Blizzard & Bloom: Insights from the Ice and the Green Scene
Welcome to Blizzard and Bloom, the podcast where the green meets the white! Hosted by Jay Rotonnelli, a seasoned expert with over 36 years in the landscape and snow removal industries, this show dives deep into the business, operations, and stories behind both blooming landscapes and blizzard battles.
Whether you’re a property manager, business owner, snow fighter, or landscape professional, you’ll find valuable insights, industry trends, and real-world advice. Expect candid conversations with industry leaders, tips for growing your business, and even a few wild stories from the field.
It’s informative, it’s fun, and it’s designed to help you thrive—whether the ground is covered in grass or snow.
New episodes every other week. Subscribe now to stay ahead in the green and snow game!
Blizzard & Bloom: Insights from the Ice and the Green Scene
Getting Groovy in Grand Rapids: The Annual Snow & Ice Symposium
What happens when winter professionals gather in the summer heat? Magic, connections, and serious business growth.
The Snow & Ice Management Association's annual symposium is just days away, and in this engaging conversation, Martin Tirado shares why "Getting Groovy in Grand Rapids" is the can't-miss industry event of the year. Beyond the impressive equipment displays and educational sessions, the symposium creates a unique ecosystem where professionals of all experience levels exchange knowledge that transforms their operations.
As Martin reveals, the business impact can be extraordinary. One attendee arrived with modest expectations and left with a quarter-million dollars in new business—simply from casual conversations on the trade show floor. These organic networking opportunities allow companies to expand their service reach, overcome regional limitations, and build partnerships that elevate the entire industry.
The trade show this year showcases cutting-edge innovations that are reshaping winter operations. From AI tools that instantly translate content into dozens of languages to robotics that address workforce challenges, the symposium demonstrates how technology enables companies to work smarter rather than harder. These solutions are particularly appealing to younger professionals entering the field, bringing fresh perspectives to traditional operations.
For first-time attendees feeling nervous about what they bring to the table, Martin offers reassuring guidance: come with an open mind, leave fears behind, and focus on finding just three key takeaways. The popular "Snack and Chat" format—featuring table discussions on approximately 50 different topics—creates intimate exchanges where everyone contributes valuable insights, regardless of company size or experience level.
Ready to elevate your snow and ice management operation while connecting with North America's most dedicated winter professionals? Join us in Grand Rapids starting June 16th—where learning, camaraderie, and business opportunities come together in an unforgettable week that will transform how you approach your business when the snow finally falls.
Welcome to Blizzard and Bloom, the podcast where we navigate the storms and celebrate the triumphs in business and entrepreneurship. Join us as we dive into stories, insights and strategies from top professionals to help you thrive in today's evolving landscape. And now here is your host, jay Rotinelli. Here is your host, jay Rotinelli.
Speaker 2:Hello, welcome back to another episode of Blizzard Bloom Today. Lucky enough to have Martin Tirado with us here today, I actually reached out to him. I know a lot of several folks around North America that are super excited for the symposium and looking to get groovy in Grand Rapids, so it's coming up real soon. So, martin, thanks for joining us today. Thought I'd kind of hand it off to you and you can kind of share with us maybe some new, new and great things you got happening.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks, you're glad you're you're you're inviting me again and always happy to join you and talk snow and ice and some of the things that are coming in. Thanks for remembering our new, the getting groovy in Grand Rapids. I appreciate our you know our brand line for this year, so it's going to be a ton of fun. It's the week of June 16th, so you know, someone earlier today was like it's the greatest week of snow and ice management. Maybe it is, even though it's not in the winter time. But part of our message for the symposium too. Always part of our message for the symposium too. Always I try to remind people it's a chance where the community can kind of can celebrate, and some of that is like we celebrate the successes and we also talk about some of the challenges. We had to try to help each other again as a, as a unified community of people throughout North America to see what, what challenges you have in the in the past winter season, how can you get better the next year, what are the things that you're facing and kind of how we can all help each other. And that's kind of what the week is all about. You know it's it's learning, it's camaraderie, and then also then the just the business to business. You know, you know this it's. It's really very refreshing and really positive right here Just combination of the amount of purchasing that happens on the trade show floor combined with just people exchanging just different business contacts that they have.
