I hope everyone had a nice Thankgiving! I'm still hanging on to my decorative gourds, hoping they have a little more life in them. I'm not yet ready to embrace winter. 

In this edition, we've got some great events coming up, including MANTS, TPIE and a landscape-focused show centered around issues faced by landscape professionals in the Midwest. With so many shows, you're bound to find something that caters to your business, so take a look!

With 3,650 buying companies, almost 1,000 exhibiting companies, and over 11,500 attendees, MANTS calls itself all business, and I can certainly see why. This is a trade-show only show, so there are no distractions to getting down to business and taking (or making) orders. This show has grown phenomenally and is a great opportunity to see all of your suppliers and customers in one place.

For more information, visit www.mants.com or contact info@mants.com.

With nearly 400 exhibiting companies in just over 800 booth spaces, TPIE offers wholesale buyers a wide array of resources for foliage and tropical plants in the country. Connect with vendors in person and touch and feel their plants and products. Ellen Wells, editor of Tropical Topics, shared some information on the show in her last newsletter:

Happening January 16-18 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, this is the must-attend event for anyone in the tropical plant and interiorscaping industries.

What I like about TPIE (other than the warm weather in January) is that the show covers more than just the latest plants and products for our businesses. Yes, those are important to see, but it’s also important to learn about what’s behind the purchasing decisions that our end consumers are making. To that end, the TPIE organizers (those would be the folks at FNGLA) go to great lengths to bring in speakers who can reveal what’s going on behind the scenes and explore what is driving the trends.

This year’s featured speaker is Christine Boland, a repeat keynoter at TPIE. They’ve brought her back for a third keynote engagement because Christine is constantly updating and revealing new consumer insights. An international trend analyst, Christine blends her backgrounds in psychology and fashion into explanations as to why consumers are attracted to certain styles, designs and products. Join Christine for her "Principles of Progress" keynote Wednesday, January 16, at 9 a.m.

So be sure to register now to see Christine and many other great speakers, as well as workshops and cool products. And don’t forget the CC Racks Competition, where contestants compete on rack assembly speed.

For more information and to register, visit www.tpie.org or email shaines@fngla.org. 

This expo combines education with a trade show and conference sessions for five tracks: arboriculture, grower, landscape design/build, plants, turf, and landscape management and business. Pick your track and attend talks geared to your interests, with time scheduled in to walk the trade show.

This show will feature some great educational talks that you won’t want to miss such as: 

As technologies evolve and become more accessible, green industry operations can use ecommerce and e-marketing (online marketing campaigns) to boost sales, build new partnerships, and pursue up and downstream integration strategies. Ariana will address the impact of these on green industry businesses and will characterize drivers and barriers to adopting technology in the Amazon era.

There is a tremendous difference in being a manager and being an effective manager. Tom will share some practical tips on how to be a very effective manager, address attributes of effective managers, give tips to increase communications, and discuss innovative ways to motivate your people.

Research shows there are practical ways of reducing sidewalk damage with treatments either alongside or underneath pavement when growing trees near concrete. This is important information for those involved in the design, installation or maintenance of trees, so be sure to check out this talk if you're in that business.

There will also be a weed ID workshop, a pruning basics program and a professional women in horticulture forum.

And when you're done for the day, check out restaurants, such as Beggar’s Banquet (named after the owner’s favorite Rolling Stones album) and The Cosmos wood-fired pizza grill, which are great destinations for foodies. And considering you’ll be in Michigan in January, you’ll want somewhere to hunker down and get warm with some great food.

For more information and to register, visit www.glte.org. 

Here’s one in my neck of the woods, the suburbs of Chicago. iLandscape is a show focusing on landscape professionals and their unique needs. The show features two exhibit halls and 55 educational sessions over three days. There will also be 14 business sessions to address issues with labor, sales and operations. These will be geared toward landscaping issues that those in the Upper Midwest face. 

Educational sessions include:

"IM4U: Managing Landscape Labor in the Digital Age"

Human Resources could be the most challenging element of any landscape design/build installation. Keeping the crews filled, the days productive and the clients happy is a three-ring circus of conflicting energies. This session will share new digital strategies to help small businesses with large objectives keep track.

Successful tree planting practices must be based on sound science. This up-to-date synthesis of the research devoted to planting urban and suburban trees can be used to understand and implement the appropriate practices that are vital to planting trees that will last a lifetime. Topics covered will include choice of tree size and nursery production method, site preparation, tree responses during digging, planting and establishment at the new site.

If you have a garden or landscape, you have weeds. Besides physically pulling the weeds, there are many other strategies to controlling them. Soil improvements, plant selection, yard or garden design, proper use of mulches, proper tools—all help make the job easier. Be persistent, use some of the strategies presented and you can control the laughter of the weeds.

Join Jack Pizzo as he shares expert advice on how to integrate native plants into your next landscape design and communicate the resulting benefits to your clients. Attendees will discover the rewards of using native wildflowers in your clients’ projects and learn how to use them in rain and perennial gardens. Finally, attendees will see the latest trends in native landscape design and restoring native areas and see why natural landscapes can reduce overall maintenance costs.

We are incredible propagators of plants, but how do we make more horticulturists? In this presentation, Jared will discuss how we expose youth to horticulture, how we help amateur horticulturists continue growing, and how we bridge a connection between plants and people’s other passions.

For more information and to register, visit www.ilandscapeshow.com.