Rogers Sportsnet Sportscaster, Evanka Osmak, to Headline 2023 Conference

Release…November 1, 2022

Event planning for the Western Canada Turfgrass Association’s 59th Annual Conference and Trade Show, set to take place live and in-person, February 15-17, 2023 all under one roof at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, BC, is well underway and we’re very pleased that Rogers Sportsnet Sportscaster, Evanka Osmak, who was booked for 2022, is available and will be headlining our show!

Image courtesy National Speakers Bureau

As one of the faces of Rogers Sportsnet, Evanka Osmak joined the network in 2007 and is now a Co-Anchor of Sportsnet Central – Sportnet’s nightly sports news program.  She brings sports fans from coast-to-coast a healthy serving of fun, humour and insight.  

Evanka is also an upbeat, down-to-earth public speaker who brings a bit of humour to everything she does.  She leaves audiences inspired to seek out what it is they truly are passionate about.  When not covering the latest sports stories on-air, she is a member of the Special Olympics Ontario board, acting as an ambassador for Golf Fore the Cure alongside Golf Canada and is a committee member of the Sports Media Canada Luncheon.

“Evanka was as advertised, absolutely outstanding! She has such and “art” to being in front of people, either through the camera or live. She combines amazing sports knowledge, numerous experiences, a cagey sense of humor, and an obvious emotional intelligence that makes her real…almost just a Canadian sports fan like the rest of the audience...She is a tremendous role model, advocate and champion for all young girls, and women aspiring for a life in sports. Evanka has a career that may seem unconventional and unattainable for many females, but she has an ability to let people know to chase their dreams if it’s a life in sports. Finally, she went the extra mile outside of the Gala to meet, great, and personally make many individuals feel appreciated and special.”

- Athletics Director, Acadia University Department of Athletics

The 2023 conference program draft has now been released
Delegate registration is now open
Exhibitor registration is now open
Book your accommodation at the River Rock

The organizing committee is also very excited about our world-class line-up of turf management heavy hitters presenting at this year’s conference and 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!  

Dr. John Sorochan, University of Tennessee
Dr. Nick Christians, Iowa State University
Dr. Clint Mattox, USDA
Dr. Gregg Munshaw, Pinnacle Ag Research Center
Doug Wournell, DWournell Sport Architect
David Phipps, GCSAA
Trevor Warner, City of Woodstock
Terry Ormod, Toro Irrigation/IIABC
Mario Lanthier, CropHealth Advising and Research
Jason Pick, Olds College
Stan Kazymerchyk, Kwantlen University
Representatives from Health Canada PMRA & BC Ministry of Environment
& many more!

Registration is out early this year because we need to provide venue numbers much further in advance than ever before and we’ll need full support of WCTA members to help make our conference a huge comeback success.  I look forward to seeing a packed house in Richmond this February!

Gary Bartley
WCTA President & Conference Committee Chair

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CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE BUSINESS CASE

A WCTA member recently wrote:

I’m required to draft up a business case on the benefits of attending the conference.  There’s a chance I won’t make it this year due to cutbacks and there’s talk about obtaining our education through in–house development and training.

Our reply:

With two dozen expert presenters on a wide range of turf management topics, in-house training just can’t match the scale of our conference education program.  

When thinking about attendance costs, economy of scale allows us to spread expenses over hundreds of delegates plus delegate fees are subsidized by the trade show which is why our registration prices are about half of similar shows in other industries. 

Also, there are always tons of ways to save an immeasurable sum of money and/or improve your operation by attending whether it’s a purchase at the silent auction, an idea picked up from a colleague or implementing knowledge learned from any number of seminar speakers.