SPLASH

SPLASH 2026: Why Pool Professionals—and Their Teams—Need to Be There

SPLASH isn’t just another excuse to escape the office, collect two years’ worth of free pens, and start asking suspicious questions about when the complimentary slushy machine becomes a margarita machine.

For pool professionals across Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, SPLASH is the industry event. It’s where new products are launched, new technology is demonstrated, business ideas are exchanged, and technicians finally see that the pool industry is much bigger than the route, retail counter, or equipment pad they work around every day.

This week on Mondays Down Under, Lee Salisbury and Nick discuss what makes SPLASH worth attending, why business owners should consider bringing at least one team member, and how the event can reinvigorate a workforce heading out of winter and into the madness of summer.

Lee also previews the customer-service and business-growth forums she will be facilitating, while Nick shares the story of a commercial fountain whose chemical controller had apparently been plumbed backward—and remained that way for somewhere between five and seven years while another company visited three times a week.

In This Episode

•  What SPLASH is and why it matters to the Australian pool and spa industry 
•  How the trade show has evolved over the decades 
•  Memorable exhibits, product demonstrations and promotional giveaways 
•  Why technicians and younger employees should experience a major industry event 
•  Using SPLASH to motivate and educate your team before summer 
•  New products, software developments and masterclasses expected at the show 
•  Lee’s business-growth and customer-experience forums 
•  Protecting productive time with the “red headphones” rule 
•  Deciding which tasks should be delegated before the busy season 
•  Why workplace interruptions cost more time than most managers realize 
•  Preparing your business and staff for the transition from winter into summer 
•  Nick’s battle with a badly installed 30,000-litre commercial fountain 
•  A chemical dosing system that had been plumbed incorrectly for years 
•  What happens when equipment is serviced repeatedly without anyone diagnosing the actual problem 

If you’re attending SPLASH, keep an eye out for Lee, Nick and the Mondays Down Under crew—and make sure you say hello. You may even find yourself appearing in an upcoming episode.

Questions or topic suggestions? Email talkingpools@gmail.com.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:53

Good afternoon, good evening, good morning, good whatever time of the day it is that you are listening. You are listening to Mondays Down Under on the Talking Pools podcast, and we are really grateful to have you join us today. My name is Lee and I'm the pool shop coach. I am joined, of course, by my partner, single partner in crime today, and that is Nick in Brisbane. Hey Nick, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Yeah, good Lee. How are you? Feels a little bit different with only the two of us here today.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

I know special guests. Just while he's dealing with some things going on in life. So totally get it. We wish you well, Shane, if you are listening. We miss you and can't wait to have you back. But we are when we're recording this, this show is going to be launched Monday before Splash. So we're only a couple of weeks away.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Very exciting. Counting down.

SPEAKER_02 1:52

Now I always laugh because I don't think I've missed one in 28 years. Uh how should say for those who don't know what Splash is, Splash is the trade show of our industry in the Southern Hemisphere. It's held every two years. On the Gold Coast, generally in August. I wish they'd move it back to July. And yeah, it's certainly for me, it's always something that I've never missed. Always go there with great interest in learning about what's new in the industry, what's on offer, obviously connecting with other industry colleagues and and friends. How long have you been going to them for, Nick?

SPEAKER_01 2:32

As long as I can remember. I think one of the first ones that was at the convention center, but all the way out the back. It was only very small back then.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

But was it in two was it in partially in two buildings? Was it that one where Ross where Ross Palmer had his race car in the side building? Was it that?

SPEAKER_01 2:50

I can't remember. I can't remember that far that far back.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

I never forget that. Ross Palmer, who was the owner of Pool Right Australia, had was sponsored. I think it was the V8s. Yeah. It was and so it was green, which with yellow and lettering. Oh no, actually, was it white? But anyway, had the pool right logo on it. I'm sure it was yellow. And yeah, it was com uh the um trade show.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

So I I wonder if it had a different name. Did it have a different name so it went faster or something like that?

