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TOCA Sees “Good News” in its Future as Cincy Meeting Celebrates 29 Years

By Den Gardner, Executive Director

As TOCA members filed out of the ballroom of the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza following the awards ceremony on Thursday night, I could only recall the famous sign-off by Les Nessman, farm/news director of the fictional WKRP radio station in downtown Cincinnati. Those words pretty well summed up the great three days we spent in the Queen City.

Slightly paraphrased, I mumbled something like this: “This is Den Gardner saying good-bye. And may the good news be yours.”

TOCA members from across the country attended our 29th annual meeting in early May.  Good news abounded as TOCA members learned that:

  • It was one of our highest attended meetings in history.
  • Our contest entries totals (400+) were in the top five in our 29 years.
  • As TOCA nears 30 years, the organization is on the verge of developing a strategic plan to take it into the next decade.
  • We added three new board members – by coincidence all “young professionals” (our code word for millennials) to provide new insight and ideas for our growing organization.

2018 TOCA Annual Meeting Attendees pose in Cincinnati, Ohio.

  • And speaking of growing, our membership is near an all-time high – about 280!
  • TOCA Foundation named two $1,500 scholarship winners: Mary Carr of Kansas State and Alexa Norwald of the University of Missouri.
  • Members were able to meet with our first TOCA marketing intern – Kayla Kingston of the University of Dayton. Kayla is spending her summer interning at Project EverGreen in suburban Cleveland.
  • Our second TOCA foundation silent auction was a huge success, raising twice what was garnered in year one – $5,000! Thanks to these members for purchasing an item in the auction: Pat Morrow (also volunteer chair of the auction), Matthew McArdle, Cindy Code, Den/Sandy Gardner, Debbie Clayton, Tom Mentzer, Tracy Mueller, Andrew Gillman, Bethany Chambers, Owen Towne, Matt Brown, Megan Wheeler, Pete Seltzer, Jon Kiger, Frank Standfuss, Brian Laurent, Scott Hollister, Mary Ellen Scheib, Marisa Palmieri and Russ Warner.
  • The international efforts to expand TOCA membership continue and Ella Boyden of Ransomes Jacobsen attended the meeting representing what we hope will soon be a solid group of members from Europe.
  • Our educational grounds tours of Great American Ballpark and U.S. National Historic Landmark The Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum were unique and informative.
  • The DeVou Park Golf Course was a true test of the golfing ability of our 24 players. Congrats to all who managed the unique hilly terrain of this great layout.
  • And who can forget the TOCA Run/Walk/Crawl 5K through downtown Cincy with a great view of both Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ballpark.
  • Felicia Gillham, one of the early leaders of TOCA, was entered into the TOCA Hall of Fame. She still is active on the Scholarship Committee.

Here’s a capsule of other comments made by attendees:

“Ren LaForme from Poynter and the Reds tour were both amazing. Couldn’t have asked for any better. The awards ceremony went really well. With the amount of time away from the office, looking for some of the other education to be stronger.  If having other education is tough to pull together, I think I would find more value in spending that time on a community/Project EverGreen project restoring a park, or school. Maybe we even learn a bit about a specific hands on task like, how to put in your own irrigation, or how to rejuvenate a lawn, or how to best spray 1 gallon across 1,000 square feet. I say this as we all talk about it every day, but sometimes actually doing the work is harder…sometimes having an appreciation for physically doing something can be powerful.” 

“Great  job! I’m not sure where you would fit it in, but a little more “chill” time to relax and explore on your own (or check in with work back home) would be nice. Really noticed and LOVED the hot breakfast. “

“For education, it might be helpful to have some things that are specific to our industry — a few thoughts that come to mind immediately are the importance of government affairs, the current regulatory environment, how the Ontario regulatory decision on lawn care may affect the US, how to advocate for ag/turf issues, profiles and communications preferences of golf course superintendents, etc. We need something that we can’t get anywhere else.” 

“This was my first meeting, and I was impressed with the whole event. The venue was beautiful, accommodations were great, and the meetings were informative. Having the opportunity to connect with others in the industry was also a great opportunity, and I’m grateful for TOCA bringing us together!” 

“Very good content and meeting people within the industry all in one place.” 

“I’m so glad I had the opportunity to attend this year! I made great connections through the networking opportunities. After covering so many shows and conferences, it was really nice to attend an event for communicators!” 

“I had a great time and learned a lot. It was refreshing to be in a room of people all speaking the same language!”

“The Poynter speakers are always excellent. Networking is excellent.”

 “Maybe hand out official name tags on Tuesday night instead of writing names on stickers. This would help especially for new people. The stickers were falling off and it was hard to read the handwriting. Printed name tags from the actual meeting are better.” 

“Regarding the tour, the ballparks are always a hit and are often a tough act to follow. It seems like we lose the crowd a bit at the second location. (This year being the cemetery. In the past it has been at various horticultural sites.) For Charlotte and future meetings, I would love more of a city tour like we did in Minneapolis. I don’t think both stops always have to tie to horticulture or turf.”

“Thinking we can combine the board and newcomers’ dinner; newcomers could benefit from mingling with the board and perhaps be made to feel more welcome.”

“I love TOCA and find the annual meeting extremely valuable – in fact, it is my favorite event to attend each year! Thank you for your hard work. TOCA makes this industry stand out from others I work in, and I love being a part of this organization!” 

