On the QT | The Official Newsletter of GWA June-July 2016 | Page 3

KIRK R. BROWN

Share the Love

PHO TO COUR TESY SUSAN MAR TIN

GWA needs you to Share,
Like, Friend, Tweet, Post, Email,
Link, Badge, Host, Enter, Register,
Connect, and Volunteer. Right now.
These responses need to become
the answer to the question, “What
have you done for your association
lately?”
GWA needs you. I am depending
on you to connect GWA with all of
your communication outlets. I need
you to share with every one of your
nonmember friends and business
associates all of the new and
improved things that GWA is doing:
new newsletter, new member/vendor database, new website, new
regional meeting formats, new association outreach opportunities,
new blog, new committees, and New Routes to Horticulture on Aug.
6, at Longwood Gardens.
GWA wants to expand your return on investment by introducing
the opportunities for new free plant trials, new free admissions and
registrations to gardens and green-industry events, and interaction
with our terrific new staff. We are improving day-by-day and meetingto-meeting. But you need to be involved to understand the depth and
breadth of the many opportunities.
Our strength rests on the commitment of volunteers from all of
our diverse membership categories. Our future success depends on

engaging new members in even broader categories. We can invent
our future one new member and new association at a time.
I just returned from a meeting of CAPS: The Coalition of American
Plant Societies. This is a recently organized confederation of 13
nonprofits whose goal is to give renewed purpose and appeal to
plant-specific, special interest groups. Collectively, they represent
nearly 100,000 active members.
The associations that make up CAPS share many of the same
problems: decreasing membership, dwindling resources in the face of
rising costs, lack of a new generation of volunteers, failure to develop
programs that encourage registration at scheduled events. We all face
incredible challenges for change in the face of digital competition.
I look to the groups that are making real strides in overcoming
obstacles in order to implement our own best practices and brightest
ideas.
This edition of the newsletter brings you facts that demonstrate
our many attempts to engage, deepen, and renew your perception of
what GWA is becoming. Somewhere in its many pages you will find an
article, opinion, meeting announcement or photograph that resonates
with your professional life. Something will strike you as relevant to
your career goals. I ask that you pick up that single element and share
it, like it, tweet it, post it, link it and/or email it to a friend.
GWA needs you to advance your career and open the doors to your
future. Our corporate success rises or falls on the success of each of
our members. How can we better serve your needs? I welcome your
thoughts and contributions to our growth and development.
Lastly! Register for the Atlanta Expo. The tours are awesome.
The education committee has an incredible line up of world-renown
experts. The networking will be like no other opportunity you can
experience in this industry. And this year: Karaoke’s back! We’re going
to have a blast in a peachy-keen city!

Nearly 40 GWA members gathered in Louisville, Kentucky, which included
a tour of mystery novelist Sue Grafton’s home and garden.

GWA members visited with mystery writer
Sue Grafton’s home and garden during
a recent meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.
Readers let her know if she makes an
incorrect reference about plants, she said.

PHO TO COUR TESY CAR OL MICHEL

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

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