The newly formatted PGA Show Buying & Education Summit, which was held in Las Vegas from August 9-10, hosted influential PGA Professionals and golf buyers who met in person with a curated group of top apparel, accessory and golf lifestyle companies at the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa.
Organised in partnership with the PGA of America, the summit featured fashion and accessory line showings, PGA and AGM education workshops, a PGA of America Town Hall, Southwest PGA Section events, networking receptions and an event-ending golf outing on August 11.
“The new format of the PGA Show Buying & Education Summit has been a welcome return to in-person meetings with suppliers, educators and industry peers,” said PGA President Jim Richerson. “Designed to be a smaller-scale regional event, the Summit delivered on important new business opportunities, and I personally enjoyed meeting with vendors and PGA Members in Las Vegas.”
“We are pleased with the positive response to the new event format, a beautiful resort setting and the valuable new business that was generated at the first PGA Show Buying & Education Summit,” said PGA Golf Exhibitions Vice President Marc Simon. “Buyers and exhibitors alike shared that it was energizing to return to face-to-face meetings and many new business relationships were formed at the event.”
Top apparel, accessory and golf lifestyle companies met with invited buyers and PGA Professionals in scheduled meetings of the private One2One event and during open exhibitor line showings. Event attendees participated in multiple networking events, including nightly receptions and an event-closing industry golf scramble outing at TPC Las Vegas. The PGA of America hosted a PGA Town Hall with PGA President Jim Richerson and PGA Secretary Don Rea, and the Southwest PGA Section also offered multiple section programs during the Summit.
The PGA of America and the Association of Golf Merchandisers presented seven education workshops covering executive management, teaching & coaching and golf retail. Five of the Summit workshops will be available on-demand at Virtual.PGAShow.com, beginning August 18 at 12 pm ET. The online PGA Show Marketplace will feature the virtual showrooms of PGA Show Education & Buying Summit exhibitors, many of which have digital catalogs with e-commerce functionality, powered by RepSpark.
Exhibitors and attendees alike provided positive feedback on the event. Corey Fisk, FootJoy’s Director of Sales for the Western US, was grateful to show customers the new line, up close and personal, while continuing to build those relationships. “Being able to engage with customers is huge. Everyone has missed that aspect: the personal touch,” he said. “Nothing beats meeting face to face.”
“In our business in particular, it’s important to get back to seeing people in person,” said Mike Elliott, President of Golf for Greg Norman Collection. “We feel most people are ready to get back to some sense of normalcy.”