I want to share a few thoughts about Hort Connections and what made it so special:

1) The energy was really high. People got up early for 7:00 am breakfasts every day and stayed late for happy hours and dinners every night. It was up early and up late all week, from the time things got going in earnest on Monday through the field demos just outside Adelaide on Friday. From my perspective, it didn’t seem forced. People were there because they wanted to be there. Many of the key US shows struggle to get participation in all time slots.

2) The “youth cohort” was very strong in attendance and participation. The 20 and 30-somethings were noticeably higher percentages than many of the events I regularly attend. I think this shows the opportunity that the US has in front of it and needs to lean into even more aggressively. US/CA has programs for both University students (Farm Robotics Challenge) and up and coming industry leaders (Western Growers Leadership Program). Those are good, and more are needed. We need to recruit hard to get students to test drive ag before they graduate and then stick with ag after they graduate. Recruiting and retaining talent remains hard.

3) Attendance was up and exhibitors were happy. I always like to walk the exhibit floor and get into a few content rooms to see how the audience is and how they’re participating. At Hort Connections, the audience was active in content sessions all three days and the startups I talked to reported very good traffic and high quality traffic. These are all big factors in getting attendees to come year after year and in getting startups to continue to show up and exhibit year after year. It’s worth noting that over 1,100 attendees were growers. That is a very high percentage of farmer traffic. At a time when traffic at many US shows is down, Hort Connections is bucking the trend by increasing traffic two years in a row.

4) The ultimate test – after 3+ long days, the wrap-up gala event was very well attended and (once again) people stayed late! I am a big fan of wrap up events in gala style where the last evening provides one last chance to connect before heading out of town.

My experience at the show tells me the combination of partnerships, the focus on specialty crops and horticulture, and the actual content and events at Hort Connections hit the mark and helped them deliver a great event and grow their audience.