GIS 2012 Parts 1,2 &3 Vegas

I started writing this while inthe US but just finished it now.

 

Well I’ve landed here in Vegas. One word WOW. As we went to land we had to abort at the last minute but this was a blessing as we got a great view of the strip at night. (The aiport is only about 10mins from the strip).

 

My room faces Wynn Golf Course which is spectacular green wall to wall (would be oversowed). Here’s a pic:

 

 

 

 

This can be a very fun place but work had to be done. I again attended education sessions throughout the week. My first was Advanced Weed Management which was conducted by Dr Fred Yelverton (who some of you may know as he has been to Australia recently) and Dr Bert McCarty. There are some new product on the horizon for weeds but not sure if and when they will make it to Australia. Lucky we still have DSMA and MSMA- they dont and MSMA is being fazed out and there are really no silver bullets coming.

 

One big concern though with the herbicides is resistance which I think we will be hearing more of in the near future espeically with the SU family of herticides (Group B such as Monument, Sempra, Colesium, Tribute etc),

 

There are a couple of new weeds books available and if interested please email and I can direct you to where you can he then from when I sort through the rest of my notes from the seminars.

 

On the Tuesday I attended  a seminar from the Penn State experts Dr Mike Fidanza and Dr John Kaminski. For those on social media you will of no doubt heard of these professors and have probably spoken to them. Dr Kaminski is the reason I got heavily invloved in social media in the first place. Great teachers and people. Here is a picture of them from my seminar.

 

 

 

They spoke on

• application strategies
• resistance
• best application methods
• and other bits and pieces

 

Dr Fidazna is an expert in fairy ring and presented some information which will help in our trials on Monstar.

 

Please follow them on twitter @JohnKaminski @MikeFidanza

 

Later that day was Disease management in Sub Tropical climates (namely warm season turf think QLD) with Dr Lane Tredway (ex NC State but now with Syngenta).

 

He spoke on

• IPM of diseases
• Making sure you identify the disease you have
• best way to send samples for testing
• pythium- the different strains and how they are all different and
• the importance of getting the fungicide to your target area

 

On another note for those who know the name David  Feherty he was a speaker during the general sessions at the conference and was quite entertaining. I spoke to a few supers afterwards and they said he spoke on the game at the moment and how he could play golf as a functional drunk. I haven’t seen the video yet but take a look as I attend to.

http://www.gcsaa.tv/lasvegas/?obj_id=2013&gis_filter=1

 

 

 

Lastly on the Friday it was a different theme of Insects. Dr Rick Brandenberg presented the class. This was a great eye opener in terms of insect control. yes the insects that were talked about were not relevant to us but the principals were the same.If you are on facebook join his page Turf Bugs and Rock and Roll. It has some great discussions and Rick is very open in helping turf managers form around the world.

 

There are so many other great seminars to attend during the week and could not get to all of them. However the great thing is that the seminars are generally repeat them every year.

 

My next post will be on the show at Vegas itself. If anyone is interested in discussing these talk please contact me via email. Though I will add posts throughout the year from what I have learned.

 

zreikat@campbellchemicals.com.au

 

“Using Social Media and Smartphone Apps in everyday Turf Management”

Presented By:

Nadeem Zreikat Colin Campbell Chemicals @campbellturf

Robin Doodson Sanctuary Cove Golf Club @GreensSCGC

Time 8.30-10am Thursday 7th June.

 

Our aim is to expalin how social media can beneift turf managers in everyday situations.

 

If you are on twitter follow hashtag #AGCSA12 which myself and Robin have setup for the conference. We will post all relevant information there or follow us on twitter..

 

Cheers

Nadeem Zreikat

 

A very busy 2 days.

 

This years trade show felt smaller but had more exhibitors. The machinery companies took up a huge size of the show but even they seemed to have scaled back a bit which is really not  a bad thing as it was more inviting to visit those stands. The economy is still hurting over there but it looks they have turned the corner and everyone was in a positive mood and talking about the warm winter it has been and could not wait for the snow to melt.

 

A few stats from the week.

 

Trade show covered 1.6ha

Nearly 15,000 people attended the trade show and

with 106 education seminars which 5338 people attended.

 

Makes for a very big show.

 

A few of the pictures from the show

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One highlight from the show was a couple of Aussie companies were present. Terry Muir was there with E-Par and Tru Turf rollers were again there, great Aussie success stories.

