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TOCA Resorts to Revving it Up at Tampa Resort

By Den Gardner
Executive Director

With 70+ members in attendance, the 28th annual meeting of the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) is history. This will go down as the organization’s second largest meeting over the years. With informative presentations, the awarding of our top communications awards and remarkable weather (save for one brief shower Thursday night prior to the awards banquet), the Tampa meeting was undoubtedly one of the association’s best in years.

First, thanks to the Program Committee of Scott Hollister, Lacy Ravencraft, Debbie Clayton, Sara Bojar, Scott Covelli and Andy Parmann for working diligently to plan an event with great professional development, tours, networking and the presentation of our association’s communications’ awards for the best writing, design, photo and video production work in the business. You personify what’s great about this organization. Here’s one comment among many to that group: “Wonderful event! The individuals in charge and planning and executing this meeting did a fantastic job!” 

I’m reminded of the words recently by Pat Jones about what TOCA means to him (and we hope many others): “The beautiful thing about the TOCA annual meeting is that it’s the one place that allows us to grow our relationships with each other without all the noise, distractions and deadlines we face every hour in our jobs. Most of us spend our days trying to educate and help readers and customers. TOCA allows us a chance to recharge our batteries, learn new things and become better people and better friends. That’s indispensable.”

And special thanks to Kristy with a “y” Mach and Kristi with an “i” Gardner for all their logistics planning and other efforts to bring a finely-tuned event to our members. And finally, thanks to brother Dan Gardner, who each year enjoys five glorious days with TOCA staff and members on vacation in whatever city TOCA holds its annual meeting. As one attendee put it: “Bravo to the TOCA staff!”

Our surveys are back from the meeting and here’s what you had to say:

“I thought the programming this year was the best we’ve had. Love the addition of the newbie dinner.”

“I especially appreciated the Nine Holes presentation and how the two speakers from EPIC included case studies from Non-EPIC Clients and media examples from outside of their company (and I told them so.) That was the true spirit of a TOCA presentation!”

“I really enjoyed the panel style discussion with people in the field. I thought that really helped to connect to the audience.”

“Writing topics are always great. The keynote speakers the past couple of years have been excellent. I love the focus on how to improve our writing skills.”

“I loved hearing from end users about how they consume media and product information! More of that please!”

The event was over far too quickly. An outstanding couple of days of education. Each of the speakers was fantastic, and I felt I came away having learned a huge amount.”

“Everyone is so nice and I really enjoyed the sessions. I’ve definitely been telling other people they need to join and come in the future! The only suggestion I have would be to have everyone check in on the first day so you have name badges. That helps with getting to know everyone. Also, I loved the first-timers dinner — such a great idea!” 

“Well run conference. Members are friendly and welcoming. Speakers were informative and engaging.  Very impressed, plan to be back.”

“My first TOCA. The speakers were awesome and I appreciated the time to meet new faces during the silent auction (which was also great).”

“I think the event was excellent. The education has been really great over the past 6 or so years. That and the networking is the main reason I come. I wonder if some sort of event to encourage networking would be good?”

OK, I’ll admit there were some constructive comments on how to do the meeting better (blah, blah, blah). Just kidding. We received some great information and will incorporate some of those specific ideas regarding things like:

  • The Thursday morning breakfast and committee meetings.
  • Tweaks to the awards evening.
  • Other professional development opportunities beyond writing and,
  • More networking opportunities.

Let’s get on to the highlights (not necessarily in chronological order):

  • Congrats to Dr. Frank Wong of Bayer for being named our 19th recipient of the TOCA Environmental Communicator of the Year, a program sponsored by Project EverGreen.
  • John Reitman of TurfNet was named the Plant Health Writer of the Year, a program sponsored by Bayer. The program in its fifth year. He was named to this award through his numerous reports/webinars and articles about the environment, weather and plant health.

Our professional development workshops throughout the conference were highly rated by attendees. Those included:

▪Lisa Lochridge, director of public affairs for the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association, spoke on preparedness for a communications crisis.

▪Roy Peter Clark from the Poynter Institute on improving your b-b writing and creative skills for today’s readers/customers.

▪The Social Media Nine-Hole Golf Course presentation by Scott Covelli and Andy Parmann of EPIC Creative focused on enhancing your readers’/customers’ social media experiences, using real examples from TOCA members and, as they noted, “keeping us out of the bunkers and on par with our social media practices.”

