Green Industry Conference 2023 Education Sessions
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Frontier Room
Education Champion Sponsor
7:55 am
KEYNOTE: 2024 Garden Trends
Katie Dubow
Why should you care about trends? It’s simple. Trends drive consumers and consumers drive sales. The Green Industry Show & Conference is the place to learn about new trends, stay relevant and grow your business. Join Katie Dubow, global trendspotter, president of Garden Media Group and QVC guest host, in this informative session. Katie will outline the seven 2024 Garden Trends, including the color of the year, and offer tips on how to apply each trend to your own business. Garden trends are more important than ever. When you’re ahead of the curve, your company becomes a trendsetter and you become the go to place for what’s new.
9:05 am
Slip Fall & Readiness
Grant Harrison
For snow contractors, the possibility of a slip and fall claim is always on your mind. Every precaution must be taken to ensure the safety of clients and those on their sites. But what documentation do you need to protect yourself against a slip and fall claim? Being prepared can make the process a lot smoother, less stressful, and less costly. Slip and fall readiness and the ability to defend yourself in the event of a claim starts and stops at good documentation. In this case, there’s no such thing as too much information and there’s no substitute for being prepared.
10:15 am
Plant Characteristics that Support Beneficial Insects for Landscape Management
Ken Fry
This session will explore the various features of flowering plants (including trees) that recruit and support pollinators, predators and parasitoids. Which plants are good for pest management and which are bad? Find out if what you are planting or maintaining is helping you or hindering you in your pest management efforts.
11:25 am
Marketing to Millenials
Katie Dubow
Move over boomers – there’s a new consumer in town. In today’s society, it’s clear that millennials have a massive buying power. Garden Media Group and admitted millennial Katie Dubow will define what millennials value and the best ways brands can reach this demographic. Use the information provided to grow your business and stay relevant.
Trailblazer I
Education Champion Sponsor
9:05 am
The “Big Truth” about Plants and Their Role in our World
Bob Reeves
Plants at large (and forests and prairies in particular) are rarely appreciated for their value to Earth’s biosphere; if we think of them at all, we assign them little agency or purpose, when in fact these amazing ecosystems sustain all lifeforms on Earth. Photosynthecally-powered plants are not mere consumers of resources, but through a deeply integrated symbiosis with the soil microbiome – they provide, maintain, rehabilitate, and nurture every other living organism on our planet. We will explore this ‘big truth’; see how it came to be so, and what we (as landscape professionals) can do to assist the ecosystems in our trust to get back to full health and function. How and why should we integrate soil health into our day-to-day professional lives.
10:15 am
The Long Grass Movement
Egan Davis
Conventional turf grass management practices are intensive and reliant on the heavy use of resources such as water, fertilizer, labour and equipment. While this type of program is necessary for the maintenance of sports fields, there are opportunities to reimagine the approach to maintaining passive turf grass areas in ways that reduce the use of resources while increasing the ecosystem services that parks provide.
Egan will present approaches long grass management that are modelled after natural grassland plant communities. Ecological elements such as succession, diversity, competition, disturbance and nutrient cycling will be explored and related back to horticultural practice. Discuss balancing the ecological goals of long grass management with the function of passive turf grass areas while addressing community expectations.
11:25 am
Branching Out: Creative Ways to Diversify as Landscape Designers
Christyn Palazzo
Landscape designers possess a natural inclination for creativity; constantly pushing the boundaries of design. However, it’s important to recognize that creativity can be a powerful asset when it comes to expanding our businesses beyond traditional design services. From offering additional services and specializing in niche areas to embracing technology and forging strategic partnerships, this session will provide practical tips and actionable steps to help landscape designers diversify revenue streams and grow their business.
Trailblazer II
Education Champion Sponsor
Education Trailblazer Sponsor
9:05 am
Optimizing Strawberry Production through Dynamic Lighting Protocols
Rose Seguin
Greenhouse strawberry production is relatively new and with new varieties being introduced every year, we are only at the beginning of understanding the climate nuances of this crop. In this presentation, we will focus on the various considerations for lighting everbearing strawberry varieties, such as stem elongation, flowering protocols and possibilities for pathogen control through lighting. We will consider the profiles of different strawberry varieties and how dynamic lighting allows you to meet their needs throughout the production cycle.
