New England Grows: Highlights from Day 3

In between walking the show floor and attending education sessions, attendees at New England Grows were able to really pick the brains of the experts on hand.

The show offered Ask the Experts Sprint Sessions four to five times a day at the Great Ideas Pavilion in the middle of the show floor. Experts from regional universities provided 15 minute, rapid fire educational sessions on topics such as management of invasive shrubs, new safety standards for arborists and installing rain gardens. The well-attended sessions not only allowed attendees to huddle around the expert for to-the-point advice, but allowed landscapers, nurserymen and the like to bounce ideas off of each other and offer what processes work best at their companies.

Speakers from the educational sessions also took time to participate in the Speakers Unplugged series, which allowed attendees to directly talk to the topic expert and ask follow-up questions.

Among the topics as the show wrapped up Friday were:

Operating cranes
Using a crane can be the safest way to cut down a tree, but it can also be the most dangerous. That is how Todd Kramer, director of field operations and education for Kramer Tree Specialist in West Chicago, Ill., started his session on “Crane Assisted Removals.”

A lot of advance preparation must take place in order to ensure the safety of the crew and that the tree is properly cut, Kramer said. One of the first priorities is creating a job description. Kramer suggests everyone involved in the job at hand take part in walking through the job briefing. During the briefing: identify and mitigate hazards and obstacles, discuss and plan for the crane setup area, discuss a rigging and communication plan, inspect the rigging and the crane, discuss a work plan for each member of the crew and document the briefing.

An entire set of questions should also be asked when a company is renting a crane from an operator. Things to think about are: What is the crane’s configuration? How far do you need the crane to reach for the project? What capacity can the crane hold?

“Ask a lot of questions even if you know the answer,” Kramer said. Communication with the rental operator is essential and it’s not a bad idea to include them on the job briefing.

E-mail marketing
Studies show people take six seconds after seeing an e-mail to decide whether or not they want to open it. Not a long time. Corissa St. Laurent, regional development director at Constant Contact, provided attendees with tips for reaching customers and building a brand through e-mail marketing.

The tips included: Keep the content of the e-mail as concise as possible – perhaps link the information to the company website or a PDF for a longer archived version of the message. Include a call to action in the e-mail, such as links to click on, information for them to print out or a phone number to call. And create a master schedule for how often e-mails will go out to customers.

Companies should take advantage of the fact that they have something to offer to their customers and the public, St. Laurent said. Using e-mail marketing allows customers to reach their customers and teach their customers. The main reasons for using the form or marketing is to be unique, send e-mails that say thank you or happy birthday; provide content or informative information, such as advice or a research article, and to send promotions and discounts.