▪The end-user panel of a golf course superintendent (Brandon Richey), tree farm owner (Timothee Salin), lawn care operator (Rick Orr) and sports turf manager (Matt Bruderek) enlightened members on how they use social media in their day-to-day operations. The panel was moderated by Scott Hollister.

  • Special thanks to Chip Lewison, superintendent at Saddlebrook’s two courses. Chip stepped in at the last minute to provide members with background on his new work to improve the golf facilities at the site. That tour was followed by a behind-the-scenes look at how the horticultural staff at Busch Gardens prepares the grounds for its millions of annual visitors.
  • Also in attendance this year was TOCA Foundation scholarship winner Megan Tyminski of the University of Missouri. Megan was put to work assisting staff with logistics at the meeting, while at the same time finishing preparations for her finals when she returned to school. We appreciate her attendance and thanks to the major TOCA media companies that sponsor this award each year.
  • Also in attendance, and ready to head to Ireland for his internship, was 2017 TOCA intern Marty Richardson, hosted by TurfNet. This is the second year TOCA, through its foundation, is partnering with TurfNet to supplement its intern program in this collaboration. This program is sponsored by Bayer through a $3,000 stipend.
  • Debbie Clayton of Clayton Communications was named to the TOCA Hall of Fame, joining this esteemed group of members: Bob Tracinski, Margaret Bell, Owen Towne, Cindy Code, Pat Jones, Jerry Roche, Jose Milan, Steve Trusty, Ron Hall and Den Gardner.  Find the 2017 TOCA Hall of Fame induction presentation here.
  • The meeting culminated with the evening reception, dinner and awards (domestic and international) program, sponsored for 28 years by Syngenta (and its legacy companies). More than 430 entries were made to this year’s program and the first place and merit winners were recognized, along with the Gardner Awards, given to the top winners in writing, design, photography/video and special projects.

Now, an update for members on the business news of TOCA.

Budget Update.  Annual revenue estimated at $121,900. All major revenue sources – membership dues, annual meeting, contest and corporate sponsorships –  met or exceeded  their budgeted goals. Plus there is a reserve fund of approximately $88,000. Regarding expenses, total expenditures will be about $115,000.

Corporate Sponsors/Publishers Scholarship.  Exceeded goal $52,000.  For a list of total sponsors, please go the TOCA website.

Membership Update. The most important component of the membership recruitment effort will be on promoting the value of TOCA to members. Russ Warner and Andrew Gillman are leading efforts as chairs to expand and grow memberships. Efforts are focusing on state associations, other national green associations, more ornamental companies and publications. A special Young Professionals offer was made in 2017 and it will continue in 2018.

Additional focus is on re-making the membership section of the web site and creating marketing materials to promote TOCA at green industry shows. TOCA will have some presence this year at Cultivate’17 and the FarWest show. It will continue its presence at GIE+EXPO, the Golf Industry Show and the Irrigation Association Show.

Contest Update. Third year online with entries. High marks again. Total of 443 entries (domestic and international) from 35 different companies. TOCA pays an annual maintenance fee of approximately $1,100 for its online contest.

GIE+Expo Breakfast. This continues to be sponsored by Bayer. This is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 20, at 7:30 a.m., Expo Center in Louisville.

GIS Breakfast. The Golf Industry Show TOCA breakfast is now sponsored by  Jacobsen/Syngenta, and GCSAA/GCM.  The 2018 breakfast will be Wednesday, Feb. 7, in San Antonio. Details to come.

Irrigation Association Breakfast. Have now held this with Ewing’s support for the past three years, first as a breakfast, then as a lunch. The third year was a “TOCA Fireside Chat” and proved very successful. This will continue at the 2017 show in Orlando. Details forthcoming.

Future Annual Meetings.  2018, Cincinnati; 2019, Charlotte.  Board directs staff to look at Charlotte, Denver and Cincinnati for 2018.  As an FYI, previous locations include: Atlanta, St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbus, Raleigh, Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Diego, Cleveland, Orlando, Boston, Phoenix, San Antonio, Charleston, SC, Seattle, Memphis, NAPA, Savannah, Minneapolis, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tucson, Asheville, Nashville, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Omaha and Tampa.

Board of Directors Update. These members were elected to the board at the Tampa meeting (board members with publications noted):

Lacy Ravencraft, President
Marisa Palmieri, President-Elect, North Coast Media
Scott Hollister, Past President, Golf Course Management
Russ Warner, Secretary/Treasurer, GIE Media
Debbie Clayton, Director
Cindy Code, Director
Jon Kiger, Director
Brian Schoenthaler, Director
Mark LaFleur, Director
Fuzz Martin, Director
Kristine White, Director
Jason DeSarle, Director, Grand View Media
Pat Morrow, Director
Lynette Von Minden, Director
Sara Bojar, Director

The International Chapter. 