Speaker 3:There's some property management and customers all over the country. It's a lot of times it's people exchanging information like hey, you know, I've got accounts in Michigan or someone has one in Ohio but I can't serve you know this property management or some other customer in those areas. And it's interesting how much actually business is exchanged. This goes back a number of years but someone once told me they're like I kind of came with just expectations of attending some sessions and the equipment on the trade show floor and they left by the end of the. It turned into the next winter quarter of a million dollars in new business just from again some of that. How to? Hey, I have, you know, customers in different areas. You probably are better served, or this one's better. I mean, that's really powerful in how you can build and grow your business just from the network and the business relationships that you make.
Speaker 2:It's. You know, I look at the symposium and, to your point, it's a platform for us snow professionals that you know want to sit and comply with industry standards, an opportunity to get together and, to your point, to celebrate and also talk about some of the challenges. But I found the symposium to be a great platform, an opportunity, to your point, to be able to conduct some business in a sense. And I don't mean going into that saying, hey, I'm going to, you know, I'm going to try to gain this much business for that. But it's simply almost like small old home day conversations that you have and you say, hey, you know, I was working on this, or everybody. And then somebody might be like, hey, I got somebody that I think could help you out with that. And you know, when I think about all those business connections, it's pretty amazing, to your point, what takes place.
Speaker 2:And I listened to folks and if there's one thing I can say as an attendee and as an executive in one of the businesses, so for folks that maybe are looking at the ROI on the trip and the expense, I think you need to look a little bit deeper because there's going to be little tidbits of information and nuggets of knowledge that you're going to gain, that the payback could be exponential when you get back to your business. And it might not be something you do today or tomorrow, but maybe over the winter something comes up and you say, boy, that was a really great idea, and maybe you initiate that, maybe it creates some efficiencies or cost savings of some sort. So there's a ton of opportunity to your point when you think about that. And again, it's fun, right, let's face it.
Speaker 2:It's fun to talk about snow in June when it's warm weather. But again, it's an opportunity to network with other folks. And for me, I know, from my perspective, when I go to these I'm saying to myself hey, there's these folks that are here. They want to push the industry to a higher level. They're proud of it, they're professionals, you know. They want to educate themselves and their teams, they want to be recognized as industry leaders and that's pretty cool. That's a pretty cool environment to be around, because I'm not sure there's a ton of other associations where you could say that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, that's great to hear. I mean, you're kind of hitting all the examples there too, so that's great. There's all sorts of times where we have people contact the Sino office and it's again it's six, nine months later, maybe it's the middle of winter, and they're like hey, you know what? I was at the symposium last year and I met this person. They were from Chicago, let's say, and they were doing something really innovative on I don't know, their contract pricing structure or maybe their SALT application rates. Does this person? Then usually, by the time we ask a couple people on the staff, they're like oh yeah, you need to talk to, you're talking about this person, and we just give them the contact information you should reach out. Like, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm going to reconnect with that person. Um, so those are kind of those are some great examples.
Speaker 3:And then I always tell people as well too, like you go to these, and sometimes it's like the whole drinking through a fire hose concept. I always kind of tell it'd be like to be kind of have some reasonable expectations. The ro just go into a conference and say I'm looking for three things, just try to find like three things. What are the three things that maybe I'm going to learn here and I'm going to implement those in the next year, and that could be not only just for your company and business operations.
Speaker 3:But what about, like even you personally? How am I going to maybe connect with some people that are going to kind of help me grow my career, my professionalism, kind of help me do things like work-life balance or more dedication to continuing education, and maybe they want to get a certification like the CSP, asm there's also ones in landscaping and other similar fields. Oh, hey, you know what? I want to get that certification by the end of the year. How do I kind of, you know, maybe connect with some people that would kind of help me keep me accountable and we can kind of encourage each other? So that's part of it too is like, hey, you know what it really kind of boils down, can you take three things away? And I bet you can take away a lot more. But that way you can kind of make it sometimes a little bit more manageable.
Speaker 2:and just in your own brain, yeah, and you know you made a good point there Like, don't don't get, don't drink the fire hose, right, Because if you go into it, don't think you're going to take this, you're going to go back and it's going to change the dynamics of your business completely and now you need to change all the ways that you're doing business and so forth. That's not the point, right? Not the case? The point is what can you learn from maybe some of the veterans in the industry, or some of the folks that are working you know, that are maybe in the industry just as long as you have been, or even, you know, less time? Because hey, let's face it, some of these younger folks that are getting in the industry too, are more tech savvy and are really interested in being innovative and creating efficiencies, and I think you know you can't put a blind eye to that.
