WCTA Conference Sneak Peak – River Rock Casino Resort Feb 15-17th, 2023

Release…October 13, 2022

As the summer winds down and turf managers are seeing light at the end of the tunnel, WCTA staff is busy organizing our 59th Annual WCTA Conference and Trade Show, taking place Feb 15-17, 2023 at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, BC.

After a couple year hiatus, we’re a little rusty on the production side😀 but as always, our goal is to deliver affordable, world-class, informative and relevant education from top turf and other experts on a wide variety of subject matter.

Of course everyone from the golf, sportsfield and all turf management disciplines is welcome to attend, from supers, assistants, turf specialists and crew leaders to those looking for CEC/CEU points, to irrigation and equipment techs and everyone in between!  

With that, our Planning Team is ready to offer a glimpse into this year’s education program as follows:

Wednesday, Feb 15
Four pre-con seminars are planned for the afternoon as follows:  

'Sustainable Strategies for Reduced Turf Inputs'
Dr. John Sorochan, University of Tennessee

'Irrigation Electrical Troubleshooting Part 1'
presented by IIABC & Terry Ormrod, Toro Irrigation

'CEC Point Central'
Mario Lanthier, Crophealth Advising & Research

‘Reel Deal Grinding Clinic' 
presented by Oakcreek Golf & Turf

Thursday, Feb 16
The main program kicks off with three keynote speakers followed by our Annual General Meeting, followed by a couple more hours of education on four separate tracks including two separate turf streams, CEC/CEU stream and Equipment Technicians stream.

At 3:00pm, our famous ‘Turf Management Industry Trade Show Reception’, formerly known as the Fest-of-Ale, will run on the River Rock theatre floor until 6:30pm

Friday, Feb 17
Make sure you’re ready to go at 8:30am with day two of our education program, again with four separate tracks but we change out the equipment tech stream for irrigation.  The trade show runs 10:30am to 1:00pm with lunch served on the show floor.

Following lunch, we’ll have a plenary turf session while concurrently hosting our hugely popular ‘Turf Management 101’ post-con seminar with top turf teachers, Stan Kazymerchyk and Jason Pick.  And after all that seriousness, we’ll close the show with 45 minutes from the Vancouver local and very funny, John Cullen.

In total, we expect about 20 speakers delivering 30 hours of education on those aforementioned four separate tracks.  Confirmed presenters so far:

Opening Keynote Speaker - Evanka Osmak, Sportscaster, Rogers Sportsnet
Dr. John Sorochan, University of Tennessee
David Phipps, GCSAA
Dr. Gregg Munshaw, Pinnacle Ag Research Center
Dr. Nick Christians, Iowa State University
Terry Ormrod, Toro Irrigation
Trevor Warner, City of Woodstock
Doug Wournell, DWournell Sport Architect
Jason Pick, Olds College
Stan Kazymerchyk, Kwantlen University
Mario Lanthier, Crophealth Advising & Research

Mark your calendars now!  Much more information will be released in the coming weeks with delegate registration expected to open soon.  See you at the River Rock this February!