In January, Scott Hollister and Jon Kiger attended the BIGGA Turf Management Expo to help promote TOCA to the U.K. and international markets and to assess the prospects for future events there. Here are a few highlights/outcomes:

  • The two met with marketing and communications professionals throughout the week
  • The two hosted a press conference to explain the benefits of TOCA to turf and ornamental professionals regardless of their location. The timing of the press conference was perfect. By design (thanks to scheduling from Karl Hansell at BIGGA) we followed an existing Jacobsen press conference. This meant most of the major turf media were already in the room.
  • The presser started with an introduction to TOCA, explained the mutual interest between TOCA and green industry communicators in the UK and Europe in creating an international chapter of TOCA, and discussed the possibilities of creating a stand-alone TOCA meeting in the UK and increasing involvement of our international colleagues in TOCA’s activities overseas.
  • Explained that the International Communications Contest was a good way for them to become involved with TOCA while getting recognition for their work. Several attendees indicated that they would submit entries for the International Communications Contest.
  • Invited the group to consider attending the annual meeting in Tampa and offered our members’ help in setting up any industry meetings before or after the annual meeting. (Karl Hansell, communications executive from BIGGA is attending, thanks to a TOCA Foundation stipend voted on by the board.)
  • Introduced Alan Mahon from Greenside Magazine, the publication of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Ireland (GCSAI). Alan has been involved with TOCA for many years, and has won numerous awards in the International Communications Content. He gave a short presentation during the press conference, emphasizing the benefits that he and Greenside had received from their involvement in TOCA, and then offered a short professional development session on getting the most out of photos for publication.
  • We pitched his presentation as a sample of the education that takes place on a larger and obviously longer time scale at the annual meetings.
  • Provided each attendee a copy of the TOCA membership materials and left the remaining brochures in the media center.
  • OUTCOME: While it isn’t clear if a full-fledged TOCA chapter is going to happen anytime soon, these individuals certainly understand the benefits of TOCA more thoroughly than before the conference. Our goal moving forward will be to engage international members and perhaps share some of the educational sessions from the upcoming meeting in Tampa through a web-based archive.

Committee Structure.

TOCA will move forward with the following committees:

  • Membership – Russ Warner and Andrew Gillman
  • Sponsorships – Den Gardner and staff
  • Recognition Awards (PHWY, ECY, HOF) – Cindy Code
  • Communications Contest – Chair TBD
  • International – Scott Hollister, Jon Kiger
  • Annual Meeting – chair will always be sitting president and president-elect/VP – Lacy Ravencraft, Marisa Palmieri
  • Professional Development (professional development, TOCA Talk, etc.) – Debbie Clayton, Sara Bojar
  • Communications/Branding
    • Social Media subcommittee
  • Futures Committee (scholarship/internship) – Marisa Palmieri
  • Advisory Committee (made up of past presidents) – always to be chaired by board past-president.

In addition, each committee will be responsible for two reports per year – one before October board meeting and one before annual meeting in May.

TOCA FOUNDATION

Budget Update. Please note that the TOCA Foundation budget fiscal year is now Jan. 1 through Dec. 31.  Expected revenue in the Foundation for 2017 FY is approximately $21,700; with expenses projected at $18,000.

Update on Publishers’ Scholarship. Thanks to Golf Course Management, Total Landscape Care, GIE Media, Grand View Media, North Coast Media, TurfNet, AC Business Media, and EPG/Media & Specialty Information for supporting this program.  We continue to go to all two- and four-year schools (including Land Grant colleges, as well as the Ag Communicators of Tomorrow – ACT —  (which has 29 chapters across the country).

As noted earlier, the scholarship winner was Megan Tyminski from the University of Illinois.

New Marketing Communications Internship Program. TOCA announced, through its foundation, that Den/Sandy Gardner and Dave Hansen are making a five-year initial commitment to a marketing communications intern. The foundation board approved this new program at its Tampa meeting.

The Media Internship will also continue, which has been in effect for five years. Marty Richardson is the intern through TurfNet.

Environmental Communicator of the Year Award. See previous information earlier in this article. Dr. Frank Wong of Bayer is this year’s recipient.

Plant Health Writer of the Year. See previous information earlier in this article. The winner is John Reitman of TurfNet.

CLICK HERE to see all of the wonderful annual meeting photos!