The Great Indoors – President’s Message

By Russell Warner, TOCA President

As we all know by now, the 2020 TOCA Annual Meeting was held virtually, Sept. 9-11. While this wasn’t what we envisioned when we originally booked the dates and location (Denver), we came together and made the virtual meeting special. On a side note, it was snowing in Denver the week of the event and 80 degrees F. in Cleveland, so take that 2020.

The meeting kicked off with Wednesday’s happy hour and virtual trivia game, hosted by Matt LaWell of Golf Course Industry. Matt hosted several weekly in-person trivia games pre-pandemic and, since March, has been holding them virtually, so he was a skilled event leader. Though the teams were random, Scott Hollister was somehow able to stack his team and come away with the “W.” The final question was about one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Cheers, but I blew the answer and guessed WKRP in Cincinnati… I haven’t slept well since.

Thursday began with our keynote speaker, Karl Danneberger, from The Ohio State University. Karl summarized his personal, near-deadly battle with COVID-19… a truly incredible story. Click here and give it a listen.

The rest of the week was filled with excellent speakers like Tina Dyakon from the Poynter Institute, who presented on engagement techniques for editors and marketers. David Crowe, who often attends our meetings in person during election years, provided insight into the upcoming election and how it may affect the turf and ornamental industries.

Chant Singvongsa, Stanley Genadek and Jason Creel joined us in a panel focused on how businesses can work with influencers to promote their brands. If you have ever considered hiring an influencer to work with your team, this is an absolute must-listen-to presentation!

We then moved on to our TOCA business meeting where we welcomed Abbey Barry from PBI Gordon to the board and concluded the meeting with the TOCA Communication Contest Awards. For a complete list of our winners, please click here. To watch the Gardner Awards presentation, click here. Thank you again to everyone who submitted awards this year.

I would like to thank everyone who attended the meeting, as well as all our sponsors. Though I was disappointed we couldn’t be together in person, I was thrilled to call this our most-attended event. My hope is that the online content generated from the virtual meeting will reach those who wouldn’t normally attend the event in person, allowing our TOCA team to grow!