Kris Kiser, CEO of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, talks about the unique aspects of the 2024 Equip Expo with LM‘s Editor-in-Chief Scott Hollister. The two discuss the peer-to-peer opportunities, expert knowledge sharing, personalized problem solving and more.
Transcription:
SH: Scott Hollister
KK: Kris Kiser
SH: Well, hey everybody. It’s Scott Hollister, the Editor-in-Chief of Landscape Management magazine. And we are here in Louisville, Ky., Equip Expo 2024 and with Kris Kiser, the CEO of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. Kris, thanks for taking some time. I know this is a crazy, crazy time for you and your staff. It is the first day of the show. couple hours ago, the door swung wide open. You guys have to be super psyched about what you’re seeing on the ground and the reaction that I’m hearing from people, I assume we’re hearing a lot of the same things.
KK: We are. And it’s a good year. It’s a good show. So as you know, we’re 41 years young here in Louisville, Ky. Last year, we benchmarked attendance, sales, you name it, records across the board, and we beat them again this year. So we’ve sold every square inch of the exhibition halls, and we’ve beat our numbers. So more landscape contractors, more dealers, and so we’re doing something right, and what we’re doing is listening to landscapers and listening to people like you, the kinds of things bring value. This is a big, expensive thing and so we want to return, do in return on investment.
SH: You’ve got the indoor space jam packed. You’ve expanded. I believe last year was the first year expanding. I’m pointing to the west wing. You also have the outdoor space that just in, on the drive in. I haven’t actually been out yet, the drive in, that’s that’s so impressive, and from an end user perspective, that ability to go out there and test drive and put stuff through its paces is really valuable.
KK: Honestly, it’s why we’re here. I mean, for 41 years in Louisville, Ky., it’s very, very unique to this facility. There’s no other facility in the country that has that much space and lets you, frankly, tear it up. Yeah, you know, we can dig down in most places to 16 feet. So we’re moving a lot of earth. You know, we have a UTV track, and so our folks, you know, we’re hands on. These are working machines, working folks, and they want to experience and understand the equipment that they’re looking to buy. And this venue is unique. This venue is unique for that. And so it’s good. It’s great for us. Again, we’ve been here 41 years, and this is our biggest show ever.
SH: Had a big opening session, had a guest, Kevin O’Connor from the This Old House was on. What else do you have coming up this week that you’re personally excited about? We’ve still got a couple days to go here.
KK: Well, we just started. So we had our first ever opening recession last night at Churchill Downs. We started, and it was a fantastic venue, so we’re gonna go back next year. We started the Mulligan 5k this morning, at dawn. So that was a terrific, terrific race. We’ve got the happy hour here on site with the crashers in Freedom Hall, and tomorrow is our big concert night with Trace Adkins. It’s one thing that landscapers and attendees have asked us to do are these peer to peer opportunities to socialize together, have a beer and a pretzel, get together, talk. That’s where they learn with one another. How did you survive COVID? How’d you survive no snow? You know, what are the lessons learned? So we want to give them those kinds of things this show. We want to create an event with us, to be experiential. You come here for several days again, you know, this is not a one day show. And so a lot of folks who come year over year are, you know, can do it in a day, but if you’re, especially if you’re a first timer, this is not a one day show. A million and a quarter square feet.
SH: Lot of real estate.
KK: It’s a lot of real estate.
SH: A lot of real estate to cover. And you’re exactly right. Those networking opportunities are just as valuable as the chance to get on the show floor. Learn about products, learn about new services and things like that. And I think that’s why I see so many people come in a time and time again to this event.
KK: One of the things I think is unique to our show, and you’ve been here enough to know that if you go into the Toro booth, right, you’re looking to see the CEO, the chief sales and marketing guy, the chief engineer, the chief design person, is that there are people there to help fit you, your business, your motto, your clients, to a machine, and our group of machines, what’s best for you? I remember distinctly in another booth where someone says, “Well, why would you move the chute? Why would you change the deck?” And well, there’s the chief engineer, and they walked him through it. And that’s the unique thing here, is you get really extraordinary depth in the companies of personnel here to answer the kinds of questions you as a business owner will have.
SH: Right. And you’re getting a lot of new technology that’s really, I mean you walk that show floor, and the amount of battery-powered equipment, autonomous equipment, that you’re seeing. So the industry is really evolving, and this is a an awesome showcase. So Kris, I will let you go. Kris Kaiser, the CEO of OPEI from Equip Expo 2024.
