Thanks to the host of record-breaking performances and once-in-a-lifetime moments at the Summer Olympics in Paris, gold was definitely the color of the summer of 2024.
A host of lucky landscape contractors, lawn care operators and equipment dealers got a head start on all that last October with their own gold-medal experience at Equip Exposition in Louisville, Ky. Forty early registrants won “golden tickets” — 40 recipients to celebrate the event’s 40th anniversary — that gave them free admission to the industry’s largest trade show and the opportunity to take advantage of the industry-leading education, the expansive indoor exhibit space and the one-of-a-kind outdoor demonstration area that’s found there.
With the 2024 version of Equip Expo set for Oct. 15-18, Landscape Management caught up with a handful of last year’s winners to see how they utilized the opportunity they won and discuss how the experience affected their businesses in 2024.
For more information on this year’s event, check out “Winning streak” on page 21 of this issue of LM or visit the event’s website.
TNH Lawn & Snow: La Crosse, Wis.
Jason Wooden is no stranger to trade shows showcasing a wide variety of powerful machines. But the machines he studied during his time at last year’s Equip Expo are significantly different than the ones he’d check out when he attended Cisco Live — one of the IT industry’s premier events — during his previous professional life as a network engineer.
The one area that was similar between the two events, though, were the benefits Wooden says he took away from both experiences. As one of the golden ticket winners last year at Equip Expo, he says he benefited from the education, the networking opportunities and, of course, the opportunity to shop on the trade show floor and try out new equipment in the outdoor demo area.
“You definitely need to seek out the right people and ask the right questions, but everyone you want to see and everything you want to know is right there,” says Wooden, who had attended Equip Expo one time previously. “Both times I’ve been, I’ve had a list of things I wanted to do, products I wanted to check out. Once I had those out of the way, we’d just make our way through the floor to see the new stuff, the products that were getting a lot of attention.”
Because half of TNH’s year is spent focusing on commercial snow removal, Wooden spent plenty of time in Louisville examining snow equipment and advances that have been made in that space. But that hasn’t been at the expense of tools that can help the company’s landscape maintenance business, which has slowly been expanding.
“We take our lawn care business very seriously. We’re always looking at new equipment,” Wooden says. “We try to add a new mower every year, and this year we added a new trailer. We also do hardscaping work, so we did a little looking at skid-steers last year. That’s something we’re kind of shopping for right now.”
Wooden also used the golden ticket opportunity to connect with other contractors, mainly during the one education session he participated in and through some of the social media sessions that allowed him to interact with industry influencers.
“It only makes sense to do that at an event like Equip because you learn more from just talking shop with fellow contractors than you probably learn everywhere else,” he says.
Wooden and some of his fellow TNH colleagues are already booked to attend Equip Expo this year. And for others who might still be on the fence about joining them in Louisville, he has a few simple words of advice.
“Do it. It’s totally worth it,” he says. “There are always things that come up and reasons not to go. But so far, our experiences have been really beneficial and helpful as we try to grow our business.”
Royal Products Outdoor Power: Elkader, Iowa
Tanya Keppler and her husband, Cletus, have called this northeast Iowa town home since 2001 and have owned Royal Products since 2012. And even though this equipment, parts and service dealership is in a small town, it has a big impact on customers throughout the region.
“Our community only has about 1,200 people in it, but we sell and service equipment for a big radius outside of Elkader,” Keppler says. “We’ve worked with customers as far away as Cedar Rapids (75 miles south of Elkader) and all over northeast Iowa. We’re definitely a small town, but we service a big area.”
To ensure customers keep coming back for more, the Kepplers make a special effort to stay on top of new products and emerging industry trends. They do that partially by maintaining strong relationships with the brands they represent — Stihl, Simplicity, Ferris, Honda and Briggs & Stratton, among others.
And most recently, they have done that by making the journey to Louisville for Equip Expo, going last year as one of the lucky golden ticket winners.
“It’s been a 100 percent valuable experience for us,” Keppler says. “If you go in with an open mind and a plan with how you want to increase sales, know what kind of equipment you want on your floor, the parts you need to have on hand for your customers … it’s a very valuable experience. It really is.”
Last year, the Kepplers focused on exploring some of the premium tractor options on display, something they’d like to add to their product offerings sooner rather than later as a way to differentiate them from competing dealers in the region and big-box retailers.
Similarly, they studied the ever-increasing number of battery-powered equipment options dominating the trade show floor and outdoor demo area. Tanya says Royal Products’ customers remain cautious about taking the leap into battery power, but she knows that won’t always be the case.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the battery-powered stuff, especially the zero-turns,” she says. “The ride was very easy, the power was good and the quality was better than I expected.”
Based on their previous experiences in Louisville and what they’ve learned from exploring the exhibit areas, participating in educational opportunities and attending the myriad networking events, Keppler says they’ll make visits to Equip Expo a regular occurrence and encourages others to do the same.
“There are so many new products and huge advances in this industry, and spending time at Equip has been a great way for us to stay on top of it all,” she says.
Blade Lawn Care: Arvada, Colo.
For Dan Kessenich, passion won out over practicality.
After spending a decade in the corporate world, Kessenich decided to return to his roots, and a year and a half ago, he started Blade Lawn Care. He had grown up helping his father maintain the family yard and plow snow in the winter, and he grew to love the satisfaction that came from that work. Watching his wife, Julie, embrace her career as a pediatric occupational therapist convinced him the time was right to do the same thing and pursue his real passion.
