The Garden Conservancy’s third Preservation Weekend conference is scheduled for September 27 – 30, 2012, at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois.

 

The conference is designed for the staff, garden owners, volunteers, and board members of the gardens with which the Garden Conservancy works. It is open by invitation only.

Lectures, talks, panel discussions, and garden visits were selected to foster and inspire the development of small and emerging public gardens, to increase the skills of people working to maximize the success of these institutions, and to build connections between them and the Garden Conservancy.  Major conference themes include board and organizational development, garden management, and effective promotion and programming.

 

Opening garden tour

Preservation Weekend will open Thursday afternoon, September 27, with a tour of Chicago Botanic Garden.

 

Working sessions

During Friday and Saturday, working sessions will take place at the Chicago Botanic Garden. Topics to be covered include:

• Building and developing a board
• Strategic hiring and staffing
• Promoting the garden and increasing visitation
• Creating events to support your garden
• Attracting corporate sponsorship
• Managing change in the garden
• Managing risk and liability
• Setting garden standards and managing for excellence
• Responsive fundraising
• Managing the transition from private garden to public

 

The weekend will also include garden tours and special dinner events. Conference participants will tour Chicago's Millennium Park and Lurie Garden. We will also visit Crabtree Farm and have a conversation with its owner John Bryan, enjoy a tour and dinner at Bill Kurtis and Donna LaPietra's Mettawa Manor and tour Gate House Gardens, the home of Craig Bergmann and Paul Klug.

 

Timing and location

The conference begins at 2 p.m. on Thursday with a tour of the Chicago Botanic Garden. It ends on Sunday morning at 10:30 with a wrap-up session and farewell breakfast at the hotel. A full schedule will be distributed as part of the registration process.

 

The hotel and the Chicago Botanic Garden are located twenty miles north of Chicago and twenty miles northeast of O’Hare International Airport.

 

Registration

By invitation

If you have any questions about Preservation Weekend, please call Sarah Johnson at 845.265.9396 ext.18 (Cold Spring, New York) or send her an This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

Special thanks

The Garden Conservancy thanks the Chicago Botanic Garden for generously hosting Preservation Weekend, participating in many of the programs as well as providing their grounds and facilities as the venue for the conference itself.

 

We also are indebted to our garden hosts John and Neville Bryan of Crabtree Farm, Bill Kurtis and Donna LaPietra of Mettawa Manor, and Craig Bergmann and Paul Klug; and to Millennium Park and the Lurie Garden.