neighbors Tink**;” “What Drives the Market: Pricing, Marketing, and Forecasting;” and “What I Wish I’d Known” (panel discussion).
Conference education sessions concluded with three Show & Tell presentations as the trustees joining the Board in 2019 introduced themselves and provided an overview of their businesses. Te incoming trustees are: John Keleher of Australian Lawn Concepts, Bob McCurdy of McCurdy Sod Farms, and Aaron McWhorter of NG Turf.
** Indicates TLI-funded research
TPI Executive Director Dr. Casey Reynolds points to an audience member with a question.
TPI Turf News May/June 2019
Diane and Greg Mischel of DeBucks Sod Farm, Inc. during their presentation on “Innova- tive Farm Management.”
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