by Cammie Barden
Cultivate’17 was held in Columbus, Ohio from July 15-18 offering an opportunity for horticulturists to expand, improve and explore further into their trade.
Yearly attendees were greeted with a newly renovated and expanded Greater Columbus Convention Center. This increase of space allowed for more exhibitors to display their products, services and plant material. Also new to Cultivate’17 was the Cultivate Live Stage that was used to demonstrate new innovations and products that could be found on the tradeshow floor.
Each day there were several different types of seminars, certification classes and demonstrations. Opportunities were also given to attendees to tour other businesses.
With some seminars lasting as little as 20 minutes and others lasting an hour, attendees were given plenty of time to walk the tradeshow and network. The seminars covered business, garden retail, generation next, greenhouse, interior plantscape, landscape and nursery or a combination of two or more.
Keynote speakers opened the show for two of the days, the first being Jon Gordon, a bestselling author and business consultant. The second keynote speakers were Ken Fisher and Craig Regelbrugge from AmericanHort and Charlie Hall, PhD, from Texas A&M University to deliver the vital state of the industry address.
Cultivate’17 saw over 10,000 attendees and roughly 700 exhibitors. Cultivate’18 is set for July 14-17, 2018 in Columbus, Ohio. For more information visit cultivate17.org.