Trade shows are important to the industry. In many cases they act as a springboard for new products and new ideas. Most trade shows are sponsored by associations designed to better the profession. The revenues earned from the shows and conferences are used to fund such things as sunset battles and informative communications. A lot of people spend a lot of time trying to make these things worthwhile. For the most part they do an outstanding job.

In Texas from the 17th of April to the 20th, the Texas chapter of the ASLA is sponsoring an event that boosts 300 Landscape Architects and 100 exhibitors. This is the largest meeting for the Texas chapter and they’re all pretty excited. Besides a whole list of educational seminars they are throwing a couple of Texas size get togethers including a Grand Party at South Fork, the television home of J.R. Ewing.

In Palm Springs, the California Council of Landscape Architects is sponsoring the 1986 CCLA Conference May 8-11 at the Marquis Hotel (featured on the front cover). For more information about this one check the table of contents.

The third trade show we will be attending is in Long Beach, California. The National Landscape Industry Show is one of the largest trade shows for the landscape profession. From April 23 through 25 approximately 5000 landscape professionals will stop at over 300 exhibits from all aspects of the industry. Although this one is geared more for the landscape contractor there are plenty of attractions for the Landscape Architect. We have booth #105.

In some way or another The Landscape Architect and Specifier News has lent a hand to all three of these trade shows. For Texas we tried to give them as much publicity as we could. A big thanks to Kay Tiller for helping us establish a direct line with the Texas ASLA. Now that we know who to talk to our support will grow even stronger.

A quick look at the front cover gives you a clue as to how important we feel the CCLA conference is to the profession. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a great deal of you who first heard of this conference from our pages.

As for the CLCA show in Long Beach, The Landscape Architect and Specifier News donated about $1000 to their cause in the form of discounted advertising. According to them we were the only trade magazine to support the association in this manner.

Now I don’t mean to blow our own horn but we do want you to realize that we support your associations. As many of the leaders in this industry have said before us those who gain from a profession must in turn give something back. By attending trade shows you not only gain valuable knowledge and see old time friends, but you also give something back to the profession. A good strong showing of Licensed Landscape Architects at any or all of the available trade shows will continue to push our profession to the forefront of the construction industry. In an era where sunset legislation is being consistently introduced visibility and numbers are the keys to success.

We appreciate your support (we’ve received over 1000 responses so far) and are looking forward to seeing you real soon!

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