President's Report March, 2012

Incoming President Tab BucknerAs my term as your President begins, I want to thank all WCTA members for supporting me in reaching the pinnacle of our association.

I also would like to thank Dave Duncan for his tireless commitment in assisting the board with changes that were required in the new era of economics we are facing. We must also not forget our current past President Scott Mitchell aka "Cut-out Mitchell" who had the shortest term in WCTA past history, for his continued support and for modifying the association to reflect "why does the WCTA exist at all."

I would like to thank all of the members who let their names stand for elections to the Board for 2012. I wish to congratulate and thank the Board of 2012 for their commitment and time to this great association for the next year.
The 2012-13 WCTA Board Of Directors (From Left To Right): Mike Schellenberg, Trevor Smith, Keith Lyall, Jason Pick, Peter Sorokovsky, Tab Buckner, Dr. Brian Holl, Scott Mitchell, Larry Olson, Brett Finlayson, Jeff Bennett 

This year is already starting off as very difficult one for our association and the new WCTA board will be facing some very tough challenges in the coming weeks and months. To name a few:

- 2013 Penticton Conference feasibility - Partnering with CGSA in 2014 for a Vancouver conference

- Exploring the possibility of moving toward bi- Annual Trade Shows

- How to attract more Industry and delegates to the Trade Show

- Exploring new avenues of revenue generation - Hosting education only conferences

- How to attract more membership

- How to add value to membership

- Hosting new events like a 2012 Sportsfield Field Day

- Seeking and strengthening allied partnerships

As well, and of perhaps utmost importance, is to ensure we are moving the association in the proper direction especially as pressures from beyond our control exert influence on the turf industry. These we cannot avoid but we're fortunate to have a strong structure in place that can advocate on behalf of our membership.

As one of the first orders of business, if the WCTA board decides to partner with the CGSA in 2014 in Vancouver, I would suggest that we consider partnering with other BC based associations like BC Irrigation and the BC Recreation and Parks Association. My rationale is to create a large enough event where we can continue offering high quality speakers throughout the different education tracks while keeping suppliers happy by limiting it to just one trade show in BC with high attendance levels instead of multiple shows with low attendance levels.

In the same spirit of cooperation that has already been pursued at great length on the golf side, on the morning of Wednesday, January 26, directly after the conference, Scott Mitchell, Brian Holl, Trevor Smith, Jerry Rousseau and I met with the Sports Turf Association of Ontario (STA) executive; President Paul Gillen, VP Tennessee Propedo and Executive Director Lee Huether.

The purpose of this meeting was to discuss how a partnership between the STA and WCTA can represent sports turf managers across Canada.

The previous WCTA board knew the STA had aspirations of forming a National SportsTurf Association as they had consulted with us over a year ago on the possibility. The STA will soon be presenting a proposal to the WCTA Board for consideration that would allow WCTA members to join the STA for a cost much less than joining independently while allowing full access to all STA member services including the TGIF database at Michigan State University. The agreement also proposes to have one of the WCTA board members serve on the STA board of directors.

There are many other irons in the fire that we will continue to communicate to you. As mentioned previously, the WCTA Board has some important decisions to make this year which will have lasting implications for the future. I welcome any suggestion and constructive feedback that would make our association even stronger.

To reach me, my office email is tbuckner@tol.ca and my office phone is 604.532.3504.

Regards, Tab Buckner, WCTA President