trade shows

Time and Tide
As I was putting the finishing touches on my plans for New Orleans and the International Pool|Spa|Patio Expo, one of the people I was trying to set up a breakfast with asked me how many of these shows I’d attended through the years. “Hundreds,” I said, without giving it much thought. Attending shows is, after all, one of the main duties associated
2011/10.2, October 26 — Patio Design, Historic Pool, Valuing Trade Shows and more
October 26, 2011 WATERSHAPES.COM FEATURE ARTICLE A Patio Primer Continuing his ongoing discussion of key…
Finding Value in Trade Shows
Five years back, columnist Brian Van Bower wrote passionately about the opportunities he found in attending trade shows.  At that time, the industry was doing very, very well, and it’s likely his plea had a tough time finding receptive ears.  Is it possible that 
A Season for Renewal
For years now, I've listened to people gripe about trade shows - how dull they are and why attending them is such a colossal waste of time.  It's gotten to a point where it's almost fashionable to take these shots, and I hear them not just about the pool shows with which I'm vastly familiar, but also about the landscape shows of which I've attended just a few. Actually, I've been attending trade shows for longer than I care to remember.  Although just about every one of them managed to include some useful or positive experience, there's no question that I've approached them with diminishing enthusiasm through the years. I've never given up on them entirely, but I know a great many people who
Passion in Fashion
Something inspired and inspiring is happening in the watershaping industry - something I doubt has ever really happened before:  In almost every encounter I have with industry people lately (and believe me, I've seen a lot of you in the past few months), I get the palpable sense of a passion that is driving all of us in a process of creative and professional growth. I see it in the enthusiasm my fellow watershapers have for what they're doing, and I see it being directly translated into their projects and, perhaps most important, being conveyed to their clients and the attitudes everyone has about the results.  From where I sit, this is a spectacular time to be in this business, and that notion has been reinforced countless times in the recent past.   I received a concentrated dose of this broad impression during the
Passion in Fashion
Something inspired and inspiring is happening in the watershaping industry - something I doubt has ever really happened before:  In almost every encounter I have with industry people lately (and believe me, I've seen a lot of you in the past few months), I get the palpable sense of a passion that is driving all of us in a process of creative and professional growth. I see it in the enthusiasm my fellow watershapers have for what they're doing, and I see it being directly translated into their projects and, perhaps most important, being conveyed to their clients and the attitudes everyone has about the results.  From where I sit, this is a spectacular time to be in this business, and that notion has been reinforced countless times in the recent past.   I received a concentrated dose of this broad impression during the
Staying Current
With a busy schedule, it's too easy to use the same tools repeatedly in project designs.   Yes, you can mitigate the repetition to a certain extent by using those tools differently each time, but the fact remains that many of us tend to design over and over again with the same plants, hardscape materials and structural approaches because it's what we know and trust.   But let's face it:  Most clients don't want exactly what someone else has; instead, they want one element from this garden and a special plant from that one.   From a design perspective, selecting new plants every time is
Information Access
Coming up in New Orleans - first during the American Society of Landscape Architects' Expo (November 1-2) and later that same week at the International Pool & Spa Expo (November 5-6) - we'll be giving show attendees a special opportunity to
Almost Too Easy
It's a wonderful coincidence and a rare opportunity:  From October 30 through November 3, the American Society of Landscape Architects will hold its 2003 meeting and exposition in New Orleans, followed the next day - in the very same city and in the very same convention center - by the
Across the Waters
For all the comments I've heard through the years that there are too many swimming pool trade shows and that the National Spa & Pool Institute's big national show isn't