I’ll remember the Alamo show

I will remember a few things about the 2015 GIS in San Antonio outside of the great food and lousy weather. ¶ I ran into “Turf’s Most Interesting Man,” Bob Farren, CGCS at Pinehurst Resort, at the John Deere party. He told me that his first GCSAA Conference and Show was the last time GCSAA was there, in 1978. ¶ T.M.I.M. didn’t remember much detail about that ’78 show. But one thing we both agreed on: it was good for the GIS to be back in San Antonio.

An example of why the GIS is a one-of-a-kind, must-attend event: I hadn’t even sat down on my flight from Kansas City to Dallas yet and I was already making new business connections. Sure, it helps to have a monthly column and a recognizable face, but my Southwest flight got me a connection as well as an invitation to an event I’d thought about hitting for a few years now.

Or, how about this one: after moderating a panel discussion, two gents from the great state of South Dakota approached me. They had read my January column, where I mentioned having never visited a few northern states, and cordially invited me to the fall South Dakota GCSA chapter meeting. (And guys, if you’re still willing to take a rookie quail hunting, I’m in.)

Want to get even more geographically diverse? Neil Cleverly, superintendent of the Rio Olympics golf course, did an unexpected one-on-one interview at our booth.

The show wasn’t just a success for me. Everyone I spoke with, without a single exception, raved about the 2015 GIS.

I had one booth visit located at what turned out to be the furthest reaches of the trade show (bad planning on my part — I should have assigned that meeting to Grant “Buddy” Gannon, the new guy). You can bet the exhibitor with an up-close view of two concrete walls is going to be mad and rant at me when I ask how the show is going.

Surprise! That wasn’t the case. I would consider this “parts unknown” of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, and the guy stuck there was still smiling, telling me this was his best show in eight years. That, my friends, is saying something.

The weather was awful. I didn’t see the sun the entire time I was in San Antonio. It was cold and wet and most of the time I wasn’t appropriately dressed.

But that’s OK — I was there for meetings, not sightseeing boat rides on the River Walk.

The GIS returns to San Antonio in 2018, and I’m excited to go back. I think it’s a great convention city, and a great city in general.

If there is a detriment to San Antonio, it’s the labyrinthine convention center and the questionable weather at that time of the year.

Good news: The convention center is set to undergo a $325 million renovation, so the ’18 GIS will be in a new, modern convention center. No more of that feeling that you’re walking through the Pac-Man video game maze, and can exit out one door to find yourself in a totally different and unexpected part of the show.

The weather? I was there for the Sports Turf Managers Association show in January 2014, and an ice storm hit the city, bringing out the sheriffs and their road flares to close down I-37. So I’m 0-for-2 when it comes to San Antonio and weather. But a little weather in a convention location won’t dissuade me.

The ’15 GIS was a smashing success, one to remember. I’ll see you back there in ’18, but in the meantime, make plans to see us in San Diego (’16) and Orlando (’17).