The 2013 American Bamboo Society Annual Conference, October 10-13

The 2013 American Bamboo Society Annual Conference
October 10 - 13, 2013

West Palm Beach, Florida

“Bamboo – Uniting the Continents” – The 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Bamboo Society, hosted by the Florida-Caribbean Chapter and Mounts Botanical Garden.

October in Florida is paradise at its finest with sunny days and cool evenings enjoyed in your bamboo garden, a must for all the bamboo aficionados to descend upon West Palm Beach and meet up with fellow lovers of bamboo.

Mounts Botanical Garden will be our venue location for speakers- presentations - vendors. Mounts is conveniently located near West Palm International Airport and a limited number of rooms have been secured at a special “American Bamboo Rate” at the nearby Marriott, West Palm Beach.
The deadline to book at the group rate is September 30, 2013. However, the deadline date applies only if all of our reserved rooms have not yet been booked.
If our reserved block of rooms are booked before September 30^th, the regular room rate is more than double our group rate.
Please book your room(s) as early as possible.

SEPTEMBER 3rd update.....Our block of group rate rooms at the Marriott, West Palm Beach, sold out over the Labor Day weekend. We have just secured another block of ten rooms at the same group rate. These rooms will not last long. Three of the ten rooms were booked before the end of today (Sept 3rd). We urge anyone who has not yet booked their room(s) for the ABS Annual Conference to do so ASAP.

The Marriott link on this page will work until the extra block of rooms are reserved:

The Marriott logo or link below will take you to our custom reservation link.

Standard Room (King or Double) $115 per night
Book Standard Room (King or Double) at West Palm Beach Marriott for $115 per night

There is an early registration rate for the conference prior to September 23rd ($175 for ABS members). After September 23rd, registration increases ($225 for ABS members).
For non-ABS members, conference registration costs $40 more for one year of ABS membership.
NOTE: If you are an ABS member but your spouse/partner is not, your spouse/partner may register for the conference at the non-ABS member rate.

If you are a VENDOR (bamboo-related products/items) and would like to set up a table in the patio area outside the conference room, please email us. The rate is $50 per standard table.

The ABS Board Meeting will be held Thursday October 10^th at the Marriott. Hotel check-ins, Registrations and a Happy Hour Meet and Greet will also take place

Friday, October 11^th will open the conference at Mounts Botanical Garden. Highlighted Presenters and Masters in the craft of bamboo will be Simon Velez and Marcelo Villegas of Colombia, South America.

Saturday, October 12^th will begin with morning presentations and include an afternoon field trip to nearby Tropical Bamboo Nursery & Gardens for a bamboo tour and propagation workshop before the evening dinner party (Bamboopalooza!) held in the garden.

An optional Friday evening (October 11th) dinner cruise aboard the Majestic Princess has been arranged ($60 per person). This 2.5 hour dinner cruise along the intracoastal waterway inludes narration of West Palm Beach landmarks and wildlife habitats. There is also an optional field trip on Sunday (October 13th) to the Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead, FL.

Use the links below for our itinerary and a choice of two registration/payment options.
Note: The links will open a new browser window - pop-up blockers may need to be disabled.

Event Itinerary: A complete schedule of the 2013 ABS Conference

Online Registration: A secure online registration and payment form

Registration Form: A static form to print, fill out, and mail with your payment

Email ABS Conference