A Dig in the Past, Straight Ahead

We’ve raised the hood on Pond Boss VII Conference and Expo. New speakers along with our trusted and regular experts combined fresh, timely topics, and a sold-out trade show. Attendees, speakers, and vendors reminded me of Christmas. The room was filled with energy for three full days. Some were almost giddy. While the conference was loaded with take-home points and new, cutting edge ideas, information and products for all who participated, our Pond Boss team had several take home points as well. Speakers were energetic and topic variety was the best ever, most of our regular vendor/supporters were there, as were nine new companies. But, the biggest point we got was the percentage of new attendees compared to those who’d been to at least one prior conference. One couple, Fred and Connie Bingaman, from Brownstown, Illinois have attended all seven. But, when I asked how many people were first-timers, 80% of the hands rose. I was amazed by that. In past conferences, returning supporters made up at least 50% of the crowd. This time, those numbers were low. Those in attendance made it a point to tell our staff how well organized and executed the event was. People were impressed with knowledge and information at hand. That was heartwarming and fulfilling for our team. There’s so much intangible reward from an event as this. Pond Boss works hard to unify our industry. We take pride in bringing competitors into the same room to get to know each other. We are pleased to see all the different people from different aspects of this business breaking bread and talking, sharing ideas, and building relationships. At times, it was pleasantly overwhelming.

In this day of electronic wizardry, people’s noses typically mesmerized by a small electronic device held with both hands, belly-button high, it was refreshing to watch people actually have conversations and trade thoughts.

We were disappointed with attendance numbers. We were prepared for 400, but fell at least 25% short of that. That was another take-home point for us to ponder. A tremendous amount of work goes into planning and executing that event. When attendance is short, so are the dollars. While many of those in attendance told us, they are excited for the next one, our team needs to think through that prospect. While the conference is worthwhile for the industry, it may not be for the business-side of Pond Boss, Inc.

Speaking of Pond Boss business, it’s that time of year. For your friends who have everything (and a pond), a gift subscription to your favorite magazine is a great idea. We’re running a special this issue… “Buy one, Gift one”. If you buy or renew your subscription before Christmas, we’ll give you a free one to gift a friend. Get it to us before December 13 to ensure delivery before Christmas. Call the office at (903)564-6144 and talk with LeighAnn, or buy online at www.pondboss.com and make a note in the note box who the gift subscription is for, and their address. We’ll get it out with a nice letter, in time for Christmas.

More Pond Boss business…we videoed quite a few of the speakers at Pond Boss VII. Now, we’re scratching our heads how to use these valuable tools. That’s an expensive project, especially editing, so we’re looking at the best ideas to make many of them available, and recover some costs. One idea we’re working on is especially exciting…I’ll share that one when we figure out how to do it. We also have the PowerPoint presentations of each speaker (except one who considers his proprietary). If you have good ideas how to share these resources for a reasonable fee, drop me a note at info@pondboss.com.

You’ll see this issue’s recipe…smoked salmon dip. We had a bucket-list trip back in May to Alaska. A week on a 60-foot boat, three couples of us, fishing, relaxing and just having a ball. Debbie and I would like to share that opportunity with others. That boat holds six people comfortably, the captain and first mate are outstanding, and the fishing was great. I called the captain this summer and asked if Pond Boss could solicit some people to come enjoy as we did. He enjoyed us as much as we enjoyed him. If you’d like to go, drop me a note and I’ll get the details to you. We’d love to help you go do something as special as it was for us.

This issue of the magazine is loaded. While it seems to be a challenge to bring fresh, helpful material, it’s really not. So many new ideas are being bred as we try other new ideas, the information well is deeper than you’d might think. Sure, we re-visit some topics, to keep those concepts up the charts, but there’s always something new, something fresh, and angles to continue to make us think more deeply about the significance of what we do to be better stewards. That’s why we pick these topics and ideas. So you, our readers, will have a reference and concepts how to do what you love to do on your property.

So, please share a gift subscription, enjoy this issue of Pond Boss magazine and have a safe, healthy holiday season.

Fish on!