The conference brochure for the Mailorder Gardening Association (MGA) Winter 2009 conference, January 5 to 7 in Baltimore, just arrived and it’s chock full of excellent reasons to attend:
• Talks on Trends. National Gardening Association’s research guru Bruce Butterfield will discuss how the gardening customer is changing, and popular industry expert Ian Baldwin will address trends in product offerings.
• Social Media. Nationally known author and speaker Lena West of xynoMedia Technology will teach us how to make social media such as blogs, podcasts and forums easy to use, manageable and worthwhile. I’ve heard Lena speak before, and she does a terrific job of making her subject easy for the non-technical business owner to understand and profit from.
• Merchandising, Marketing and More. Other speakers include Andrea Syverson of IER Partners on merchandising, Michelle Farabaugh of LENSER on multichannel marketing and Patti Moreno of marketing to a new generation of gardeners. (For more on Patti, see our Oct 10, 2008 blog post on marketing to Gen X and Y.)
• Ask the Experts. Book one-on-one half-hour private consultations with any of 10 experts, including yours truly.
• Direct Marketing 101. A panel of four top industry marketers – Michael Allan of Gardener’s Supply, Steve LePera of Schiller-Pfeiffer (Mantis), Don Zeidler of Burpee, and Jim Zuckermandel of Zed Marketing – will host an in-depth pre-convention seminar (at no additional cost) covering proven principles that will help you build a more profitable marketing strategy.
• Round Tables. Always one of the most popular sessions, round tables will cover topics from successful upselling to web site security issues.
The conference is timed to immediately precede the popular MANTS horticultural trade show, just a couple blocks away. For a copy of the MGA convention brochure and a registration form, click here.
I hope to see you there!
