SYNKD Live in Phoenix
Where the people designing and building the future of outdoor living get on the same page.
SYNKD Live Phoenix brings together ambitious landscape, pool and outdoor living design-build professionals who want to build better businesses, create better projects and move the industry forward.
Created for business owners, designers and key decision-makers, this intimate event connects the people responsible for the entire outdoor environment—from landscape and pool design to construction, installation and long-term maintenance.
This isn't about sitting through days of sales pitches. It's about learning from people who understand the challenges of running and growing an outdoor living business.
Attendees gain practical ideas for:
- Improving profitability and operational efficiency
- Building and retaining stronger teams
- Using technology and AI more effectively
- Designing and building projects more collaboratively
- Discovering products and solutions that improve project outcomes
- Preparing businesses and landscapes for a changing climate
- Creating stronger relationships across landscape, pool and outdoor living sectors
Through keynotes, panels, interactive roundtables, facility tours and candid peer-to-peer conversations, you'll hear what's working for other successful businesses—and have the opportunity to share what's working for yours.
Different Perspectives. Better Outcomes.
Exceptional outdoor spaces don't happen in silos.
Pools affect landscapes. Landscapes affect drainage. Planting affects maintenance. Design decisions affect construction. Construction decisions affect long-term performance. And every one of those decisions ultimately affects the client's experience—and your bottom line.
SYNKD Live brings those conversations into the same room.
You'll meet landscape designers, pool professionals, contractors, business owners, suppliers, innovators and industry leaders who may approach outdoor living from different perspectives but share one goal:
Do better.
Better businesses.
Better collaboration.
Better-performing landscapes.
Better outdoor environments.
Come for the Ideas. Leave With the Relationships.
SYNKD Live isn't designed to be the biggest industry event.
It's designed to make the conversations matter.
The intimate format gives you opportunities to ask questions, participate in roundtables, discover new solutions and build genuine relationships with other decision-makers.
Whether you're looking to increase profitability, streamline operations, develop stronger leaders, adopt new technology, improve project outcomes or expand your professional network, you'll leave Phoenix with ideas and connections you can put to work immediately.
If you're ready to challenge the way it's always been done, join us at SYNKD Live Phoenix—and help raise the standard for outdoor living.
Contact Angelique Robb with any questions about this event or tickets: Angelique Robb 337-852-6318 angelique@synkd.io
SYNKD Live Agenda
Tuesday, September 29
9:00 AM–3:00 PM — VIP Desert Botanical Garden Tour
5:00–7:00 PM — Welcome Reception and Registration
7:00–10:00 PM — Social Event
Wednesday, September 30
7:00–8:00 AM — Breakfast and Welcome
8:00–9:00 AM — Opening Keynote: Designing the Impossible. Building it Anyway.
Jonathan “Jonny” Nalepa, Founder, Smart Aquatics
What happens when a client’s vision has never been built before?
You figure out how to build it.
Jonathan “Jonny” Nalepa and the Smart Aquatics team are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in pools and outdoor living—from suspended acrylic pools and movable floors to dramatic fire-and-water features and one-of-a-kind aquatic environments. But bold design is only half the story. The real challenge is turning an outrageous idea into something that can actually be engineered, constructed and perform as intended.
In this opening keynote, Jonny will take you behind the scenes of world-first and boundary-pushing projects, sharing how his team brings together imagination, technical precision and construction know-how to make the seemingly impossible possible.
Whether you design landscapes, pools or complete outdoor environments, Jonny’s challenge is simple:
Stop designing around what’s already been done. Start asking what could be done next.
9:30–10:30 AM — Breakout Sessions
Where Has Your Passion Gone?
Passion is a super power that inspires, convinces, and elicits admiration from even the most successful people. For many business owners, maintaining consistent enthusiasm for their job can feel impossible. I love what I do but that wasn’t always the case. I’d like to share with you my journey from apathy to avidity and highlight the actions, questions and conditions that allowed the embers to reignite.
