February March 2018

colorad o nga.org LooseLeaf  February/March 2018 4 CNGA— HERE FOR THE MEMBERS By Allison Gault, MBA, CAE CNGA Executive Director Get Ready for ProGreen! Happy New Year! In a matter of days, the 22nd Annual ProGreen Expo will begin at the Colorado Convention Center. As our largest education and fellowship event of the year approaches, I’d encour- age you to plan out the classes you and your staff will attend and the exhibit booths you will visit. We have approximately 20 classes that are dedicated to Nursery, Greenhouse, and Retail Center operations, and more than 275 exhibiting companies, 50 of which are new to ProGreen! You can view the full schedule, course descriptions, and exhibitor list at ProGreenExpo.com. In addition to the variety of education sessions, our keynote speaker is Reggie Rivers, the former Denver Broncos running back, who will kick off the conference on Wednesday, February 14 at 9 a.m. He will discuss how to take NFL strategies and apply them to your business. This session will be a great motivator for you and your employees, and provide tips and tricks on how to grow your business. For those of you who are in the 40-ish and under crowd, make sure you attend the Young Hort Professionals gathering at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. on Wednesday, February 14 at 5 p.m. We’ll have drinks, appetizers, and of course a lot of fun, plus it’s free to attend. Last but not least, on Thursday, February 15, we’ll have the Industry Celebration Happy Hour. This year, we’re holding the event at the Rhein Haus Biergarten on 14th & Market streets. Join us for Bocce ball, drinks, appetizers, and fellowship. We will also have a silent auction and live auction of “Gus the Gnome” to benefit CHREF, and present CNGA Awards. Attending ProGreen Expo is an excellent opportunity to network with your colleagues, learn something new, provide education to your staff, and find new solutions to your business challenges. We look for- ward to seeing many of you in the coming weeks. Don’t forget to stop by the CNGA booth to visit Ben, Michelle and myself, and hear what we’ve got planned for the next year.