As someone who was just getting a new business off the ground then, the opportunity to attend last year’s Equip Expo as a golden ticket winner was priceless.
“It was my first time, so I just got lucky with the golden ticket,” Kessenich says. “We were just starting to figure things out and buy mowers, trailers, things like that … so the opportunity to see all the different brands side by side was awesome. We also took some classes which gave me a good idea of what I might want to take in the future and what might be worth sending our guys to as we start to grow.”
With his second visit to Equip Expo coming up in October, Kessenich is already mapping out how this trip might differ from the first. He’s hoping to add some design/build services to Blade Lawn Care’s offerings, so he says he’ll put extra emphasis on hardscaping education and time spent in that part of the trade show floor this year. Also, the potential for changes to regulations in Colorado regarding the use of gasoline-powered equipment will increase Kessenich’s urgency in building relationships with companies that sell battery-powered tools, such as Greenworks and Kress.
And as he’s able to bring more of his small but growing crew to Louisville for the event, Kessenich says he’ll focus on spending more time in the outdoor demo area than he did in year one.
“I’d say it was 80-20 indoor last year, so I’d like to switch that up and spend more time outside demoing the equipment,” he says. “When we’re able to bring our crew, I think we’d get a lot out of playing around with the equipment in the demo area to see how we could actually implement it in our day-to-day work.”
While last year’s golden ticket experience at Equip Expo wasn’t the first time Kessenich had attended an industry-focused conference and trade show, it was a significantly different experience — in a positive way — than the ones he’d attended in his previous career.
He’s looking for a repeat performance during his second trip to Louisville.
“As someone whose business is just getting started, I got so much out of going last year, and I’m sure this year will be no different,” he says. “If you go for no other reason than to check out all the cool toys in the outdoor area, it’s still valuable. The fact that there is so much more to experience is great.”
Winning streak: A sold-out trade show floor, education and big events are all on tap at Equip Expo 2024
Equip Exposition’s momentum is showing no signs of slowing anytime soon.
In early August, event organizers announced that exhibit space for the 2024 edition, which will be held Oct. 15-18 in Louisville, Ky., had sold out. This marks the second straight year that trade show space has sold out, and it was accomplished even after expanding available space into the west wing of the Kentucky Exposition Center.
It also follows last year’s record-setting attendance figures (27,000) and Equip Expo winning two Grand Awards from Trade Show Executive’s Gold 100 awards program.
“Maxing out the exhibit space more than two months before the doors open is great news for anyone attending,” says Kris Kiser, president and CEO of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI), which owns the show. “Every inch of the more than a million square feet of indoor and outdoor exhibits at Equip Expo is loaded with equipment, training and information to help landscapers and contractors run their businesses more efficiently and make more money.”
The show is co-located with Hardscapes North America, so attendees also receive complimentary access to exhibits focusing on hardscape design and construction. An upgraded registration provides access to additional hardscape-focused education.
The trade show floor and outdoor demo areas aren’t the only places attendees can improve themselves and their businesses at Equip Expo. A host of education sessions directed at both contractors and dealers are on the agenda, including 15 sessions presented by Landscape Management (see “2024 Equip Exposition to again feature LM education” on page 23).
This marks the third consecutive year LM has partnered with Equip Expo to present educational sessions. For more information, visit the LM website (stage.landscapemanagement.net/2024-equip-exposition-to-again-feature-lm-education/).
Attendees also will have a full slate of networking opportunities at their disposal at Equip Expo so they can connect with their fellow contractors while having a little fun at the same time.
A keynote presentation by Kevin O’Connor from the TV show “This Old House” and an arena concert by country music star Trace Adkins top the list of major events that will highlight the week in Louisville. There’s also a Welcome Reception at Churchill Downs, a happy hour concert with The Crashers at Freedom Hall, a benefit 5K fun run and walk and a women’s leadership reception to fill out any attendee’s planner for the week.
Teal Lawncare: Billings, Mont.
This year marked Teal Lawncare’s 10th anniversary of serving a blend of residential and commercial customers in this south-central Montana city. Owner Jason Teal and his company celebrated that milestone by continuing a run of slow, steady growth, a pattern he says was aided by his attendance at Equip Expo, something he’s done since 2019.
“Business has been great this year,” says Teal, whose most recent trip to Louisville was aided by the golden ticket program. “We have five full-time staff members now (up from three in 2023) and want to keep that going. My goal is to continue expanding, but slowly, with quality people.
“I go to Equip to network and to learn more about the industry. In Montana, we don’t have access to a lot of the new product displays and education they feature there. So, I get a lot of ideas out of going to Equip, and that’s really helped my business.”
Considering his location, it’s not surprising that snow removal shares equal billing with the lawn care services Teal Lawncare offers. As a result, Teal says he spends as much time checking out snow removal products and services as he does with mowers and handheld equipment when he attends Equip Expo.
And while he’s not in the market for them just yet, he says the electric, autonomous mowers displayed on the trade show floor caught his eye. “Pretty cool,” Teal says. “We’re not ready for that right now, but it does get you thinking about what’s coming down the road.”
Teal didn’t limit his experience at Equip Expo to the exhibit areas. He took a half-dozen classes, ran in the 5K, attended the opening reception at Churchill Downs and met several of the industry-focused social media influencers he follows on YouTube. And he’ll be doing it again this year, as he and a fellow contractor from Billings will travel to Louisville for the 2024 event.
“It’s been a great use of time for both of us, so we want to keep coming as often as we can,” Teal says. “I’d encourage everyone in this business to try it at least once.”
