ELEVATE, presented by NALP and powered by Cat, broke records again with nearly 2,500 attendees convening at Charlotte, North Carolina, on Nov. 3-6, 2024, for education, inspiration and recreation.
“This year’s ELEVATE, hands down, is the best one yet, and I’m not just saying that,” says Pam Dooley, NALP chair and owner of Plants Creative Landscape. “In terms of the quality of the education, the networking events, the location, it was so great to just have everything so central.”
Education
This year’s ELEVATE featured the first-ever NALP Women’s Forum, a pre-conference event that took place on Sunday, Nov. 4. This event featured keynote speaker Sherhara Burrell, roundtable discussions and networking at the Museum of Illusions. Burrell taught attendees how to advocate for themselves with the simple phrase “I’m proud to say that…”
“She put together an energetic and engaging workshop for the 125 attendees,” Dooley says. “I have to say our inaugural event was truly a success – women and women advocates left with action items and tools. I look forward to what WILN puts together for 2025!”
Another new feature this year was the Let’s Talk Shop round table discussions. These were divided by industry specialties, including irrigation, lawn care, design/build, commercial landscape maintenance and residential commercial maintenance.
ELEVATE also featured over 30 concurrent education sessions covering everything from growth and leadership topics to people and culture.
“What made me come was looking at the schedule, especially for today; H-2B is such a big thing,” says first-time attendee Maria Machado, a human resources business partner with Yardnique, based in Morrisville, North Carolina. “Seeing that that’s something that this association is invested in, I was like, ‘Okay, I want to know what they’re thinking, what other people are doing, and if it’s something that we can implement at Yardnique and would it be beneficial for our guys’ because if we don’t have a crew that we don’t have company,” Machado says. “
Another first-time attendee, Mark Mini, president of John Mini Distinctive Landscapes, based in Congers, New York, says ELEVATE has been exciting and inspiring. He enjoyed a panel discussion that included perspectives from outside the industry.
“You get entrenched in thinking about the industry and how to do things in one specific way,” Mini says. “It was just interesting to hear a couple leaders and CEOs of companies in our industry who have come from the outside and other service industries and how they can look at things differently.”
Meanwhile, on the Expo floor, 205 companies exhibited new innovations and enjoyed intimate conversations with customers.
“We participate in a lot of different industries, but this one, we’ve been seeing a lot of great customers that come through that already own our equipment or want to own our equipment,” says Jennifer Nelson, a digital experience consultant with Caterpillar. “It’s a way to let people know that we are affordable in your price range.”
Aaron Griffith, director of professional dealer sales with Stanley Black & Decker, says they love attending ELEVATE and have participated every year.
“We just love it because we want to build solutions for our end customers,” Griffith says. “We want to network with the people who are actually using it to build the products that they need to make their lives easier. What better place to get that than here? We can meet with all of our larger national accounts and see smaller landscapers that are getting in. Hearing stories from the smaller landscapers is what really gets you excited.”
During the Expo hours, there were also 18 Campfire Conversations, where attendees could sit and discuss topics, including how to educate students and parents about the green industry, the value of KPIs, and how to make wellness a priority.
Inspiration
A big focus of this year’s ELEVATE was providing Main Stage sessions that inspired and changed people’s thinking.
This started with the opening Main Stage speaker, Shawn Achor, who covered how positive brains are linked to improved performance. During his presentation, Achor shared how choosing to look for the good and being grateful makes it easier for the brain to spot opportunities.
“The inspiration piece is a big one for me,” says Corey Petersen, a branch manager with Pacific Landscape Management, based in Hillsboro, Oregon. “Our speaker yesterday (Monday) was a great start to the week. That had my mind buzzing in and then I have been to some other classes throughout that really have me thinking about different things.”
Tabitha Coker, director of sales and marketing with King Green, based in Gainesville, Georgia, says opening Main Stage session rocked her world and she plans to implement the habits Achor outlined in her own life.
On Tuesday, Main Stage speaker and AI innovator Noelle Russell highlighted the importance of scaling responsibly with AI. She stressed how as companies delve into implementing AI they always need to ask two questions: ‘What’s the worst possible thing that can happen?’ and ‘Where does this come from/How does this work?’
Closing things out on Wednesday was ESPN reporter Lauren Sisler. She shared about the tragedies in her life and how owning your story, both the ups and the downs, can allow you to connect with others. She encouraged attendees to shift their perspectives and face challenges head-on.
Recreation
Plenty of opportunities for fun were interspersed throughout the event, including the Welcome Reception, a happy hour on the Expo show floor and the ever-popular ELEVATE Bash. During the NALP-PAC Night Cap, $115,050 was raised for advocacy efforts.
“You should come for the people,” Coker says. “It’s wonderful. There are so many people that we’ve met at these conferences, and I do think ELEVATE is set up well because you’re always pushing the networking aspect. There’s always enough time between classes.”
On Monday night, Nov. 4, the 2024 Awards of Excellence recipients were celebrated. This included 61 Gold winners, 132 Silver winners and 50 Bronze winners.
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, the NALP Foundation hosted a Family Feud style battle between six teams where humorous answers were common. Between the rounds, trips to locations around the country were auctioned off. A total of $158,000 was raised for the Foundation.
Then, attendees headed over to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, where they could learn more about the history of the sport, race each other in a simulator and party on the dance floor to DJ Eric Rhodes’ beats all while networking.
“Number one for me is just the networking and there are quite a few people that I see once a year here, and it’s nice to pick up more or less where we left off last year, and see what changed based on their part of the country and the economy and all the different things that are affecting all of our businesses,” Petersen says.
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, Envu, Greenworks Commercial, Hunter, and Syngenta.
Next year’s ELEVATE will be held Nov. 2-5, 2025, in Phoenix, Arizona.