 

 

 

 

Tech Centre

 

There was also the test drive technology centre which was a huge success again (it has been running for 3 years now). This was run mainly by Bill Brown and Bob Porter (thanks guys for all the help with the apps). Various supers and industry personal presented short 20-30 minute talks on various tech topics throughout the trade show. The great thing about this centre was that it gave you practical skills on what was out there but you also had a chance to trial the devices yourself. You could have a go at an ipad, Mac, PC’s and various apps that were presented in the talks.

 

Bill in action talking about ipad apps and Google +

 

 

 

Just a note here for our stand at the AGCSA conference in Melbourne we will be having a area devoted to social media and turf apps that you can come and see. This will be an extension from our talk on the

 

 

“Using Social Media and Smartphone Apps in everyday Turf Management”

Presented By:

Nadeem Zreikat Colin Campbell Chemicals @campbellturf

Robin Doodson Sanctuary Cove Golf Club @GreensSCGC

Time 8.30-10am Thursday 7th June.

 

Also if you have an ipad, ipod or iphone please bring it with you during that week.

 

TWEETUP

 

This year there was a social media event after the Wedneasday of the show. If you are on twitter you will now all the details.

 

Tweetup was organised  Pat Jones of Golf Course Industry Magazine (@gcimagazine) and by John Kaminksi (@JohnKaminsk). It was all done via twitter no phone calls, emails or word of mouth. The only way you knew about it was to be on twitter either by following GCI Magazine or searching for their has tag (if you have no idea what I am speaking about come to our Social Media talk in June). The event drew a good crowd of about 50 people. I knew more who wanted to be there but other commitments got in the way.

 

Essentially this event gave recognition to supers who had used social media in their workplace and shown how it had benefited their club. The nomination process was quite intense. The criteria that GCI Magazine set was “to recognise and promote the effective use of social media tools by superintendents as a way to communicate with customers, employers and colleagues.”

 

Congratulations for GCI Magazine on getting behind this. A few photos of the winners and tweetup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following supers were the award winners

(taken from www.golfcourseindustry.com/gci-022912-gci-tweetup-2012-award-winners.aspx)

 

The Kaminski Award for Outstanding Social Media Leadership

Darren Davis

Olde Florida GC

Naples, Fla.

 

Best of the Blogs

 

Chris Tritabaugh

Northland CC

Duluth, Minn.

 

Steve Cook, CGCS, MG

Oakland Hills CC

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

 

Bill Brown, CGCS

Hartefeld National GC

Avondale, Pa.

 

Innovative Use of Twitter

 

Greg Shaffer

Elcona CC

Briston, Ind.

 

David Phipps

Stone Creek GC

Oregon City, Ore.

 

Excellence in Video

 

Justin Ruiz, CGCS, MG

Indian Summer G&CC

Olympia, Wash.

 

Hope you enjoyed Part 2 I will have Part 3 up shortly to wrap things up. i will also post at that time a giveaway I will do. I really enjoy writing this blog and I hope you enjoy reading it.

 

Cheers

 

Nadeem

 

My last post for the turf week is a pictorial of Las Vegas. It has little to do with turf but I thought I might just put a few pictures of what Vegas is like during the day and at night. Please enjoy.

 

I’ll start with the old then the new.

 

Commonly known as Old Vegas Freemont street has the original casinos which is away from the current strip.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the main part of the strip

 

 

 

Water show at old Bellagio

Inside Palazzo

Veneitian

MGM

 

Luxor

Various

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed my series on the US turf conference. The information I leanred over there I will put in posts throughout the year. However any help I can give my readers please just ask.

 

I will be posting my giveaway information straight after this so please check back on a regular basis.

 

Regards

Nadeem Zreikat

zreikat@campbellchemicals.com.au

@campbellturf

 

 

http://campbellturf.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/giveaway.html

 

“Using Social Media and Smartphone Apps in everyday Turf Management”

Presented By:

Nadeem Zreikat Colin Campbell Chemicals @campbellturf

Robin Doodson Sanctuary Cove Golf Club @GreensSCGC

Time 8.30-10am Thursday 7th June.

 

Our aim is to expalin how social media can beneift turf managers in everyday situations.

 

If you are on twitter follow hashtag #AGCSA12 which myself and Robin have setup for the conference. We will post all relevant informaiton there.