Better Collaboration
Beyond Drainage: Designing Landscapes That Work With Water
Discover how modern hydrology, green infrastructure, and smarter design strategies are reshaping the future of stormwater management- and why landscape professionals need to lead the change.
Better for the Planet
The $10 Million Marketing Mindset: How to Grow Beyond You
Do you know what the primary growth constraint of your business is? From interviewing over 100 of the industries leading entrepreneurs, we’ve identified the primary growth constraint for landscapers and the best of the best, say it’s themselves. Join Rob Murray, Co-founder & CEO of Intrigue and lead generation partner for almost 200 landscape clients, as he breaks down the three core pillars of a $10M marketing mindset. We will explore why your business must serve the customer above all else and how to stop treating marketing as an expense and start treating it as a revenue-generating investment.
Better Business
Hardscapes: Permeable Systems Training Course
Learn how to design and install long-lasting hardscape surfaces that resist shifting, reduce runoff, and meet modern performance and sustainability standards.
Better Details / CEU
AI: What’s Hype, What’s Real and What’s Next in Landscaping and Beyond
Learn how to cut through the AI hype and use today’s most practical tools to streamline operations, improve customer communication, increase profitability, and prepare your business for what comes next.
Work Smarter
11:00 AM–12:00 PM — Breakout Sessions
Enhancing Outdoor Environments with Audio
Discover how thoughtfully designed outdoor audio systems can elevate landscapes, enhance outdoor experiences, and create deeper connections between people, nature, and the spaces they inhabit.
Better Details / CEU
Design Your Culture: How Great Landscape Companies Attract and Keep Great People
A field-tested, eight-pillar framework for recruiting and retaining top talent. A thriving team is not an accident—it is something you intentionally design.
Better Business
Adding Design to Your Landscape Business
Explore how adding landscape design services to your contracting business can elevate the quality of projects you pursue and increase the value you provide to clients.
Better Collaboration
We Can’t Operate Like It’s 1990 Anymore
Real-world examples demonstrate why the industry must work differently across disciplines. From communication and collaboration to soil improvements, attendees will leave with practical actions they can implement.
Better for the Planet
From Guesswork to Growth: Using Real Cost Data to Build a More Profitable Landscape Business
Explore how leading landscape companies use real-time production data and AI-powered insights to improve estimating, increase efficiency, and make more profitable decisions.
Work Smarter
Meet the Expert: Michael Ding, Founder & CEO, Bobyard
Michael Ding, a Stanford-trained computer science and AI researcher, founded Bobyard to tackle critical challenges in the landscape construction industry. During his time in school, Michael identified a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and one of the most essential yet overlooked sectors in construction. Driven by his vision, he decided to drop out of Stanford to found Bobyard, bringing together a world-class team of AI engineers and industry veterans. Together, they’re building solutions to help contractors work smarter, faster, and more efficiently.
12:00–1:00 PM — Lunch
1:00–2:00 PM — Main Stage Panel: The Red Thread—Connecting Disciplines for a Better Future
This main-stage discussion brings together business owners and industry leaders representing multiple perspectives to explore how greater collaboration can create a stronger future for the industry.
2:30–3:30 PM — Breakout Sessions
The $200/ft2 Service Hiding in Your Business
How design, build and maintenance companies enter the living wall and architectural greenery market, why most walls fail, and how biophilic projects move contractors from commodity bides to premium work.
Better Collaboration
Regenerative Landscapes: Rebuilding Biodiversity, Resilience and Community in Our Urban Environments
Explore practical regenerative design strategies that rebuild healthy soils, increase biodiversity, conserve water, and create thriving urban habitats.
Better for the Planet
Stop Repeating Yourself
It's easy to fall into the habit of using the same materials and details because you already know they'll work. They're easier to price, easier to build, and easier to sell. But if every project starts looking like the last one, clients start to think that's all you do. In this session, I'll share why we try to include something we've never built before in every project, how each new iteration of an idea makes the next one better, and why showing a wider range of work opens the door to bigger, more interesting projects.
