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Mid-Am 2010 Education Includes Free Sessions for All Registrants
November 17 , 2009
WAUCONDA, IL- The Mid-America Horticultural Trade Show has expanded the educational offerings for 2010, which includes a variety of free educational sessions open to all registered attendees. Mid-Am 2010, scheduled for Wednesday, January 20 through Friday, January 22 at Chicago’s McCormick Place West, will feature a variety of educational opportunities. Like the trade show itself, the educational sessions offered are designed to appeal to a wide array of professionals working in the green industry. Top business and industry speakers will present timely and relevant topics related to horticulture industry developments, human resource issues, management techniques, marketing, and much more, offering a comprehensive educational experience. “The more we stay on top of what’s new in the marketplace to upgrade our skills and capabilities, the more valuable we become to our customers,” said Mid-Am President Richard Harms of Countryside Flower Shop & Nursery in Crystal Lake, Illinois. “Increasing our knowledge is important to help keep us on top of this highly competitive and changing industry. Mid-Am has always offered a fantastic return on investment, but it’s even more valuable with the excellent education being offered at the show this January.” Following is an overview of the educational sessions being offered at Mid-Am 2010; for complete information, including location, session and speaker details, as well as registration details, visit the Mid-Am website at www.midam.org.
New for 2010, Mid-Am includes free educational opportunities as part of trade show admission. IGIA Irrigation Education includes sessions addressing irrigation business and management issues. A total of eight 75-minute sessions are being offered on Wednesday and Thursday, some providing CEU (Continuing Education Unit) credits. The Chicago Trees Initiative (CTI): A Public-Private Partnership for Urban Forestry will feature a panel consisting of a planner, forester, arborist, grower, landscape contractor, and community advocate. The session will explain what CTI is and what they do, as well as address a number of tree-related environmental and business issues, challenges, and opportunities, including the current state of Chicago’s urban forest and impacts of climate change.
The Pre-Conference Workshop, presented by ILCA and IGIA on Tuesday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., features three concurrent all-day sessions providing ideas and solutions for green industry professionals to improve their businesses and their skills. Workshop sessions include Idea Mapping, a skill-building session that explains how to turn fleeting ideas and thoughts into a structured, visual, easy-to-understand “map”, providing innovative approaches for addressing today’s myriad management and business issues; Sustainable Landscaping Solutions: From the Soils Up to the Green Roof, a comprehensive workshop on sustainable landscaping solutions for landscape contractors, designers, and architects that presents a series of short presentations on sustainable landscaping topics provided by subject-matter experts; and Save a Struggling Business: A Case Study, which provides business owners, management personnel and new entrepreneurs with a hands-on, comprehensive workshop that specifically identifies the root causes behind a fictitious struggling mid-size commercial/residential, design/build, maintenance company. The workshop provides a best practice solution-based approach from experienced, successful professionals willing to share their expertise and knowledge.
The Midwinter Conference, presented by ILCA and IGIA, has been expanded for 2010 by offering sessions all day on Wednesday and Thursday. The conference features seven tracks and more than 30 sessions covering timely business and industry issues. Sessions are divided into the following subject-specific tracks: Growers, Retail, Sustainable Landscaping, Sales & Marketing, Management & Operations, Technical Issues, and Latino, offering sessions targeted to Latino green industry professionals that will be presented entirely in Spanish.
New to Mid-Am, the Mentoring Roundtable on Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to Noon, offers green industry business owners and managers an opportunity to ask questions, get advice and discuss hot topics with industry veterans. Registrants can choose from six topics specially designed to help green industry professionals find solutions and answers to business management challenges. Topics range from business planning, marketing, retail management, and more.
In addition, Mid-Am is offering career-enhancing opportunities presented by ILCA, IGIA, Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, and the Irrigation Association. ILCA will be offering a Latino Illinois Pesticide Spray License Training class on Friday, January 22. The class will be presented in English with Spanish translation. The full day of training does not include the exam; however participants can attend any of the published training and testing sites and take the exam at no charge at a later date. IGIA will be offering the Illinois Certified Nursery (ICN) Professional Exam on Friday from 10:00 a.m. to
1:00 p.m. The ICN Pro is a voluntary, professional certification program for the owners and employees of Nursery, Landscape, and Garden Center Firms. Green Roofs for Healthy Cities once again has partnered with Mid-Am to offer sessions from their Green Roofs Professional Program, including Green Roof Design 101 – Introductory Course and Green Roof Plants and Growing Media 401. The Irrigation Association is offering a number of classes on Wednesday and Thursday for landscape professionals who want to increase their knowledge and work towards certification in irrigation techniques; in addition, a variety of irrigation examinations will be held on Friday.
Program and registration details on all educational sessions and exams offered at the 2010 Mid-Am Trade Show can be found at www.midam.org. Discounts are available for early registration; the discount deadline is December 28, 2009. Visit the website for a wealth of information on all aspects of the 2010 Mid-Am Trade Show, including the full schedule of educational sessions, exhibitor locator tools, travel and lodging information, and much more.
The Mid-America Horticultural Trade Show is sponsored by the Illinois Green Industry Association (IGIA), the Illinois Landscape Contractors Association (ILCA), and the Wisconsin Green Industry Federation (WGIF). Mid-Am is governed by a Board of Directors, which directs the show, its programs and activities. Mid-Am was developed by green industry professionals, for green industry professionals. Unlike for-profit trade shows, proceeds from the show go back to IGIA, ILCA, and WGIF to support a sustainable green industry.
Find out how Mid-Am is going green with Sustainability for a Greener Tomorrow at this year’s show! Visit www.midam.org.
For more information, contact Mid-Am at 1000 N. Rand Road, Suite 214, Wauconda, Illinois 60084 USA. Phone: 847/526-2010; fax: 847/526-3993; mail@midam.org; www.midam.org.
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| Mid-America Horticultural Trade Show | Media Contact: |
| 1000 N. Rand Rd. | Nancy Molenda, Communications Manager |
| Suite 214 | E-mail: nmolenda@tso.net |
| Wauconda, IL 60084 | Phone: 847.526.2010 ext. 227 |
| www.midam.org | Fax: 847.526.3993 |