10:15 am
Developing Greenhouse Tomato Varieties Adapted to the Canadian Environment
Travis Banks
Canadian greenhouse producers predominantly grow tomato varieties bred for locations other than Canada, resulting in yield and performance disadvantages relative to other regions. In 2013 Vineland Research and Innovation Centre started a consumer-driven greenhouse tomato breeding project specifically to address the needs of Canadian producers. This presentation will highlight the progress we’ve made in developing tomato-on-the-vine varieties that are preferred by consumers, out-yield competing varieties, and have disease resistances absent in other offerings.
11:25 am
Solving the Staffing Dilemma
Jacki Hart
Never before has it been so important to manage the ‘internal company brand’ experience. More now than ever, what employees experience every day at work is crucial to finding and keeping great people on a team. Being a part of an engaged team is where it’s at. If your company team struggles with getting high rates of retention and engagement, and if you want to learn what to do about it, then you need to come to this seminar.
Lookout Room
Education Champion Sponsor
Education Trailblazer Sponsor
9:05 am
Becoming a Leader to Build Leaders
Brad Parker
We all have an idea of who a leader is and what we think a leader does, but do we know how to become a leader. Hiring, training and retaining staff is one of the hardest aspects of any business. Learn some strategies on creating leaders within your business, leading up and down the chain of command and the value of teaching your staff to be proactive rather than reactive.
10:15 am
Planting Prosperity – Rooted Strategies for the Growth or Exit of Your Business
Don Montgomery
Whether you have 1, 5 or 10+ years before you consider an exit, you should always be thinking about ways to improve your businesses’ value.
In this session you will learn:
– How landscaping (and similar) businesses are valued
– Update on the current market dynamics (is now a good time to sell?)
– Primary drivers of business value and how to enhance these in your business
– Why size matters
– Typical succession / exit options
11:25 am
Building and Executing a $100 Million Municipal Tree Planting Initiative
Erin Belva & Kortney Tompkins
The City of Edmonton Urban Forest Asset Management Plan laid out the framework of how many trees need to be planted and how much area to naturalize to reach 2 million trees planted and 20% canopy cover by 2031 and 2071, respectively. Edmonton recently received municipal and federal funding to build planting plans to reach these goals. In our presentation we will provide an overview of our asset management plan, how we prioritized planting targets and show the roadmap of how we plan to plant all of the trees to use the funding; including the benefits and impacts this project may provide to the private sector.
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Frontier Room
Education Champion Sponsor
7:55 am
KEYNOTE: Is the Elephant Winning?
Jacki Hart
Being no stranger to tough conversations with both staff, and managers, join our Keynote Speaker Jacki Hart as she peels back the smoke screen and digs into that tough place – the gap between what employees want/need and what employers/managers offer or can provide to them. It’s a no-brainer that all of us ‘don’t know what we don’t know’, and Jacki says it’s time for everyone to get dialed into the current reality from both sides of the office door.
This interactive Keynote will dig into current reality – including listening to everyone with live-polling – to get the pulse of where both staff and employers are at across the province, with their expectations and experience of working together – AND THEN, how to narrow the expectation gaps, improve the experience and elevate company culture so that every team can banish the Elephants, and LOVE being at work. There’s a great path forward to grow awesome businesses, teams and life opportunities for everyone – the slow (old) way – or on the (new) fast-track. So, which do you want?
9:05 am
Marketing to Attract You’re A-Client
Vanessa McQuade & Rob Murray
Are you tired of not getting enough of the right leads? This session will walk you through the tools to attract more Awesome Clients – the ones you love working with, understand your value, and refer you to other A-Clients. Discover how to tailor your marketing to attract them, techniques to use to qualify them, and how to keep them as long-lasting clients that will help grow your business. You will walk away being able to:
- Discover three simple ways to generate A-Leads.
- Find out how to assess if your marketing is cohesive and if your dollars are being spent in the right areas to get you the best ROI.
Learn marketing techniques to discourage tire kickers.
10:15 am
Bringing Value and Professionalism to the Landscape Industry
Brad Parker
In the residential landscape world, we all struggle with the notion of: “If I could only charge more”, or “I’m worth more than they are because…”. I’m going to walk you through some very simple and easy steps on how to set yourself apart from the competition and GET PAID LIKE A PROFESSIONAL!
11:25 am
Grow Profits Using Job Costing to Identify and Eliminate Waste in Your Company
Brandy Jones
This session will give an overview of the importance of job costing and how to keep it simple and automated as possible it will also give an overview of the biggest reasons landscape companies lose efficiency and profitability, and how to snuff those wastes out for good!
