The History of the National Lawn & Garden Show

Twenty-two years ago NLGS founder and owner Bob Mikulas, manufactured a Lawn & Garden product for the retail market and on the advice of experts, hit the “Tradeshow Circuit”. After attending approximately 20 booth style shows for many years he soon discovered that most vendors in the industry experienced a high level of frustration with ROI and measurable productivity at traditional booth style tradeshows. They just didn’t get to meet the buyers they wanted to because it was uncertain if the buyers were at the event, and even more uncertain if they would stop at their booth.

Acting on research, which concluded that the biggest successes were achieved when buyer and manufacturer meet face to face in pre-set scheduled appointments, the first National Lawn & Garden Show was held in 1995. A large segment of the Lawn & Garden industry embraced the totally new and unique approach to bringing buyers and vendors together in a more efficient, productive setting that promotes personal relationships and no-nonsense selling. Both the buyers and vendors gave the 1995 National Lawn & Garden Show rave reviews and paved the way for aggressive growth.

Responding to foreseeable changes in the lawn & garden tradeshow arena, the company took an aggressive move in 2002 to gain additional market share, by introducing the addition of the NLGS Booth Division. The addition of traditional booths was a strategic move that allowed NLGS to expand services to a broader customer base by offering “choice”, and diversity within the industry.

NLGS EXPERIMENTS WITH BOOTHS

The NLGS Booth Division was introduced in 2002 as a supplement to the appointment-based event as requested by our buyers and in response to industry changes. Our goal was to validate the effectiveness of integrating a traditional booth style show with prescheduled appointments and to bring options to NLGS buyers and exhibitors alike.

While we proved our theory by adding value to NLGS by successfully integrating the appointments and booths, in 2006 we decided that NLGS should maintain primary focus on what sets us apart from other shows, the appointments. Therefore in 2006, NLGS abandoned the booth division and returned to what they do best, put buyers and seller together in pre-set scheduled appointments. We found there was little control over what occurs in a typical tradeshow setting, most importantly what buyers would actually attend. Registrations would be high, but turnout low, and the uncertainty had too much impact on the NLGS reputation for excellence. Attendees would get badges but often not show up, or they would not wear the correct badge so the exhibitors wouldn't be able to contact them. The uncertainty of offering an ‘unknown’ component of a trade event was not an image NLGS wanted to be affiliated with.

NLGS APPOINTMENTS

NLGS is known in the Lawn & Garden Industry for offering the most organized and productive model for conducting business. NLGS buyers must meet high volume buying requirements in order to participate in the event. Exhibitors pay a fee for guaranteed pre-set, scheduled appointments with buyers of their choice. The number of appointments available is determined by the number of buyers present and vendors participating, as allowed by the time and space available. Most vendors have 35-45 appointments over the course of the event, while buyers can see as many as their schedule allows.

EVENT VENUE HISTORY:

Currently, the Lawn & Garden Industry recognizes NLGS as the most exclusive and productive event in the industry for Lawn & Garden specialty products. The event is known for bringing in the “mid tier” buyers who inclusively represent 90% of the merchandising opportunities in the US. Historically NLGS has had 14 out of the top 20 Lawn & Garden retailers in the US attend the event.