Speaker 2:I was just talking with someone you know about AI today and what AI is doing, and it's doing so many great things already around us and within our industries that it's unbelievable and it's ever changing. So you know, talking to folks out there and being a part of it is a great thing. So I know I'm looking to get groovy in Grand Rapids Super excited, love the tagline. 18 days away, 20 hours, 15 minutes 39 seconds. You know I've talked to some folks around the country and in Canada as well, and you know you got some great things happening on the trade show floor a lot of great educational opportunities, networking opportunities. If there was some kind of key points that you could maybe say to some newcomers or first timers, what's maybe some some advice you could provide to them on their first visit to the symposium, yeah, well, you know, course, be open-minded, take a look at like you're probably going to hear and learn some things that may be outside of your comfort level or maybe your experience.
Speaker 3:But just be open-minded to kind of learn from others. You're kind of hitting on some of the really great qualities of it too. It's this chance to get someone who's brand new to the industry and people that have been in the industry for 30 plus years made their entire career out of it, and even companies that are very small, the ones that are doing multiple millions of dollars. You're right, they all have things that they can learn from each other. And how do we kind of keep those conversations going? But I would say, yeah, just if you're otherwise a newcomer, just take some time. The trade show is more than just also just equipment. There's a lot of products such as technology products, computer systems, software systems that can help on things like tracking and data management, on verification, all sorts of things like that, insurance. It's really kind of a broad scope of weather. You know weather monitoring and weather reporting, so it's more than just. I know we always like to take a look at the big equipment that's there and that's cool, always cool. Where else, under one roof can you see all the best and latest and newest stuff. But there's a lot more out there too. Just on, just on, again, the consulting and the other products that are going to that are on the show floor. We'll have a few this year as well, too, that really are going to continue to get into the robotics kind of, you know, get younger generation. It's not about working more, it's about working smarter. And you know, you know, with less people power, what are we, what are we doing to, you know, enable some kind of automated to robotic type of work performed? You know it's still the beginning stages, but it's really emerging. And you mentioned even AI. You're right. There's just so many, you know, different things that you can do to streamline, you know, your business operations. Now that AI makes it just, you know, much quicker.
Speaker 3:I was, I was toying around just this morning but with some video translation and, for example, you could take what we record today and there's a couple of pieces. You could basically just import it and it would immediately put it into Spanish, and there's some out there, they're up to like 75 different languages and it would take. It would really only take a few minutes. So if somebody you know hey, they're entirely in our industry, let's be that's, it's Spanish speakers. And then probably you get to Quebec there's a French Canadian. If you want to have this more readily available for them, you could, you could have that done. You take this recording and put it into a translatable and it's done. What used to take weeks through people, you know a lot of manpower, is now being done, you know, through um, through ai tools. So I know I I strayed a little bit off there, but uh, yeah no, no, it's all good stuff, right I?
Speaker 3:just want you know it's like, yeah, a newcomer man just uh, you know, try to learn and network is with as many people as possible. We really kind of work hard on how do we make the you know this an open and welcoming environment. You know, I want to. I want to make sure that when everyone comes, your first time attendee, how do you have a great experience that really kind of makes such a difference, is like I went to the symposium or, you know, really, any conference and how did I have just a fantastic experience. And we want to. We've always, you know, we've always said I guess it's me, I should say but like I kind of consider, you know, we're this Simon's open community, kind of like a church. You know our doors are open and we're here to help, to help you. You just have to be open, you just have to come and show up and be part of that openness and and with that there's just kind of no restrictions in that regard.
Speaker 2:I think I think about one of the first times I went to it I think it was I was trying to think the other day I was asking my wife I think the first one I went to was 22 or 23 years ago when the symposium.
