Overview (All sessions)

People are the power behind every successful business. But how do you find them, win them over, and help them thrive? Join Head Harvesters Bill Arman and Ed Laflamme from The Harvest Group for a fast-paced, high-energy session that dives into the real-world strategies behind building an unstoppable team.

Whether you're looking to sharpen your recruiting game, level up your onboarding, or boost employee retention, this session delivers practical tools and fresh insights you can put to work right away.

Ed Laflamme started his own business from scratch, built it up, sold it and then wrote a book about how he did it. So, he’s been there. He understands your frustrations, worries and concerns.

Some of you may want to buy companies, while others may want to sell the one you own. You need expert assessment and guidance before you can move forward.

As Grunder Landscaping Co. celebrates its 40th year in business, Marty Grunder has reflected on all of the mistakes they’ve made along the way. You may have heard him joke before that if we were to hold an event to talk about all of his failures, it would be a 3-year course.

Getting your team to do what you want and need them to do starts with training them on how to do it. In this session, Marty Grunder will share how they train and motivate their team at Grunder Landscaping Co. to accomplish all jobs on time and under budget. This session is for owners who want to build a culture where everyone is working towards the same goals. 

Walk through Grunder Landscaping Co. properties with us in this session: We'll show you what we look for when we do site visits at both a commercial and residential property and will highlight the additional projects we would recommend to each client. You'll leave this session with tips for finding enhancement-type projects to drum up more work without expanding your client base.

What do you do when seeds are scarce, cuttings won’t root, or disease risk makes propagation impossible? Plant tissue culture offers a solution. This session breaks down the science behind tissue culture in clear, grower-focused terms — showing how it’s being used to multiply clean, healthy plants that can’t be produced through conventional methods.

Too much water and your profits drown. Too little and your landscapes die of thirst. This session slices through the confusion with real-world clarity—arming both fresh recruits and seasoned vets with the tools, terms, and timing they need to own their irrigation schedules.

Still billing by the hour? You’re not just leaving money on the table—you’re capping your growth. In this no-fluff session, we’ll unpack the proven benefits of flat-rate pricing (also known as upfront pricing) versus the outdated time-and-materials model. Through firsthand interviews with top-performing contractors from around the country who’ve made the switch—and never looked back—you’ll hear how flat rate has increased profitability, boosted customer trust, and created operational clarity.

In this session, you will learn how to identify certain species of wood decay fungi that are found on urban trees. Then, we will discuss the effects each species can have on a tree’s structural stability and health.

In this session, we will discuss Anthracnose, Beech Leaf Disease (BLD), & Oak Wilt, along with Phytophthora root rot & Armillaria root rot, which have been impacting the Christmas Tree Industry in Michigan.