SPEAKER_02 3:23

Um but no, I remember going to, I think it was my very first one. It was in a hotel foyer. I think it was probably like the mantra or something like that on the Gold Coast. And it was when Splash used to be owned by a husband and wife team. The full history of Splash Splash was originally started by a husband and wife team that had a service business and then a retail store. I think they were based in the Gold Coast. And some reason I think her name was Pauline, but I could be wrong. And they started off the the then the trade show, which was obviously to to sort of take on. And I think the the trade show grew and and then it was taken over by a group that were into something. It started with an I definitely remember that. And Intermedia, I think is what their company name was, and then in recent more recent times it's taken over by S the Swimming Pool and Spa Association, which I think was a really good idea bringing it all together. But yeah, it's um always been something that I've I've loved to do. So I've gone from seeing the like the trestle tables with a few items on it to seeing cars in foyers and and also a two-story uh their chemicals and everything underneath set up like a mini shop and then on top they um and yeah, then another year they had slinkies hanging.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

So yeah, the Matronics had that big dolphin display tank that you could walk under that that basically took up the whole. That was pretty that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Yeah, and they actually had dolphin pool cleaners in it. It was sort of like a for want of a better description, because we're describing this obviously over audio, but it was a big rectangular and it it had two like two uprights and then it went across over above your heads. And it was big enough to fit the dolphin pool cleaners in, and I think they actually had two in the the top above everybody's heads. That that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Um when we move shopped, we almost got that. We we almost got it was stacked away at Macronics, and yeah, we we almost got it to to try and make it a display at the store. Uh just didn't ever work out.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

Oh well I I loved uh at Focuses when they had slinkies. They had Slinkies, so the Slinky's meaning the spiral It's a Slinky, isn't it? It's just yeah, a spring. So it's like a actually slinky trade show. And I think it was all around the edges of the the display roof trade show.

SPEAKER_01 6:10

You can make I would have never joined those two dots. Never.

SPEAKER_02 6:14

So yeah, it's some some fun things like that. But yeah, Floridra always do a great display. I love the ones that sell coffee. Oh no, actually, they don't sell it, they give it away. I've had coffee, popcorn, slushies. Both slushies. I really wanted to hijack their slushy machine and put vodka in or turn them into frozen margaritas at four o'clock. But yeah, everyone likes to bring out beer o'clock.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

We've always had good times with the with the techs down there and and and make it a a nice fun day to to get you know your years worth of pens from different suppliers. Yeah, yeah. It would be, you know, you make sure you get a pen from every supplier, but it would always be good to encourage the techs to go talk to people. It's like go go get your pens and you know, get your hats and your stickers or rulers. Link bottles. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Yeah, I think.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

I've still got Adrian from Spar Texas. I've got his ruler sitting on my desk. I think that's from Splash a couple of years ago.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

I think even Reese was handing out thongs last year. We've got a set of thongs and bum bags, and so yeah, there's plenty of uh promotional items to to get amongst.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Yes, absolutely. The pens are always useful. I've received um USB sticks, they are always a good one too. And yeah, had you can never have enough rulers, they always seem to go missing in the office. And pens. So yeah, some great freebies. And of course, everyone has beer coolers, can coolers, um yeah, drink bottles, all of those sort of things. I think even one year we got I think Matronics had sunscreen. Oh yeah. Yeah, little could clip onto like your belt loop sort of thing. Those yeah, so great freebies.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

I'm lucky that I just have to throw it in the car.

SPEAKER_02 8:04

Oh one one year. What year was it? I think it was 2014. Sorry, had to say 2014 we went to we had two trade two conferences and the trade show all in like in a matter of a week and a half. There was one trade show before sorry, one conference before the trade show and one after it. And we actually took home quite a haul of awards between the two suppliers and the trade show was incorporating the national awards, and we I won awards there too. So I actually some of them look heavy as well. Heavy, and one of them was actually that big. So I had that, and I had Matronics President's Award and Retailer of the Year and something else, and and one from Focus, and it was just like, oh my lord, how am I gonna get all of this home? I'm gonna be so over my baggage allowance, that, and then all the brochures and the pens and everything else you accumulate. So we actually had to take a heap of our clothing and we took all our black ties while you're up there. So they all all my awards made it home, even the photo, the big picture frame, uh, made it home unscathed. They were well padded with the egg, always, always great trade shows. And I like to take our staff too. For us, it was a bit more of a trip because, of course, like I'm what is it, 1,500 kilometers away from the Gold Coast. So it's actually two different plane flights um or a six-hour drive and then a plane flight. And so always a great expense to take our staff with us. But what we did is we took a different staff member each time it was on, but we always took, we always took one. And they all loved it, all came away with their eyes so wide open as to how diverse and how large our industry is. And really that I think some people sort of have the mentality, and hopefully not many of them, hopefully we will, we will change them slowly but surely. But some people see it as a short-term job, not a long-term job. So therefore, like it is a job that you can really stay in. It's an industry you can really stay in, but people don't really understand how big and how diverse the industry is until they actually go to something as big as Splash and see it with their own eyes and realize that it's not just them with their single pole backing a pool or scooping out leave. The industry is actually quite massive.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Yeah. No, the uh especially the the techs and the younger techs that have only just started out, or you know, they're not seeing the sales reps, they're not talking to the guys, and they might not be across the the latest Splash magazine or read it. So for them to go down there, you can say they get a lot out of it. And so I was one of them back in the day, and I remember looking forward to it every couple of years and yeah, getting a lot out of that that that couple of days.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

