All grown up: the Florida 2003 Pool & Spa Show finds a bigger home in Orlando - Trade Shows

Pool & Spa News, Jan 24, 2003 by Thomas Clark

Leaving behind the cozy comforts of an Orlando hotel it's called home for the past several years, the Florida 2003 Pool & Spa Show, slated for Feb. 21-23, is taking its act on the road--just up International Drive to the Orange County Convention Center.

"The Florida show has grown up," says Wendy Parker, marketing and meeting manager at National Spa & Pool Institute-Florida. "Things were getting cramped for us at our previous site. It's a big move for us."

Nearly every aspect of the Florida show will see improvement, from wider aisles on the show floor, to larger rooms for the Continuing Education classes, to plenty of parking for attendees.

"With the move to the convention center, we were able to increase the square footage to a standard-booth size," Parker says. Not only did booth size jump from 8-by-10-square-feet to 10-by-10-square feet, but there also will be more exhibitors--30, to be exact.

Each of the more than 200 slots will be filled. In fact, exhibitor space was sold out before Thanksgiving. "I think manufacturers are recognizing the strength of the Florida pool market and how seriously the people who come to this show take it," Parker says.

Hitting the books

More than 40 hours of Continuing Education classes will be available during the show, as well as two pre-show seminars being offered for the first time this year. Educational programming is an important part of the Florida show because of the state's CE requirements for pool builders, says Parker.

"Licensed contractors have to maintain 14 Continuing Education hours every two years," she says. "But if they come to the show every year, they can earn enough credits to renew their licenses without having to take any additional classes."

Among the more critical classes offered this year is an administrative core course on the Florida Building Code. Taught by Dan Johnson, owner/president of Swim Inc. in Sarasota, Fla., the four-hour class fulfills another state education mandate, which came in the wake of building code revisions that took effect in 2002.

Highlights of this year's class lineup include a pair of courses being taught by Brian Van Bower, co-founder of Genesis 3 and owner of Aquatic Consultants Inc. in Miami. "You Can Be Better!" presents the keys to professional and personal self-improvement by adopting a positive mental outlook.

Van Bower's second class, "Unusual Projects for a New World," will include Skip Phillips and David Tisherman, the other Genesis 3 founders. The trio will examine the types and styles of waterscape projects being designed today on an international level.

Of a more basic nature, "Computer Sales Tools" will be taught by Ed Bogel, president of Constructive Software Solutions. Bogel will explain how CAD programs can automatically interface drawings with quoting, estimating and accounting software to better manage job sales, construction and administration. "This one should be helpful to a lot of folks," Parker comments.

Other offerings include an army of technical and business classes. Technical courses include "Fundamentals of Heat Pump Pool Heaters," "The Do's and Don'ts of Electronic Chlorine Generation" and "Alternative Plaster Surfaces."

Business courses include "Growing Your Waterfeature Business," "Hiring for Talent" and "Florida Construction Lien Laws."

The cost for each class is $50 per day for members ($100 for nonmembers) if registrations are received prior to Feb. 7. Following that date, registration is $100 daily. There is no charge to audit a course, but Continuing Education certification is not available.

Two new educational opportunities are also available this year. A Certified Pool/Spa Operators Course for commercial pools, run by the National Swimming Pool Foundation, will be conducted Feb. 19-20. The cost is $225.

A special Sales & Marketing Conference is scheduled for Feb. 20-21. The first day will be devoted to a keynote session by Terry Sisco of Exsellerate, "who has a long history of working with retailers like Bloomingdale's and Hudson & Dayton," Parker says. The second day will involve breakout sessions devoted to various trade concerns.

Fun times

The Florida show also offers serious entertainment for attendees. After last year's sold-out party at Universal Studios, this year's celebration shifts to nearby SeaWorld Orlando for "Conch Coolout: A Night in Key West" on Feb. 21.

NSPI members and guests will have the opportunity to enjoy dinner, a private whale and dolphin show, and the chance for close encounters of the petting kind with dolphins and stingrays. Also included in the package are unlimited rides on the Kraken, reportedly Orlando's longest, tallest and fastest floorless roller coaster.

Cost for the evening is $65 each for NSPI members and $15 for children. Nonmembers pay $100 apiece.

"We'll be the only ones in the park," Parker says. "It's going to be a lot of fun."

The Conch Coolout party may be the centerpiece of the show's off-floor affairs, but the calendar includes other social events. Kicking off the show again this year is a golf tournament on Feb. 20. The four-person scramble event moves to the North Shore Golf Club in southeast Orlando, which is one of the city's newer and most popular courses. Play is limited to 144 people, and $5 of the $99 cost goes to the NSPI-Florida Scholarship Fund.