Better Details / CEU
Under the Hood: A Live Business Diagnostic
Every business has a growth constraint. Join Christene Marie for an interactive roundtable designed to help you identify what is holding your business back and uncover practical opportunities to accelerate growth.
Better Business
Stop Losing Time (and Money): Practical AI for Smarter Operations
Every business has hidden gaps where leads, promises, proposals, and customer communication fall through the cracks. Learn five simple AI implementations that close those gaps quickly and create immediate operational wins. Through real examples and practical implementation strategies, you'll see how AI can become a dependable business system—not just another tool to learn.
Work Smarter
Meet the Expert: Dan Preston, Co-Founder, Hardscape Mentor | Founder, Preston Hardscape Design
Dan Preston is a nationally recognized hardscape designer, contractor, and educator with more than 26 years of hands-on industry experience. Founder of Preston Hardscape Design and co-founder of Hardscape Mentor, Dan is known for his distinctive “Sickbrick” designs, creative approach, and commitment to pushing the boundaries of outdoor living. Through Hardscape Mentor, Dan turns decades of field experience into practical education for contractors, sharing real-world knowledge in design, installation, leadership, branding, and business development. His career has evolved from building projects hands-on to designing distinctive outdoor environments, developing industry training programs, hosting events and mastermind groups, and helping contractors elevate their craft and businesses. Dan brings a contractor’s perspective, a designer’s eye, and an entrepreneur’s mindset—challenging professionals to think differently about their work and the legacy they’re building.
4:00–5:00 PM — Breakout Sessions
Beyond Pretty Finished Photos: Using Images to Attract Better Leads and Close Faster
Beautiful project photos are only the beginning. Chris Major will show landscape designers how to use images strategically to attract ideal clients, communicate value, strengthen sales, support hiring, and build trust.
Work Smarter
The Green Roof Learning Curve: How Maintenance Shaped Better Design
An honest look at the challenges, failures, and breakthroughs that have helped redefine green rooft design with the Optima Camelview Project with Floor & Associates.
Better for the Planet
Crafting the Desert Floor - Integrated Design and Assembly in the Sonoran Desert
Combining integrated architecture, fabrication, and construction specifically for the Sonoran Desert landscape, the work shows regional responsiveness, the harsh environmental realities, and material adaptation. The projects focus on sustainability, preservation, and environmental systems. Case studies on research and fabrication through technology illustrate the hands-on approach of the firm. The firm organizational structure highlights the value of self-performing complex architectural components and risk and rewards associated with it.
Better Collaboration
Stop Competing for Clicks. Start Creating Conversations.
Discover how unforgettable experiences, bold branding, and community engagement can make your business the one customers remember long before they need your services.
Better Business
Tree Stabilization Strategies for Ground-Level and Rooftop Landscapes
Explore the latest strategies for stabilizing trees in challenging environments, from ground-level installations to rooftop landscapes, using percussive earth anchors and other proven anchoring systems.
Better Details / CEU
5:00–5:15 PM — Closing Remarks
5:30–7:30 PM — Drinks and Vendor Showcase
7:30–9:30 PM — Dinner and Social Time
Thursday, October 1
8:00–9:00 AM — Breakfast at FOUND:RE Phoenix Hotel
9:00 AM–1:00 PM — VIP Tour of Design and Build Projects
- 180 Degrees Design & Build
- Openbook Pools & Landscaping Project
1:00–2:00 PM — VIP Group Lunch
3:00 PM — Event Concludes
Host Hotel
Found:RE Phoenix Hotel
Special Event Rate: $229 per night
Address: 1100 North Central Avenue | Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone: 602-875-8000
Distance to The Duce: Approximately 1.4 miles, with convenient access via Valley Metro Rail.
Book your room using the button below.