Like just the staff going and seeing the products firsthand that they might not normally, as you say, get exposed to. Seeing the different even things like underground rollers, automated blankets, flat covers, so many different things that they can be open to. The latest and greatest in products. Like we talked about that a few weeks ago when we went through the the Splash magazine, the latest edition at that time, with all the some of the new product releases that are coming out and talking to different people. Like I was even talking to Peter from Buffer Zone today, and he's got something that he's launching at at Splash.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

I don't I don't even know about that.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

So you'll have to you'll have to wait and see some it's so he's some exciting developments, not necessarily a new product for Pete, but a new development within his um software program. And and so yeah, there's there's lots of things that you get to see. Personally, I'm facilitating a forum, two on the Wednesday and one on the Thursday. And the topic that I'm facilitating is business growth through customer service and customer, like excellent customer experience.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Do I drop your name at the door to get in for free or something like that? Do I say I know Lee?

SPEAKER_02 12:29

You can try. The ma the masterclasses there. If you're a Sparza member, the masterclasses are available. I think there's $75 for access to the masterclasses. There's about four different ones there on two different times on the Wednesday and another time on slight slot on the on the Thursday. So each segment will be there three times. So you'll have the opportunity to to switch around. And they're all on at different times. So you can actually go from one to the other to the other. So quite easy, easy to do. And then of course, inside Splash, they also have they actually a silent where you so you can actually hear the the speakers and the the noise that's going on in the in the trade show. So that will be really good and lots of great topics there too. And if there's any builders listening, there's actually a contracts class. So Spiros is actually running a contracts master class. So that is an additional cost, but Spiros is worth paying every single time.

SPEAKER_01 13:36

Oh yes, yes, most definitely.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

So yeah, so some some great things. And like you say, completely great for the staff, motivates them, encourages them, inspires them. And let's face it, we're coming out of winter. Winter can be somewhat uninspiring for staff. For us as as managers and business owners, we run around still probably gotta get this done over winter, gotta get this done, gotta get this done. We can see summer is only like let's face it. Yeah, yeah, time next two weeks, let's say, from spring. Which means summer is knocking on the door. You got up on the first of September when I've got to do something about it. So our business really started running from the first of September, and that is it's knocking.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

I hope so. Yeah, I hope so. Because it's yeah, if there's no if there's no extra things in place to make it better, then just asking for trouble. So we're trying. We are definitely trying, and hopefully we get there.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

Yay. I travel round the suburbs, test kit in my hand. Leaf from the pool shop, coach, he's the best in the land. Nick from Brisbane called me to make a PH while. Got the skimmer in the neck on the makeup. And the water's the wonder we got bigger bike toast and spin on the body. First we balance that glory of the boat.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

I was talking to a client of mine today, a new client actually, and she was just saying, like, I'm I've got so much on my plate at the moment, and she said, and I'm so worried about how I'm going to juggle that coming into summer, like when I'm in the throes of the season.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Um, she's a relatively new business owner and or been in this particular position. She's been involved with this business for a while, but in this position, relatively new, and she's sort of still trying to grasp how to manage her time productively. How I if I can't get it done now, what hope have I got through summer? So we're we're talking about what things can she put put in place, what need to do. What what are better done by somebody else? Not necessarily knowing who that somebody else is, but knowing what can be done by somebody else, what shouldn't be done by you. And also um, what is the best and most profitable use of your time? She also is a classic for being distracted. My red Yep.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Yeah, they're still there, they're still there at work.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

