On January 21, 2009, the USGA Green Section Southeast Region hosted its first on-line turf conference. The event was moderated by Mr. Jim Moore, director of construction education. Speakers included SE Region agronomists, Pat O'Brien and Chris Hartwiger, along with FL Region agronomist, Todd Lowe. Updates on the recent Arctic cold blast, economic conditions, methyl bromide and Nemacur, fairy rings, and the new shade-tolerant bermudagrasses were discussed.

This on-line turf conference lasted approximately 60 minutes. There was no cost to attend, but attendees needed access to a computer and a high speed internet connection. In the invitation to this meeting, Jim Moore provided a web link that made access to the meeting very easy.

Approximately 50 people were in attendance and, best of all, no one had to travel. The technology used to conduct the meeting was interactive and attendees were able to answer four survey questions as well as submit questions to the speakers.

We have plans to conduct on-line meetings quarterly this year. We hope and encourage all of you to attend future meetings. Our meeting software can handle 1,000 attendees and we would like to challenge its maximum capacity. We are targeting a date in April, 2009 for our next meeting. Meeting details will be sent via our USGA Regional update listserv sent through email and posted at http://www.usga.org/turf/regional_updates/regional_updates.html .

Here are a few comments we received from the attendees after the live meeting:

"I thought this was a great format!  I look forward to the coming sessions."
Bruce Hospes, CGCS, Director of Golf Maintenance, Old Overton Club, Vestavia Hills, AL.

"Just a note saying that I found today's webcast enlightening and enjoyable. I thought it went very well.  We had all of our superintendents in attendance. I would like to see one in the near future that would highlight some ideas and strategies that people are incorporating to reduce budgets."
Bob Farren, CGCS, Director of Grounds and Golf Course Management, Pinehurst Resort and Country Club, Pinehurst, NC.

"I enjoyed the seminar today." 
Nelson J. Caron, Golf Course Superintendent, Ford Plantation, Richmond Hill, GA.

Safe travels and best wishes to all of you traveling to the GIS show in New Orleans. We hope to see you there!!

Source: Patrick O'Brien 770-229-8125 or patobrien@usga.org and Chris Hartwiger 205-444-5079 or chartwiger@usga.org