SYNKD Live in Phoenix
Where the people designing and building the future of outdoor living get on the same page.
SYNKD Live Phoenix brings together ambitious landscape, pool and outdoor living design-build professionals who want to build better businesses, create better projects and move the industry forward.
Created for business owners, designers and key decision-makers, this intimate event connects the people responsible for the entire outdoor environment—from landscape and pool design to construction, installation and long-term maintenance.
This isn't about sitting through days of sales pitches. It's about learning from people who understand the challenges of running and growing an outdoor living business.
Attendees gain practical ideas for:
- Improving profitability and operational efficiency
- Building and retaining stronger teams
- Using technology and AI more effectively
- Designing and building projects more collaboratively
- Discovering products and solutions that improve project outcomes
- Preparing businesses and landscapes for a changing climate
- Creating stronger relationships across landscape, pool and outdoor living sectors
Through keynotes, panels, interactive roundtables, facility tours and candid peer-to-peer conversations, you'll hear what's working for other successful businesses—and have the opportunity to share what's working for yours.
Different Perspectives. Better Outcomes.
Exceptional outdoor spaces don't happen in silos.
Pools affect landscapes. Landscapes affect drainage. Planting affects maintenance. Design decisions affect construction. Construction decisions affect long-term performance. And every one of those decisions ultimately affects the client's experience—and your bottom line.
SYNKD Live brings those conversations into the same room.
You'll meet landscape designers, pool professionals, contractors, business owners, suppliers, innovators and industry leaders who may approach outdoor living from different perspectives but share one goal:
Do better.
Better businesses.
Better collaboration.
Better-performing landscapes.
Better outdoor environments.
Come for the Ideas. Leave With the Relationships.
SYNKD Live isn't designed to be the biggest industry event.
It's designed to make the conversations matter.
The intimate format gives you opportunities to ask questions, participate in roundtables, discover new solutions and build genuine relationships with other decision-makers.
Whether you're looking to increase profitability, streamline operations, develop stronger leaders, adopt new technology, improve project outcomes or expand your professional network, you'll leave Phoenix with ideas and connections you can put to work immediately.
If you're ready to challenge the way it's always been done, join us at SYNKD Live Phoenix—and help raise the standard for outdoor living.
Contact Angelique Robb with any questions about this event or tickets: Angelique Robb 337-852-6318 angelique@synkd.io
SYNKD Live Agenda
Tuesday, September 29
9:00 AM–3:00 PM — VIP Desert Botanical Garden Tour
5:00–7:00 PM — Welcome Reception and Registration
7:00–10:00 PM — Social Event
Wednesday, September 30
7:00–8:00 AM — Breakfast and Welcome
8:00–9:00 AM — Opening Keynote: Designing the Impossible. Building it Anyway.
Jonathan “Jonny” Nalepa, Founder, Smart Aquatics
What happens when a client’s vision has never been built before?
You figure out how to build it.
Jonathan “Jonny” Nalepa and the Smart Aquatics team are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in pools and outdoor living—from suspended acrylic pools and movable floors to dramatic fire-and-water features and one-of-a-kind aquatic environments. But bold design is only half the story. The real challenge is turning an outrageous idea into something that can actually be engineered, constructed and perform as intended.
In this opening keynote, Jonny will take you behind the scenes of world-first and boundary-pushing projects, sharing how his team brings together imagination, technical precision and construction know-how to make the seemingly impossible possible.
Whether you design landscapes, pools or complete outdoor environments, Jonny’s challenge is simple:
Stop designing around what’s already been done. Start asking what could be done next.
9:30–10:30 AM — Breakout Sessions
Where Has Your Passion Gone?
Passion is a super power that inspires, convinces, and elicits admiration from even the most successful people. For many business owners, maintaining consistent enthusiasm for their job can feel impossible. I love what I do but that wasn’t always the case. I’d like to share with you my journey from apathy to avidity and highlight the actions, questions and conditions that allowed the embers to reignite.