And one of his co-managers, uh, George, they were constantly distracted. They're in an open office that I was speaking to today, as as I was. And it is so hard to switch yourself off and get your head into work. You seem to keep your ears open and you um hear what's going on around you, and you can't help but be distracted. And there is uh like evidence that so shows that if you're distracted from what you've got your head in, it takes you a good 15 minutes to get back into what you've got to get done. Nick, actually, I do know about you the amount of times that you and I would have got through the day. I so the red headphones is my way of cutting out the outside noise. So noise cancelling energy these days is brilliant, and you want them to be red because then that acts as a visual for your staff that uh Lee's got a red earphone on, I can't disturb her. It means it means do not disturb me. I'm in the zone, I need to get you and I'm cutting out the outside noise. And for me, it worked really well.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Sometimes you just yeah, you just need that 15 minutes, you just need that 10 minutes to finish off that email or send, you know, send that order or or do something along those lines and just using using that tool to no one come near me, let me get this finished, and then I'll be then I'll be available to sort out the problem or the issue or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 18:09

Absolutely. And the thing is, what would they do with if you weren't there? They would find another means. They probably annoyed George, let's face it. But if you weren't there, they would find another means, or they would write a note, or they would ring a supplier, or they'd ring another staff member if there's no one else in the premises that they can consult. There's other ways and means to handle the situation. So one, you can ask your staff, well, what other options have you got here? And then they need to treat it like you're not there. So that means if the phone rings and someone says, Hey, I need to speak to Nick, it's like, ah, Nick's got his red earphones on. No, sorry, Nick's not here. I take a message, or can somebody else help you? So instead of Nick, so-and-so's you you cut that sort of stuff out. Tell them I'm not here, tell them I'm not here. Yeah, and usually when you so yeah, there's there's ways and means. So red headphones, um, but yeah, that's what I was I was dealing with today with with helping this this um lady make some changes in her business, take some things off her plate, decide what could be done by somebody else, and also putting simple things into place like some some don't speak about outlook.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

Outlook's broken at the moment, so that's another disaster from today. I know it's just so scary. It's so scary change. It's like Apple and Android. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 19:35

I know, but you know what? When you make those changes, it was like when I changed from myob to zero. If I could have I probably would have. But ask me a few months later, six months later, twelve months later, it wouldn't have mattered. The answer would have been yes, a hundred times yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

We've got to rip that band-aid off, I think. Yeah, I think you need to rip- It works, it works, it's got character.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Yes, yeah. But uh no, winter, like winter is a time that obviously we want to use the time productively. But you and I talking earlier that it's also a time that a lot of teams can actually I suppose have some changes. And I I don't know about you, but I did find that winter was a time that well actually coming out of winter, if I was gonna lose a staff member, it was usually as we went into summer. And one, you're always pissed off because you just carried them through winter. But two, you got to the busy season and you actually needed them and were relying on them being there, and all of a sudden that's like, oh, they remember what hard work is from last summer and they don't want to do But then other people like us go, winter is a time to be productive, and yes, it looks different, but it's a time that you we can actually recharge the batteries, reinvigorate, and that's what Splash is great for. Reinvigorate and then start the season fresh and inspired and motivated, and that's what's great. That's what I think's great about Splash.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 21:09

So yeah, I don't know that I've got a few things coming up. How have your um last couple of weeks go with our listener?

SPEAKER_01 21:18

No, I'm back on the tools, I'm installing heaters, I'm I'm doing lifting heavy things and digging and all of the fun stuff. So yeah, look, we've we've had a good spread recently, a bit of commercial stuff, working on a fountain as well, which is pretty interesting. That's brought up its own challenges. Mainly that it was all completely installed wrong, the chemical dosing system. So I I don't see how it ever worked properly to begin with, because it was installed basically backwards. Yeah, and they had another company maintaining it. They would come three times a week, and I don't really know what they did, but I just got there and I'm like, this is all wrong. Like, you know, this this why doesn't this work? Why doesn't this work? It's got a free chlorine probe that doesn't work. There's there's acid feeder, it never worked.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Must be a fairly big water feature then.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

Uh it's about 30,000 litres, I think it is. Yeah, spread across two sort of shallow pools, um, if you would call them that. So yeah, it's been pretty interesting to re-plumb it and get it all back up and working and try and get it onto remote monitoring and set up Wi-Fi and all of those type of things. So yeah, that's been a pretty interesting sort of task. So I can add fountain. I've only done a couple of fountains. So that's another interesting one. And so is it a f liquid chlorine or it's actually got a saltwater chlorinator on it, a 50 gram haywood saltwater chlorinator, which never worked because it once again wasn't set up properly.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

How long has it been not working properly?

