The fifth annual ELEVATE, presented by NALP and powered by Cat, was held in Tampa, Florida, on Nov. 8-11, 2026, and focused on the industry’s top concerns and opportunities, covering everything from exit strategies and strengthening company culture to AI and advocacy.
“The event has as much networking as you’re ever going to find, and you get to know other people,” says Nick Brummel, an ambassador for Landscape Workshop, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. “You can problem-solve, you get to have real-life solutions, and the education you’re not going to find anywhere else.”
Learning from Shared Industry Challenges
This year, three pre-conference events were held on Nov. 8: the Advocacy Academy, the AI Executive Stack Workshop, and the third annual Women’s Forum.
“With the current political environment of the country, I’m fearful of what it means for our industry, and I knew NALP did a great job of explaining that with Andrew Bray, and I saw that there was a workshop for the advocacy ambassador program and I really wanted to be there to learn as much as I could about what was going on,” says Brad Leahy, vice president of Blades of Green, based in Edgewater, Maryland.
During Women’s Forum, keynote speaker Rachel Druckenmiller shared with attendees how they could build confidence in their capabilities, the importance of having an accurate view of oneself, and how to not hold themselves back from contributing.
Across three days, landscape professionals had 35 concurrent education sessions to choose from, which ranged from how to support your Latino leaders to strategies on competing against private equity-backed businesses. Additionally, the Professional Grounds Management Society co-hosted their annual conference with ELEVATE, and attendees could participate in these education sessions as well.
Jenny Girard, director of operations for R.M. Landscape, Inc., based in Hilton, New York, says she always walks away with a new insight from the education sessions because she comes in curious and asks questions. She appreciates the problem-solving nature of the industry and being able to talk through similar struggles with other attendees.
“We all cut grass differently, but we’re all having the same issues,” Girard says. “It’s good that we’re all talking about it, and I’m watching that the industry as a whole is progressing substantially. Even looking back five years ago to now, seeing the progression in women, the conversations around mental health, the conversations about the labor, and how we’re facing that. We’re having real conversations about pricing, and they’re important to ensure that companies survive through hard times.”
Exploring Tech and Trading Ideas
New to the ELEVATE Expo this year were the four Innovation Stage presentations and 12 Peer Circle Chats.
During the Innovation Stage presentations, landscape professionals shared how a specific form of technology benefited their operations, while the Peer Circle Chats featured three facilitators sharing their practices related to topics such as recruiting, marketing, training, and retention.
First-time attendee Janae Reed, director of personal development with Timberline Landscaping, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, says she particularly enjoyed the Peer Circle Chats and hearing the multiple perspectives on a specific topic.
“I’ve sat in the room with people who have been in the industry for 40 years and people who have been in the industry for four months, and everybody’s learning,” Reed says. “I don’t think there’s a person who can’t take something away.”
The Expo was also where attendees could explore equipment, technology and other business solutions across 221 exhibitors. For instance, John Deere featured an expansion to their Operations Center, moving from only focusing on the fleet to operations management.
“Being able to create a boundary around a specific area so as soon as a mower goes into that area, we can also then calculate where exactly did that machine mow?” says Amanda Andruch, go-to-market manager for precision technology with John Deere. “How many acres did they mow? What was their average speed while they’re on property? How long were they on property? That’s all available to be able to be analyzed.”
Another exhibitor who displayed some of the ways AI can be utilized in landscape businesses was Motive with their AI dash cams and new AI agent, Atlas, that allows users to create their own dashboards. He says landscape companies can also place cameras on the bedrails of their vehicles.
“Now, when they arrive at job sites, they’re actually having that camera alert them and say, ‘Hey, make sure you park so the camera is facing the yard that you’re servicing,’ so they can make sure they’re getting service verification,” Isern says. “If they get any damage complaints or issues with customers, they can actually verify those things happen on site.”
Building Connections and Clear Path Forward
One major reason many landscape professionals have attended ELEVATE every year is for the wealth of networking opportunities. This includes the Let’s Talk Shop specialty discussions, the role-based roundtable luncheon, as well as the more social events like the Welcome Reception, Expo happy hour, and the ELEVATE Bash at Splitsville.
First-time attendee Danny Kulus, owner of VisionScape Landscaping & Design, based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, says that being able to meet CEOs and owners of companies with revenues ranging from $10 million to $300 million and hear how they do business was invaluable for him.
“For me, as a young guy starting out, you don’t know what you don’t know,” Kulus says. “When you get to see how it’s done by the best, that gives you so much freedom to stop questioning what you are doing. When you get to see how the best companies do it, and hear and taste and touch and feel how they think, how they operate, the energy that they carry, it gives you a blueprint. It gives you a vision to chase after, and it just makes your path so much more clear.”
NALP also expanded on the structured networking with the all-new roundtable breakfast panel, which was held on Nov. 10. Panelists Jennifer Burnett, chief people officer with LandCare, Cam Cundiff, director of administration with Weed Man Epic3, and Joel Sullivan, CEO of Sullivan’s Landscaping & Maintenance, all shared thoughts on workforce development challenges before individual tables discussed related topics.
“There are just a lot of great people to meet, people that you can relate to,” says Katy Romo, administrative manager and attorney for Green & Clean Landscaping, Inc., based in Greensboro, North Carolina. “You can have questions answered that you didn’t even know that you were going to ask.”
Thank you to our title sponsor, Cat; our Elite partners, Aspire, Stanley Black & Decker and STIHL, as well as our additional partners, John Deere, Kress, Caliber Fleet Solutions, Envu, Toro, Motive and RealGreen, for all your support.
Next year’s ELEVATE will take place Nov. 7-10, 2027, in Anaheim, California. We’ll see you there!
