LIAWA out and about

Since last August’s highly successful landscape masterclass with Jim Fogarty, the focus for the association has been its involvement with key public events to create better traction with its brand.

At the end of August, in partnership with other key horticultural industry bodies, LIAWA attended the ‘Careers in Horticulture Hub’, part of the Perth Skillswest Careers & Employment Expo at the Perth Convention Centre. Held over three days, LIAWA representatives met students from a variety of school years. There were over 9000 visitors, and many of them stopped by the LIAWA stand to learn about career pathways in landscaping.

LIAWA’s Executive Officer Matthew Lunn explained, “Connecting with the grassroots of our industry is a must. We have issues around new entrants to landscaping, and by sitting back and hoping our future workforce will just appear we have honestly been doing more harm than good.

“We have a responsibility to work with schools and our registered training organisations to make a clear connection from training to employment,” Lunn continued, “but we also need to be proactive in selling all facets of landscaping to the future generation. We need to show we have some rewarding career pathways in our industry.”

ROI

In late September attention turned to promoting the Waterwise Landscaping Program in which many of LIAWA members participate. A Waterwise garden was built at the Perth Royal Show in collaboration with the Water Corporation, and there was a high level of promotion for the program and its members during the week-long event.

LIAWA’s commitment to the program is critical in the development of its members, and being linked to the Water Corporation adds real value as members gain considerable traction through web pages and social-media promotions. Most recently the Water Corporation sent out expressions of interest to LIAWA members for providing a consultancy or technical-support service to members of the public who require an assessment of their present home garden.

“The strength in the membership to LIAWA is that it is now able to offer a variety of benefits that really do help our members’ businesses grow,” offered Lunn, “but it also shows that by being proactively involved there is a great level of return on investment.”

Still growing

At the end of October LIAWA’s attention turned to its final external promotional event for the year: the construction of a show garden at the Perth Garden and Outdoor Living Festival at Langley Park.

Covid caused the annual fixture to be shifted from May to October this year, and LIAWA was excited at the prospect of attending an event with over 50,000 visitors.

“This is Perth’s premier horticultural event,” beamed Lunn, “and as we’ve seen in previous years, being visible to the public is key in our vision to gain the public’s support in working towards some form of government recognition. Like the Master Builders, when someone needs to engage a landscaper, LIAWA must be the first port of call, offering a sense of guarantee and professional support.”

LIAWA continues to strive for improvement in what it already does well, and with three years under the new regime, taking the association forward into a new era, it’s quite clear to see it’s not just kicking goals, it’s growing as a fully professional organisation that rightly supports the landscape industry.