Re: Oklahoma City GWAA Meeting

**"* M* <c*@ns.sympatico.ca>**

This was my first (but not my last!) Symposium, and it was terrific. The people in Oklahoma could not have been friendlier or more helpful, and the gardens were lovely.
Because it was my first time I found everything to be extremely helpful, and I want to thank anyone and everyone who played a part in putting it together.
Carol Matthews
Truro, Nova Scotia

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jeff Ball 
  To: Garden Writers -- GWL -- The Garden Writers Forum 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 11:46 AM
  Subject: [GWL] Oklahoma City GWAA Meeting

  Nancy and I agree that the okc meeting was right up there among the  
  best in terms of all general categories.  It is clear the local  
  committee worked their butts off and we all thank them profusely.   
  Only one seminar bombed and that is probably a record.  The crowd,  
  all 450 something was incredibly noisy on the buses, at meals, and on  
  trips.  That means everyone had a good time.

  Now my concerns - I have two and they are probably related.  I'm just  
  talking here off the hip.  I've had no time to research this stuff,  
  so I may be way off the mark.
  1.  I left the awards banquet feeling really disappointed.  I didn't  
  figure it out until later on the bus.  The museum was fantastic, the  
  food was excellent for institutional food, and the winners of the  
  Fellows and Jung awards were eloquent, funny and tear jerking.  I  
  realized I was uncomfortable because it seemed that half of the  
  recipients of awards did not attend the meeting.  I guess I resented  
  that.  Most years, the awards session has been really fun - lots of  
  clapping, yelling, and delight in the faces of the winners.  This  
  year since they didn't mention any award where the recipient was not  
  present, the awards part was over in a very short time.  We rowdy  
  types didn't have time to get warmed up. I guess the awards didn't  
  mean so much to me this time as they have in the past.  I think this  
  is a bad sign.  If we as a group can't get excited and up for our  
  very own awards, enough to come and get them, then what is that  
  saying about our feelings about our organization and our profession.   
  It just concerns me.

  2.  In the radio/tv session, one participant announced that HGTV has  
  no gardening shows any more and has no intention of having any in the  
  near future.  The reason is that advertisers don't feel that garden  
  shows draw enough interest to make advertising in them worth it.    
  People who spend money on advertising usually know what they are  
  doing.  They are telling us, our profession is becoming less  
  important to Americans.  Then Nancy and I were rehashing on the way  
  home, and while I didn't double check the attendance list, our  
  feeling was that some of the key magazines ignored us; specifically  
  Fine Gardening and Horticulture.  Organic Gardening seems like it  
  disappeared.  Maybe there was a representative there from those  
  publications, but where were the editors?  Maybe I'm being too picky,  
  but if the editors of the top gardening magazines don't make an  
  effort and half the award winners don't show, do we have a problem  
  that we are not addressing?

  Again, Nancy and I had a blast.  All rowdy members showed, so that is  
  fun.  We had 70 first timers and that is good.  Our deep thanks goes  
  to Steve and his crew for making us snobs from Michigan realize  
  Oklahoma is a really neat place to live.  Oklahoma City certainly  
  shows up Detroit as a great place to have fun.

  Jeff Ball
  jeffball@usol.com
  810-724-8581
  Check out my daily blog at www.gardeneryardener.blogspot.com
  Check out my extensive web site at www.yardener.com

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