CHICAGOMONIUM 2014 REVIEW “YOU’RE AWESOME!”

     Something awesome happened in Chicago recently. A pond industry event on March 17th and 18th brought together pond professionals from several points around the globe striving to make the most of their businesses and improve their own industry. It was a unique and special event on every level.

     The event was Chicagomonium hosted by Aquascape Inc. and I have 5000 things to say about it but will try to narrow it down to 3.

     First thing to say is this was an event for established pond industry business owners. It was a networking and learning event for those who are bringing their pond and water garden businesses to the next level. Chicagomonium was not the place to be to learn how to connect a skimming system or divide a water lily. This was however; an event to learn how to showcase your pond and water garden business at the highest level when doing home shows or public displays, including an after hours viewing tour of Aquascape Inc.’s own award winning display at the famous Chicago Flower and Garden show on the Navy Pier. The Aquascape display featured numerous and varied styles of water features like ponds, waterfalls, bubblers, container ponds, and spillways nestled among varying outdoor living vignettes from tea house settings to outdoor fire places. There was also a custom made water spillway table and a fun shed house for kids. This experience could only have the effect of elevating any pond and water feature professionals approach to constructing home show displays designed to sell projects and fill the calendar with work.

     Second thing to say is Chicagomonium gave hands on direct training from industry experts for business owners on utilizing forward thinking social media platforms, such as Flipboard, to not just keep their businesses on the cutting edge of social media but ahead of the curve. Interactive discussions on creating high quality content and strategies for content marketing to help keep pond and water garden business owners’ marketing efforts relevant, focused, effective, and best of all practically free! Suggestions and comparing notes by business owners on the utilization of today’s myriad of smart devices to help in the management and organization of small businesses and their employees not just in the office, but in the field as well. Training sessions were held for creating achievable company budgets to plan strategic spending patterns and to help business owners take control of how much their businesses can earn, but even more importantly how much they can KEEP!

     Third thing to say is that Chicagomonium featured a stellar line up of highly inspiring and motivational speakers, many of whom are directly from the industry. Speakers like Tom Reber, Clark O’Neill, Steve Shinsholser, Brian Helfrich, and the Pond Guy himself Greg Wittstock made the rotations addressing this group of business owners. Each speaker having their own insightful and unique message, yet each speaker having the same underlying message to the group of business owners of “wake up, you’re awesome!”. Any business owner who did not leave Chicagomonium with a heightened sense of self and business was not listening, Any business owner who did not leave Chicagomonium at least a few steps, if not leaps, closer to creating a highly successful, organized, efficient, and profitable business was not listening. The message “wake up, you’re awesome” was whispered in our ears, shouted in our faces, and stamped on our foreheads, and if you did not hear that message you were not listening. Simply stated the message of Chicagomonium was undeniable, and unavoidable.

     Those 3 things almost summarize the 5000 things that need to be said about Aquascape Inc.’s Chicagomonium event. Yet there is just one more thing that just must be said, one more thing that will create a major wave of change in the industry of ponds and water gardens, one more thing that will be changing the lives of pond and water garden professionals, hobbyists, and those people who want a water feature and don’t even know it yet. The one more thing that needs to be said about Chicagomonium is that it became the place where the “official” announcement came that will change everything about this incredible industry and bring it all main stream. The team of Greg, Ed, and Brian who many of us have enjoyed watching in real life for some time now, are going to be the stars of a new reality TV show featuring ponds and water gardens! This game changing TV show will be premiering in September of 2014 and will be bringing the lifestyle and obsession of water features and anything aquatic into the living rooms of the United States and 35 other countries! So hold onto your shovels pond pros, things are going to get very real, real soon, and those who attended the Chicagomonium event are front row to reap the benefits of what is sure to be a revolutionary change in the industry of ponds and water gardens so hold on tight cause you aint seen nothing yet.

     So come on pond pros, “wake up!!! You’re awesome!” and it will only get more awesome in the coming months. So get ready, get prepared, and get out to Chicago this summer for the Aquascape Pondemonium event. Don’t get left behind, the industry needs you, “you’re awesome!”.

All copy rights to this material is soley owned by Mike Gannon.