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 Even though the OFA Short Course is held in Columbus, Ohio, it has truly become an international event. Nearly 9,000 people from more than 25 countries gathered at the Columbus Convention Center, July 9-12.
"Horticulture professionals from across the world know that the OFA Short Course is the place to get business solutions to keep their business competitive and profitable," said Michael V. Geary, CAE, OFA's chief executive officer. "In spite of the poor spring weather in numerous areas of the United States, the challenging economic conditions and the event being organized during the week of a national holiday, participation held strong and was consistent with last year."
The Short Course featured 130 educational sessions, workshops, tours, learning labs and numerous entertainment and social events for growers, garden center retailers, interior plantscapers, florists and emerging professionals.
The sold-out exhibition, the largest all-industry horticulture trade show in the United States, showcased equipment, hard goods and plant material from 555 companies. Attendees had the opportunity to look at products and services from exhibitors in 1,458 trade show booth spaces.
"The OFA Short Course is where the industry meets," said OFA's new president, Mike McCabe of McCabe's Greenhouse & Floral in Lawrenceburg, Ind. "Just look at who comes to the event each year. It doesn't matter what size your company is or what part of the world you're from. There's always something new, and that's why I've been coming for more than 35 years."
Being responsive, innovative
Laura Kunkle, OFA director of communications and membership, said that although the Short Course participation has held strong even in down economic times, the OFA staff doesn't take its 90-plus years of success for granted.
"While we have gained valuable experience over the decades, each year we try to make the event better," Kunkle said. "The goal is to be responsive and innovative. That is easier said than done, but I think we do a good job making the OFA Short Course a place where industry professionals need – and want – to be."
Kunkle said the Short Course is a very active show with many different activities, events and learning opportunities going on any given time.
 Garden Center Live! provides Short Course attendees a unique learning and networking environment with a merchandising lab, merchandising contest and merchandising displays. |
"Of course, the trade show is always busy, which our vendor partners appreciate, but we like seeing people in the educational sessions because there are so many take-home ideas presented by the speakers," she said. "This year's sessions were often overflowing, so we had to scramble to get more chairs in the rooms. It's exciting to see so many people wanting to learn from our stellar lineup of content leaders.
"The education is planned by horticulture professionals for horticulture professionals," she said. "Instead of staff working alone on the education lineup, OFA's members are actively engaged in the process of deciding what is on the program. Additionally, OFA has been responsive to the different ways that people best learn. This year's Short Course, in particular, offered different educational formats to address the various learning styles of our changing demographics."
This was the second year for Garden Center Live!, which provided a unique learning and networking environment with a merchandising lab, merchandising contest and merchandising displays.
New this year was the Grower Solutions Lab, which offered interactive presentations, displays and information sheets. The focus of the presentations was water quality and insect management. Growers also had one-on-one time with industry researchers to discuss production challenges.
Continual improvement
Once the Short Course concludes, Kunkle said it is important that the OFA staff understand the association's members' experiences so a survey is conducted of the attendees and exhibitors to get their reactions.
"Our staff has an intense meeting where we go over all the details of the event and brainstorm for ways to improve," she said. "Our active committees meet in the fall to plan the sessions, hands-on learning opportunities, interactive activities and networking events that will be experienced at the following year's Short Course."
Kunkle said the OFA faces challenges that mirror those of any business.
"We want to offer products or services the customer wants, being innovative, providing stellar customer service and marketing in a busy world," she said. "Recognizing the challenges is easier than fixing them, but we try by encouraging our committees and staff to be creative in their programming decisions, evaluating ways to improve our members' experience, and monitoring the success of the marketing strategies.
"Associations build community, and that's what OFA is working to enforce and expand. We want to bring people together at Short Course and throughout the year to work together to grow the industry we serve."
For more: OFA, (614) 487-1117; www.ofa.org.
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