SNA to co-locate with MANTS

ATLANTA, Ga. – The Southern Nursery Association (SNA) has announced plans to co-locate The SNA Conference with the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) in 2018. Under this new arrangement, both events will take place at the Baltimore Convention Center with The SNA Conference preceding MANTS on Monday and Tuesday, January 8-9, 2018. MANTS will take place on Wednesday, January 10 to Friday, January 12.

Transforming from a traditional trade show format, The SNA Conference will have a clear focus on connecting the industry to identify today’s business challenges and opportunities, and develop new insights and solutions. The conference will offer industry professionals a dynamic and interactive experience through The 16th Southern Plant Conference, The 62nd Annual SNA Research Conference, keynote sessions and participant-driven roundtable discussions. In addition, SNA will be conducting annual business as well with 119th Annual SNA Business Meeting.

“There is crossover appeal for participants of both events and this collocation will bring value and potential new business opportunities for both audiences,” said Karen Summers, SNA executive vice president. “And, since SNA will no longer have a trade show, collocating with MANTS offers our participants the convenience of attending MANTS and also allows researchers and students participating in the SNA Research Conference to experience our industry’s largest trade show. The SNA has always supported the state associations within our region and their events, and what better way to support the state nursery and landscape associations of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia than to bring our event to their trade show. I am excited about the possibilities, and confident this will create new synergies for everyone involved,” she added.

Dusty Knight, SNA president, said, “We are excited to start this new chapter in the SNA and look forward to exposing the conference to more people. We would like to thanks MANTS for this opportunity and look forward to being in Baltimore in January.”

MANTS executive vice president, Vanessa Finney, added, “We welcome the addition of one of the industry’s best known plant and research conferences prior to MANTS as it will be a great benefit to attendees of both events.”

The Southern Plant Conference will unveil some of the hottest new plants coming to market, the best practices for growing, and offer a unique opportunity to learn from leading industry plant experts. The SNA Research Conference will offer cutting-edge content of the latest horticultural research. Top researchers from across the country will participate throughout the event.

Sponsorship packages will include all-access passes to The SNA Conference to allow face-to-face engagement throughout the two days of keynotes, roundtables and plant conference sessions to create meaningful business relationships without time constraints. The sponsor package will also include tabletop display space, as well as other promotion before, during and after the event. The SNA Conference will provide a platform to communicate, demonstrate, train or simply engage with customers on a personal, one-to-one level.

Founded in 1899, the Southern Nursery Association is a non-profit trade association representing the horticultural industry in the southeastern U.S. SNA provides member services to wholesale growers, brokers, retailers, landscape contractors, landscape architects, grounds maintenance contractors, interiorscapers and allied suppliers. The SNA strives to unite and advance the horticulture industry through educational, research and marketing efforts.

The Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show or MANTS, widely known as The Masterpiece of Trade Shows, was incorporated in Maryland early in 1970. The show is sponsored by the state Nursery and Landscape Associations of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

MANTS information is available at www.mants.com or by calling 410-296-6959.

More details of The SNA Conference will be released in the coming weeks. For more information, contact the Southern Nursery Association, Inc., PO Box 801454, Acworth, GA 30101, 678.809.9992, mail@sna.org, or visit the SNA website at www.sna.org.