Trailblazer I
Education Champion Sponsor
Education Trailblazer Sponsor
9:05 am
Profit Works
Grant Harrison
An overview of the book Profit Works by Alex Freytag and Tom Bouwer. We unravel the complexity of incentive plans to increase employee productivity, cultivate an engaged workforce and maximize your company’s potential.
10:15 am
Plant Sociability
Egan Davis
In a natural environment, plants occur in complex and interconnected communities. Plant adaptation and competition strategies determine the composition of plants in any given community. Plant distribution and occurrence will literally express environmental niches. Through his presentation, Egan will interactively explore and interpret various wild plant communities with the audience and discuss how learnings can be applied to horticultural application. Participants will learn how to apply the principles of plant ecology to the many landscape challenges associated with climate change and limited resources.
11:25 am
IPM & Research Update
Jason Pick
The seminar will provide the relevancy behind IPM in our management approaches for weed, insect and turf diseases, followed by the related latest advances and research from the Alberta Turfgrass Research Foundation.
Trailblazer II
Education Champion Sponsor
9:05 am
Effect on Climate Change on Urban Trees
Toso Bozic
Urban trees play a vital role in enhancing the quality of life in cities, providing numerous environmental, social, and economic benefits. The effect of climate change on urban trees are numerous including rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and increased extreme weather events that are creating a hostile environment for many tree species. The urban foresters, arborists and decision makers faces challenging and difficult decisions, on tree care and maintenance of existing trees, choosing right tree species, to ensure tree survival and adaptation to climate change. This requires new strategies and approaches to manage urban trees and forest. The effect of climate change on urban forest can be addressed in following areas.
The topic for presentation will cover why policymakers, urban planners and architects, tree nurseries, plant breeders, and communities should collaborate in developing climate-resilient tree species selection, innovative tree planting, care and maintenance systems, sustainable urban design, and increase green infrastructure.
10:15 am
What You Need to Know About Alberta’s New Prompt Payment Act
Jordan Crone and Tom Brookes
Jordan and Tom will provide an overview of the Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act, including its impacts upon invoicing, payment timing, and standard-form contracts. They will then conclude with recommendations for how to best adapt your organization to confirm to the requirements of this new legislation.
11:25 am
Prairie Perennial Trials
Owen Vanstone
Will it survive here? Will it thrive? This session will take a look at the cold hardiness trials conducted over the past eight years to see what lessons we can learn as we look at herbaceous perennial sales going forward. This is an exciting and dynamic plant category, and it is important to have confidence that the plants we grow and sell will be well suited to the challenging Prairie climate. Join us to gain valuable perspective as you think about the 2024 sales season.
Lookout Room
Education Champion Sponsor
9:05 am
An Overview of Thrips Affecting Greenhouse Crops
Ken Fry
This session will review the different species of thrips that infest greenhouse crops in Alberta. We will also examine potential threats such as Thrips parvispinus or Pepper Thrips and Scirtothrips doralis, the Chilli Thrips. Damage, identification, monitoring, and management will be covered for each species.
10:15 am
Shift Your Mindset, Grow Your Business
Christyn Palazzo
As a green industry professional, your experience, knowledge, and insights are invaluable; and it can be incredibly frustrating when clients don’t listen to your recommendations. However, there is a powerful solution that can transform your relationship with clients. By shifting your mindset from being perceived solely as a landscaper or designer to positioning yourself as a landscape consultant, you can significantly impact how clients perceive your expertise and improve their willingness to listen and implement your advice. Learn practical strategies on how to become a trusted partner and how this approach can positively impact your business’s bottom line.
11:25 am
The Future is Electric
Panel: Steve James, Zurich Canada, Graham Mahue, Marsh Canada, Travis Hume, Jim Peplinski Leasing, Robert Harris, Toro Equipment
Moderator: Grant Harrison, Nextra Consulting
Tesla is the in the top 10 most valuable companies in the world. Honda has announced end of production of its gasoline powered small engines. Electric is coming! There are many questions to answer for the green industry. Will electric vehicles have the range/power needed for commercial use? Will the new battery powered equipment be mandated or simply evolve to the new benchmark for maintenance? How will HR policy have to adapt with at home charging of work equipment? What will your insurance provider require to ensure your facility or fleet? Join a panel of experts from across the industry as they explore the numerous factors to consider as the electric revolution arrives.
This is a panel discussion with confirmed speakers from Jim Peplinski Leasing, Toro Equipment, and Marsh Canada. Exact lineup is to be determined.