Better Collaboration
Beyond Drainage: Designing Landscapes That Work With Water
Discover how modern hydrology, green infrastructure, and smarter design strategies are reshaping the future of stormwater management- and why landscape professionals need to lead the change.
Better for the Planet
The $10 Million Marketing Mindset: How to Grow Beyond You
Do you know what the primary growth constraint of your business is? From interviewing over 100 of the industries leading entrepreneurs, we’ve identified the primary growth constraint for landscapers and the best of the best, say it’s themselves. Join Rob Murray, Co-founder & CEO of Intrigue and lead generation partner for almost 200 landscape clients, as he breaks down the three core pillars of a $10M marketing mindset. We will explore why your business must serve the customer above all else and how to stop treating marketing as an expense and start treating it as a revenue-generating investment.
Better Business
Hardscapes: Permeable Systems Training Course
Learn how to design and install long-lasting hardscape surfaces that resist shifting, reduce runoff, and meet modern performance and sustainability standards.
Better Details / CEU
AI: What’s Hype, What’s Real and What’s Next in Landscaping and Beyond
Learn how to cut through the AI hype and use today’s most practical tools to streamline operations, improve customer communication, increase profitability, and prepare your business for what comes next.
Work Smarter
11:00 AM–12:00 PM — Breakout Sessions
Enhancing Outdoor Environments with Audio
Discover how thoughtfully designed outdoor audio systems can elevate landscapes, enhance outdoor experiences, and create deeper connections between people, nature, and the spaces they inhabit.
Better Details / CEU
Design Your Culture: How Great Landscape Companies Attract and Keep Great People
A field-tested, eight-pillar framework for recruiting and retaining top talent. A thriving team is not an accident—it is something you intentionally design.
Better Business
Adding Design to Your Landscape Business
Explore how adding landscape design services to your contracting business can elevate the quality of projects you pursue and increase the value you provide to clients.
Better Collaboration
We Can’t Operate Like It’s 1990 Anymore
Real-world examples demonstrate why the industry must work differently across disciplines. From communication and collaboration to soil improvements, attendees will leave with practical actions they can implement.
Better for the Planet
From Guesswork to Growth: Using Real Cost Data to Build a More Profitable Landscape Business
Explore how leading landscape companies use real-time production data and AI-powered insights to improve estimating, increase efficiency, and make more profitable decisions.
Work Smarter
Meet the Expert: Michael Ding, Founder & CEO, Bobyard
Michael Ding, a Stanford-trained computer science and AI researcher, founded Bobyard to tackle critical challenges in the landscape construction industry. During his time in school, Michael identified a unique opportunity to bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and one of the most essential yet overlooked sectors in construction. Driven by his vision, he decided to drop out of Stanford to found Bobyard, bringing together a world-class team of AI engineers and industry veterans. Together, they’re building solutions to help contractors work smarter, faster, and more efficiently.
12:00–1:00 PM — Lunch
1:00–2:00 PM — Main Stage Panel: The Red Thread—Connecting Disciplines for a Better Future
This main-stage discussion brings together business owners and industry leaders representing multiple perspectives to explore how greater collaboration can create a stronger future for the industry.
2:30–3:30 PM — Breakout Sessions
The $200/ft2 Service Hiding in Your Business
How design, build and maintenance companies enter the living wall and architectural greenery market, why most walls fail, and how biophilic projects move contractors from commodity bides to premium work.
Better Collaboration
Regenerative Landscapes: Rebuilding Biodiversity, Resilience and Community in Our Urban Environments
Explore practical regenerative design strategies that rebuild healthy soils, increase biodiversity, conserve water, and create thriving urban habitats.
Better for the Planet
Stop Repeating Yourself
It's easy to fall into the habit of using the same materials and details because you already know they'll work. They're easier to price, easier to build, and easier to sell. But if every project starts looking like the last one, clients start to think that's all you do. In this session, I'll share why we try to include something we've never built before in every project, how each new iteration of an idea makes the next one better, and why showing a wider range of work opens the door to bigger, more interesting projects.
