On the QT | The Official Newsletter of GWA June - July 2017 | Page 5

P R E S I D E N T ’S M E S S AG E
KIRK R. BROWN
Reflections on ever-changing
face of GWA
I’m cleaning my desk
of the paperwork
remaining after eight
years of service to
the GWA Executive
Committee. With our
new bylaws, terms of
service will be greatly
reduced. That’s a terrific
NEW idea! With our
changing world, I find it hard to commit to next
month let alone next year.
As I pass these reins to President-in-Waiting,
Becky Heath, I think about the programs that
have come and gone during my 16 years of
active GWA board service. At many times along
the way, I felt that decisions took too long and
change was too slow. Now I view the current
landscape and think that without the many
attempts and enormous trials, GWA could not
have evolved into the association it is today.
BRIDGE BUILDING
We began a Sustainability Task Force (now
Committee) after the inspiration of a boundary-
breaking keynote presentation from William
McDonough in 2006. Lois DeVries has steered
the course of its work into a national database
of scientific information becoming a one-stop
resource for reliable sustainable gardening and
farming information. I believe that we are entering
a time when such independent voices will be
valued. The committee members are outstanding
examples of career service to this cause.
We began a small initiative to discover how
other non-profit green industry associations
worked and what they were doing to guarantee
their successful transition into a new digital
age. Maria Zampini and Diane Blazek chair
our Association Outreach Task Force (AOTF).
Members represent most of the other major
associations. Because of this group, GWA now
exhibits at MANTS and Cultivate. Our members
receive significant professional resources and
free access to the industry trade expos and many
of the consumer shows. From my early views
16 years ago, this pioneering group has opened
doors and built bridges for which I could only
then imagine the complex engineering. Ours has
become a model that the industry is using to
plot corporate futures. Please consult the
committee’s roster to see how many influential
events you recognize.
REGIONAL AC TIVITIES
In the early days of my membership with this
organization, it seemed like Regional Meetings
were the best (and least expensive) way to
introduce myself and become acquainted with
the professional opportunities close to home.
Due to an initiative by Liz Ball and many involved
board members, GWA proposed that every
region try to schedule at least one every year.
I’ve taken that directive to heart. Sixteen years
later, I can say that I’ve been involved with the
planning, organization and implementation of
over 40 regional meetings.
These gatherings don’t just appear because
the board commands and the staff executes.
They happen when strategic core groups of
geographically focused members come together
to provide original programming. They represent
the three-legged-stool of strength and longevity
required for a future in any nonprofit: Strong
educational programming, incredible story tours
and incomparable networking opportunities.
By the end of 2017, GWA will have offered
more than 35 Regional Meetings, networking
Connects and superior members-only access to
trade shows, horticultural openings and garden
tours. This is a new member’s easiest and fastest
way to reap financial benefits from membership.
I continue to challenge this association to create
more and bigger and better regional events for
our members to experience.
FOSTERING THE FUTURE
Our annual symposium has been changed
by a veritable renaissance of innovative ideas,
new sites, contemporary formats and youthful
vibrancy. It’s so different from my first experience
in Toronto, Canada, that we have even had to
change its name: EXPO. It will never be LastGen’s
Symposium again. After years when the board
maintained GWA did not need a Sponsorship
or Communications Committee, we now have
both and they are fully functioning.
Finally, GWA has committed to grow its future.
Whether it’s called NextGen or Emergent or
just Youthful, the generation that is entering
the professional world of horticultural
communications is facing challenges that I can
barely define, let alone comprehend. This latest
generation is not segregated by age. Studies
continue to demonstrate that the majority who
enter the horticultural field do so as a second
career well into their forties and beyond.
GWA’s NextGen programming needs to
consider that communicators represent a diverse
but authoritative voice for how consumers
will view gardening into the distant future. So,
our upcoming conference has been grown
differently than many in the industry. The
NextGen program for our one-day experience
in Magnolia Plantation and Middleton Place in
South Carolina, is CareerNext. In our second
annual summit, we are partnering with
AmericanHort and its CareerUp initiative, which
targets newly arrived and youthful members to
the industry. Our CareerNext summit has been
crafted to appeal to career-driven professionals
at any stage of their life journey.
CareerNext is the program nearest and dearest
to my heart. I believe that we all work toward
one more adjective on our job description. I
feel a need to wear one more hat and pair of
uncomfortable shoes on my journey from this
day to tomorrow. My future is bound up with
the rest of those around me who share my
challenges and my successes. I find that the
more I work toward my next career, I become
closer to those members of GWA who have
given me the last 20 memorable years. Thanks
for indulging my moment of reflection. This ride
keeps getting better!
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