SPEAKER_01 22:54

I I as long as it's it's got to be at least six years, I think. But the Aquarius controller had some repairs done to it uh let's say two years ago, but I dare say they someone attempted to get it fixed because they thought it was broken, the machine, but it wasn't working because it wasn't plumbed in correctly. So and no one picked up on it.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

So please tell us how was it plumbed?

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Uh so with the inlet of the chemical dosing system, so it was just out of the pump, which is fine, but the outlet of the Aquarius was feeding back through to the inlet of the pump. So let's say it dosed acid and it the acid would come straight back into the pump, get sensed by the dosing system, and then not add acid. The other thing is it actually creates a bit of a vacuum on the system as well. So it just doesn't run properly. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:49

So crazy.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Yeah, commercial pool installer did it. I won't mention names, but yeah, it just would never have worked in that in that setup. It would just never have worked. So yeah, I looked at all the plumbing, how they plumbed it in. There wasn't a lot of couplings, there wasn't a lot of joiners or anything. So someone's just installed it incorrectly and it's never worked from day one.

SPEAKER_02 24:10

And it's been like that for how long did you say?

SPEAKER_01 24:13

It's got to be over over over five, six, seven years, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 24:18

Finally they've got the right man on the job click.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Yep, so got it all fixed up, plumbed it in correctly, got the saltwater chlorinator going, uh, replaced a couple of probes, and yeah, it's it's all working as it should. And what sort of It's no reflecting pool, but it's it's a it's it's my reflecting pool. A little bit smaller.

SPEAKER_02 24:37

Did they um uh sand filter, cartridge filter?

SPEAKER_01 24:41

Cartridge filter. I should send you the photo of the cartridge. I don't think the cartridge would have been cleaned in one a year, two years, something like that. And so they had another company going there three times a week. Three times a week.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

Wow. They're probably starting to wonder what they're yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Well it's black tile as well, so there's all like the calcium marks where they've just been throwing the the cal hypo just straight into the into the pool fountain. So that looks yeah, terrible. But it's getting there. It's a bit of a work in progress. But yeah, one of the other techs, Brendan, he spent three hours there cleaning it, pulling off covers and all for a tiny little fountain.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

Well, I'm sure that they're glad that they've got you guys on the job now and almost brings us to an end for today's podcast. Was there anything else you wanted to share with our listeners? No, come say hello at Splash if they see it. It's always good to and yeah, it's actually I was only speaking to a student yesterday who said, I listened to the podcast. Oh, cool. People let us know. We sit here, we record, we talk, we so we really appreciate that. And remember, if you have any questions, any suggestions, um, any topics that you would like us to cover, please drop us a mail email at talkingpools at gmail.com and Rudy will dish that out to the most applicable host of um the show, or if in particular you want us to answer it, of course you can direct that email to um we hope that we get to see you all at Splash. We do have some more great co-hosts joining us in the coming weeks. So we look forward to having you join us again for some great topics. And actually, we're hoping to record at Splash or little bits and pieces at Splash. So if you come and say hi, we might even record a little bit of a session with you. And so definitely seek us out. I will be on the buffer zone stand at Splash if you want to come and say hi, or I'll be in the forums, or I'll just be floating around. So and Nick will be there with his Redlands shirt on, I would imagine.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Yeah, we normally split up the team, so we normally have half and half. So yeah, I'm not too entirely sure how we're gonna work it this year, but yeah, we'll be we'll be there. I'm excited to see Shane and put a body to his face. It would be good to catch up and yeah, looking forward to it most definitely. And to see you, Lee, of course. I haven't seen you in so long. And Scott, Scott's coming, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

No, he's not. So no, uh I've got a a big week of work while I'm up there, so that because I will be um otherwise occupied with work that he won't be coming on this trip. So this will actually be I think this is actually the first or maybe the second splash. There, yeah, there was another splash that he didn't make it to that I went with team uh with staff members instead. So uh but yeah, he uh will definitely miss saying hi to all his all his mates that he's with for years. So but anyway, thank you very much listeners for joining us. You've heard us nadder on today. But we hope that you will join and come to Splash. And if you do most certainly say hello. And if you're not going to Splash, make sure that you put it in your calendar for two in two years' time. So it's only held every two years. So in two years' time in probably in August, but hopefully July for your for the next trade show. And try and think about bringing your team if you've got some um if you've got a team bring even if you can only bring one team member with you. It's uh it's well well worth the investment. So anyway, until next week, thank you very much for listening. Thank you, Nick, for joining me. Nicely, like and we will see you all next week. See ya.