Speaker 2:You know, it was still fairly early on and I was so nervous when I got there because in my mind I was thinking, wow, I got all these these big companies and you know I'm just coming from a small family business and what do I really have to offer? And are they going to be willing to share that information of what makes them successful and is it even applicable to me to bring home to our business? And you know, what I think about often is I think of one of my greatest things that you offer is that snack and chat, and that is such a great opportunity to get in there in a nonjudgmental platform, I'm going to say, for lack of a better term and sit at a table and talk to like-minded individuals and you'll be surprised at how much or how many times you actually have some great information to share. Whether you know it or not, you might have some great information to share that somebody else could find useful, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that happens so often and I've seen smiles at tables during those snack and chats and I see people and they're kind of stunned and you talk to them after and you're like, geez, I was hoping to get a lot more, but I ended up doing a lot of the talking. I learned from them and that's what it's all about, right. So I say to people, when you go into these events, if you don't know somebody, introduce yourself. Or if you know somebody that you know through LinkedIn or just happen to make a connection with, grab a cup of coffee and sit for 10 minutes. It's amazing the relationships that you can make.
Speaker 2:Again, I'm super excited looking forward to the 28th annual. It's a nice symposium, a lot of great things happening. Grand Rapids is a great city. I've enjoyed my visits there before. A lot of great things going on there. Your team at Syma has done an extraordinary job, I think, this year of putting this show together. They do every year, but there's been a lot of positive uh buzz out out there in the world and social media and across the internet.
Speaker 3:Uh, super excited yeah, no, that's great. Uh, always, always good to hear that that kind of stuff. So, yeah, that one thing that's a timeless event is that snack and chat. You're right, and for people that aren't familiar with it, it's we have table topics determined in advance and there's always a few open ones too, if you wanna have just an open discussion. But there's something like at least 50 different topics so you can go in and say it's one's on sales or one's on operations or one's on Brian, whatever it was, so say I want to.
Speaker 3:You go sit at a table and you have one. We have one moderator per table. Their role is just to kind of keep the introduce everybody and keep the conversation going. So it is, yeah, you get, you sit down, have a, you have a meal with someone and say you want to go to one on on on sales, and you're there with eight people. They're all trying to maybe improve a little bit on their sales process.
Speaker 3:So it's like, hey, what are you doing to get brand new customers? Hey, well, I've done this, you know, and and you know, this is this has helped me. I've joined my local chamber of commerce and that's opened some doors. He kind of just getting this, just this more intimate exchange of ideas and become more of a you know again, the participant. And you become more of a participant learning versus listening to a speaker in the front of a room.
Speaker 3:And that's always great too. We always want to hear you know what are the subject matter experts teach us in the educational room. But then it's like, ok, let's break that down and have these conversations with like, hey, what are you doing on this? And that's where the snack and chats are, just again. They're kind of a timeless, very, you know, very popular. And at one snack and chat you want to talk about sales, the next one you want to go talk to a group about efficiency, operations, efficiency. Then you switch. It's meant to be that way, actually to go hit as many different topics in each one that you can.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like a speed dating. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I do some of these things at our local chamber of commerce and it's a morning coffee they call it the morning mixer and you get these cards and you go around to each person and you spend three minutes in the group and you really get to learn, and I think about snack and chat and you know if there's again. Something I'll say is leave your fears behind, because everybody else is sharing those same feelings in some way, shape or form. Nobody's better than the other and there's always a ton of information that you can gain from it.
Speaker 2:So, just super excited to to get you know to be there, be a part of it, and I know others are as well. So again, thanks for putting this on and thank you to your team. Yeah, of course, Super excited to be a part of it. I just hope everybody else is looking forward to it. I know they are because I've talked to a lot of folks and it's going to be here soon and to think that we're going to talk snow in June in Grand Rapids being groovy is pretty cool. So I appreciate the time and effort and thanks for joining me today and I'm looking forward to seeing everybody at the show for some sort of meet and greet, snack and chat, whatever it might be.
Speaker 2:So go there open minded. You got a little bit of fear behind you. Don't be afraid, because everybody else has been in a position one time or another. And when you think about ROI on something like this, think about it more as a wholesome standpoint, in longevity wise and what you can get out of it and connections and what you can take back to your business. And to your point, Martin, don't drink the fire hose, right, Because that's not going to help you Grab your point. Three bits of information or three goals that you might have in mind and take that back and start seeing how you can implement that in your business. So I think that's a great way to start. Thanks again, and I appreciate you being here and being on the show again one more time and looking forward to seeing you as well as the rest of the folks out in Grand Rapids. So let's get groovy in Grand Rapids Exactly. Thank you everybody.
Speaker 3:It's going to be a great week.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning in to Blizzard Bloom with Jay Rotinelli. We hope you feel inspired and empowered. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. Join us next week for more insights and stories to help you bloom in your business journey.