Better Details / CEU
Under the Hood: A Live Business Diagnostic
Every business has a growth constraint. Join Christene Marie for an interactive roundtable designed to help you identify what is holding your business back and uncover practical opportunities to accelerate growth.
Better Business
Stop Losing Time (and Money): Practical AI for Smarter Operations
Every business has hidden gaps where leads, promises, proposals, and customer communication fall through the cracks. Learn five simple AI implementations that close those gaps quickly and create immediate operational wins. Through real examples and practical implementation strategies, you'll see how AI can become a dependable business system—not just another tool to learn.
Work Smarter
Meet the Expert: Dan Preston, Co-Founder, Hardscape Mentor | Founder, Preston Hardscape Design
Dan Preston is a nationally recognized hardscape designer, contractor, and educator with more than 26 years of hands-on industry experience. Founder of Preston Hardscape Design and co-founder of Hardscape Mentor, Dan is known for his distinctive “Sickbrick” designs, creative approach, and commitment to pushing the boundaries of outdoor living. Through Hardscape Mentor, Dan turns decades of field experience into practical education for contractors, sharing real-world knowledge in design, installation, leadership, branding, and business development. His career has evolved from building projects hands-on to designing distinctive outdoor environments, developing industry training programs, hosting events and mastermind groups, and helping contractors elevate their craft and businesses. Dan brings a contractor’s perspective, a designer’s eye, and an entrepreneur’s mindset—challenging professionals to think differently about their work and the legacy they’re building.
4:00–5:00 PM — Breakout Sessions
Beyond Pretty Finished Photos: Using Images to Attract Better Leads and Close Faster
Beautiful project photos are only the beginning. Chris Major will show landscape designers how to use images strategically to attract ideal clients, communicate value, strengthen sales, support hiring, and build trust.
Work Smarter
The Green Roof Learning Curve: How Maintenance Shaped Better Design
An honest look at the challenges, failures, and breakthroughs that have helped redefine green rooft design with the Optima Camelview Project with Floor & Associates.
Better for the Planet
Crafting the Desert Floor - Integrated Design and Assembly in the Sonoran Desert
Combining integrated architecture, fabrication, and construction specifically for the Sonoran Desert landscape, the work shows regional responsiveness, the harsh environmental realities, and material adaptation. The projects focus on sustainability, preservation, and environmental systems. Case studies on research and fabrication through technology illustrate the hands-on approach of the firm. The firm organizational structure highlights the value of self-performing complex architectural components and risk and rewards associated with it.
Better Collaboration
Stop Competing for Clicks. Start Creating Conversations.
Discover how unforgettable experiences, bold branding, and community engagement can make your business the one customers remember long before they need your services.
Better Business
Tree Stabilization Strategies for Ground-Level and Rooftop Landscapes
Explore the latest strategies for stabilizing trees in challenging environments, from ground-level installations to rooftop landscapes, using percussive earth anchors and other proven anchoring systems.
Better Details / CEU
5:00–5:15 PM — Closing Remarks
5:30–7:30 PM — Drinks and Vendor Showcase
7:30–9:30 PM — Dinner and Social Time
Thursday, October 1
8:00–9:00 AM — Breakfast at FOUND:RE Phoenix Hotel
9:00 AM–1:00 PM — VIP Tour of Design and Build Projects
- 180 Degrees Design & Build
- Openbook Pools & Landscaping Project
1:00–2:00 PM — VIP Group Lunch
3:00 PM — Event Concludes
Host Hotel
Found:RE Phoenix Hotel
Special Event Rate: $229 per night
Address: 1100 North Central Avenue | Phoenix, AZ 85004
Phone: 602-875-8000
Distance to The Duce: Approximately 1.4 miles, with convenient access via Valley Metro Rail.
Book your room using the button below.