Make it your business to attend the 2009 OFA Short Course, July 11-14 in Columbus, Ohio. It’s not too early to start preparing for your trip to U.S. floriculture’s largest event. Approximately 10,000 of your peers will be at the OFA Short Course, so make it your business to be there too.
Whether it’s the 1,500-booth trade show that has everything you need for your business, the educational sessions with the latest information to help you succeed in today’s competitive environment, or the networking that takes place in the hallways, sidewalks, and restaurants, the OFA Short Course continues to be THE place that industry professionals meet!

Education Designed to Meet Your Needs
Learn from the best during four days of sessions, workshops, and tours. Sessions include:
• Water Management
• Increasing Profits Through Benchmark Analysis
• Energy Management and Savings
• Industry Challenges and Opportunities
• Business IQ
• Town Meeting: Differentiate or Die
• Disease and Insect Management
• Today’s Container Ideas
• Working with Landscapers
• Crop Culture
• PGRs
• “Problem” Vegetative Crops
• Niche Crop Opportunities
• Media, Pots, Nutrition, and Light
• Sustainability
• Research Updates

And More…
In addition to this intense lineup of sessions, you can get even more great ideas by taking advantage of the
full tracks of education focused solely on management and marketing or retailing. Those highlights
include:
• Pricing workshop
• Lean workshop
• Business survival skills
• Dealing with your banker
• Personnel issues
• Merchandising
• Marketing
• Customer service
• Using technology in your business

But We’re Not Done Yet!
The learning doesn’t just happen in the classroom or on the trade show floor. Get other great ideas from
these events:
• New Varieties Display
• New Products Showcase
• Grower Tour to Area Greenhouses
• Manager Idea Exchange
• Retail Experience: Retail Idea Exchange
• OSU Trial Gardens Tour
• OFA Keynote Address
There’s something for everyone at the OFA Short Course!
New this Year! Register for the OFA Short Course Before Getting Your Hotel Reservation
We’ve listened to your concerns about the hotel reservation system, and have developed an easy, one-stop shopping process to ensure that only those committed to attending the Short Course are booking hotel rooms. You will first register your staff for the event, and then be given an immediate opportunity to make any necessary hotel reservations for those people. The new and improved system is designed to allow you to register several staff at once for the OFA Short Course and then get the hotel rooms you need.
Registration and hotel reservations open on Tuesday, May 5. Hotel reservations must be made by June 19.
The pre-registration deadline is June 26.
The full program, complete with conference, registration, and hotel information, will be available by early April, so you will have plenty of time to review the materials to decide what sessions you want, who’s attending from your company, and how to get the most out of your experience in Columbus.
Make it YOUR business to attend the 2009 OFA Short Course. Visit www.ofa.org for more details.