As difficult as it is to believe (with tongue firmly planted in cheek), there was some constructive criticism that staff will definitely consider to make next year’s meeting in Charlotte even better for our attendees (blah, blah, blah). Ha!

I’m also reminded of the words a couple years ago by GIE Media’s 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.”

Throughout TOCA Talk you will see numerous articles/columns from members regarding our keynote speaker Ren LaForme, the innovative peer roundtables, content marketing panel and much more.

Thanks to program committee members Lacy Ravencraft, Marisa Palmieri and Joe Shooner for their great work on the Cincy program.

We also thank Global Prairie for handling the 2018 logo and awards program for 2018, for taking on the commitment of staging/managing the award program.

And special thanks to Kristy Mach and Amy McDonald 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 what he calls his annual “vacation” in whatever city TOCA holds its annual meeting. As one attendee put it: “Bravo to the TOCA staff!”

Let’s get on with some other highlights (not necessarily in chronological order):

  • Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan was announced as the recipient of the 2018 TOCA Environmental Communicator of the Year Award (the organization’s 20th recipient). The award, which recognizes individuals for outstanding communications efforts regarding green space and environmental issues, was accepted by Bradley Dick, director of the general services department in Detroit. The city has invested millions to improve 40 neighborhood parks, including Pingree Park, a project developed by the award’s sponsor — Project EverGreen. Cindy Code, TOCA board member, serves as executive director of Project EverGreen.

  • This year’s volunteer of the year was Jon Kiger, board member and active participant in TOCA’s efforts to get its international chapter off the ground. Thanks to Jon for his tireless efforts to promote TOCA domestically and abroad.


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

Budget Update.  Annual revenue estimated at $118,000. Regarding expenses, total expenditures will be about $111,000. TOCA also has wisely invested surplus funds over the years and now has just over $100,000 in its coffers. This is the first time investments have exceeded that amount.

Corporate Sponsors/Publishers Scholarship.  Exceeded goal and reached $58,000.  For a list of total sponsors, please go the TOCA web site. Thanks to all our sponsors for continuing to support TOCA.

Membership Update. Current membership stands at 280 members.

The most important component of the membership recruitment effort will be to continue 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 continued in 2018 and will continue in 2019.

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 type of reception/promotion at Cultivate ’18 this year. Pat Morrow of Bayer will head a committee on that with Russ Warner and Leslie Halleck. That meeting is July 14-17.

Contest Update. Fourth year online with entries. High marks again. There were 416 entries, third highest on record.  Entries from 29 companies. TOCA pays an annual maintenance fee of approximately $1,500 for its online contest.

GIE+Expo Breakfast. This continues to be sponsored by Bayer. This is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 19, 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 2019 breakfast will be Wednesday, Feb. 6, in San Diego. Details to come.

Irrigation Association Fireside Chat. Have now held this with Ewing’s support for the past four years. This will continue at the 2018 show in the fall. Details forthcoming.

Future Annual Meetings.  For 2019, Charlotte.  Board directs staff to look at Denver, Philadelphia, Wichita, Baltimore, Boise and Lake Las Vegas for 2020 and beyond.  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, Tampa and Cincinnati.

Board of Directors Update. These members were elected or re-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, TurfNet
Brian Schoenthaler, Director
Mark LaFleur, Director
Kristine White, Director
Pat Morrow, Director
Lynette Von Minden, Director
Scott Covelli, Director (new)
Jill Odom, Director, Total Landscape Care (new)
Dawn Rigby, Director (new)

Leaving the board are Fuzz Martin and Sara Bojar of EPIC Creative; and Jason DeSarle of Grand View Media, which has discontinued publication of its Green Industry publications. We thank them for their service.

 

The International Chapter

  • Jon Kiger and Scott Hollister traveled to the British Turf Management Exhibition (BTME) hosted by the British International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA).
    • Hosted a news conference at BIGGA.
    • Hosted small evening and morning receptions for quiet conversations on furthering an international meeting.
  • BIGGA representatives attended the breakfast at GIS.
  • International Stipend. (Foundation initiative.) Ella Boyden from Ransomes Jacobsen attended the TOCA annual meeting with the international stipend.

 

Committee Structure

 TOCA currently has the following committees:

  • Membership
  • Sponsorships
  • Recognition Awards (ECY, HOF)
  • Communications Contest
  • International
  • Annual Meeting
  • Professional Development (professional development, TOCA Talk, etc.) –
  • Communications/Branding
    • Social Media subcommittee
  • Futures Committee (scholarship/internship)
  • Advisory Committee (made up of past presidents)

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

The TOCA board determined to create a “Committee of Committees.” This group will be headed by board member Kristine White, plus Debbie Clayton, Marisa Palmieri and Veronica Biczo. The committee will review the committee structure and this will also be a part of the TOCA Strategic Plan to be written during the next 10 months.


TOCA FOUNDATION

Budget Update. Expected revenue in the Foundation for 2018 FY is $30,945 and expenses of $23,655.

Update on Publishers’ Scholarship. Thanks to Golf Course Management, Total Landscape Care, GIE Media, North Coast Media, TurfNet, AC Business Media, and EPG/Media & Specialty Information for supporting this program.  We continue to promote the scholarship 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 winners ($1,500 each) were Mary Carr of Kansas State and Alexa Norwald of the University of Missouri.