PONDEMINIUM 2013 REVIEW

The month of February in the Northeast US is certainly the most “wintery” of any month in those parts. Water gardens and koi ponds, waterfalls and splashing fountains are still a distant thought for those with a water garden lifestyle. Yet, it is a perfect time for pond and water garden professionals to start gearing up for a new season in 2013. And PONDEMINIUM is a great way to get it rolling! Pondeminium 2013, hosted by Mark and Rebecca Willoughby from Splash Supply Company of York, PA (www.facebook.com/splashSupply ), brought together a large group of pond pros from February 6-8, 2013.

This years Pondeminium event had grown some since last year and was attended by many new companies in 2013. Some pond pros drove many hours to attend, others flew in! A new group of speakers came in to share great business insights, and some returning speakers with some fresh industry news and current happenings. Hands-On training with Brian Helfrich, world class pond builder, from Aquascape Inc. (www.aquascapeinc.com ) and Splash Supply’s own Ryan Allen. They led and instructed a pondless waterfall build and an overflowing urn display installation. There was plenty of networking opportunities as well.

Pondeminium kicked off with a networking dinner on Wednesday February 6. Thursday morning coffee and breakfast items were available as Jim Paluch; author, landscape architect, and speaker talked about the “come alive outside” approach to selling and followed up with a talk on “a better way to learn financials” for your business. At this same time a group outside were working away on the pondless waterfall build and could be seen from the conference room. Learn more about Jim (www.jphorizons.com ).

After lunch Steve Shinholser from Premier Ponds (www.premierpond.com ) in Maryland, gave an engaging and inspiring talk on the “business of ponds”. Steve gave details on systems he has developed and uses for his very successful pond business. He describes how these systems can be applied to almost any pond business to help increase the bottom line and profits. The “Shinholser Effect” has been used by other pond companies with great results, and Steve will be speaking at Pondemonium in 2013 as well; go see him!

Friday morning, with a big winter storm bearing down on the east coast, Brian Helfrich (www.facebook.com/brian.helfrich.77 ) spent time with the audience of pond pros talking about what works best for him and the largest water garden pond construction company in the US; for marketing, promotions, and sales. He talked about design inspirations, and what’s new with Aquascape Inc. He gave a hint as to what may be coming to TV soon that will give the water garden and pond industry a “boost in the ratings”. Can’t wait to see what happens next with Aquascape Inc!

The Pondeminium break out groups discussed topics like water garden retailing with Tom Smith (www.gardenstatekoi.com ), using FaceBook for your business with BJ Linger (www.facebook.com/bjlaquascapes ), relationship selling with Doug and Judy Harvey (www.pondworld.ca), pond aeration systems with Rick Weidman (www.airmaxeco.com ), profitable pond maintenance, and more took place in smaller groups. There was also an excellent night of drinks and dinner at a cool restaurant with a great sweeping view of the York area. The food was great and there was even a birthday celebrated that night by one of the pond pros!

Pondeminium may become an annual event so keep a look out for it next year in 2014! The information is relevant to any water garden pond business and the crowd of pond pros really helps get you pumped up for the season that is just a few weeks away! Pondeminium delivered again in 2013 with a well run, informative, fun, and worthwhile pond business event. Big thanks for a great pond industry event to Mark and Rebecca Willoughby and the staff at Splash Supply Company of York, PA.

All copyrights to this material is solely owned by Mike Gannon.