Executive Director’s Report

CAREY MITCHELSON

Welcome to the second issue of the renewed News Notes Magazine. This release will focus on the upcoming MTF Turf Conference with its new location and schedule of events. This year’s conference will be the 92st time the MTF has hosted this event making it one of the country’s oldest and longest running conferences focusing on turf research and educational sessions. This winter we are pleased to have Soaring Eagle Casino in Mt. Pleasant as our conference location (January 4 – January 6) and believe it will offer attendees many educational options and plentiful possibilities for gatherings and conversations. Considerable effort was put into making the move to a site that would provide the best conference experience possible for our membership. MTF President and Conference Chairperson Curt Boak researched many possibilities and worked tirelessly to ensure we could provide the best possible in-person experience and deserves accolades for his effort. While at the conference please take a moment to thank him for PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE his time on the board and all he has done to make the MTF Conference an experience that I am sure each of you will enjoy. The majority of our annual events will be taking place during the 3 days of the conference, and we encourage all attendees to take advantage of the many social and meeting options available. Items such as The Vendor Halftime Show, Student Scholarship presentation, Annual Meeting and other details are important parts of the conference and we hope you can take time to attend as many as possible.

Student Awards To many, the highlight of the Conference is awarding scholarships to the students at MSU. This year the awards will be presented during the Vendor Halftime Show. If you have not been present for these in the It is with great pleasure that the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation once again is able to present our Annual Turfgrass Conference. The decision four years ago to return to East Lansing and make the emphasis on education has proven past it will be a great opportunity for you to see firsthand our new generation of turfgrass students and to be the correct choice. Our speaker line-up is once again wellexperience their pride and accomplishments that they share with their families.rounded and the topics for your consideration have been planned Vendor Halftime Show/ Sponsorships Speaking of the Halftime show …the success of the conference is closely tied to so many of our allied for months. A great deal of debate regarding what our attendees may be interested in always takes place and the goal is to anticipate partners and individuals willing to be a part of the Halftime Show and offering Sponsorships. The Board the priorities of the attendees. Your input on topics during the of Directors and the MTF membership all thank you for your presence and support of the Conference. Conference and throughout the year is always welcome and we Please take a moment to thank them for their input to the conference. At this writing there are still look forward to any thoughts you may have. We hope you find options available for anyone interested in signing up for a sponsorship or a table at the halftime show please visit our website to register.the Conference suited to your expectations and trust you will let us know your opinions on where we may improve and if we have MTF Items of interesteffectively planned your time as well.

Election of Board of Directors

Last year thanks to the hard work of Doug Johanningsmeier, the MTF reviewed and updated its By-Laws Many people are involved with the planning process of the to reflect current communication methods and systems as well as outdated verbiage. Thanks to those Conference and it starts the day after the last session ends. The changes we are now able to offer our election of Board of Directors to the active membership on-line. catalyst of the event is our current Vice-President Amy Fouty. She Voting will be taking place late in December and notices will be sent via electronic messages and email. has set the tone the last three years and always strives to enhance and improve each day of the sessions. Fellow Board members Mark Wildeman and Curt Boak have been under her wing this past year and they will be chairing the Conference for the upcoming years. Many thanks to all of them as they continue to provide a VOL 2 | ISSUE 2 www.michiganturfgrass.org conference that we all enjoy and learn from.