SAF National Convention Recap & Our Takeaways

Episode 142: Society of American Florists just concluded their annual convention in Orlando last week. It was packed with great information... from an industry update from Kate Penn, CEO of the organization, to the announcement of marketer of the year, Jet Fresh Distributors, all of the AAF and PFCI inductees (including two of our own!) and jam-packed days of educational sessions.  Vonda, Lori and Ellie share their 3 top takeaways from the conference.

Our sponsors:
Flower Clique
Flower Prep School

Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

The second takeaway was, of course, the trends with Tomage McLaurin. Very quickly, I'm just going to give a rundown for anyone who missed it, going through the trends and some elements within them.

SPEAKER_03 0:23

Welcome to the Business and Pleasure of Flowers. We're your hosts, Bonda LaFever.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

And Lori Wilson. And we believe that business and fun are a perfect combination. Kind of like us, Bonda.

SPEAKER_03 0:39

Here we are, all three of us together after returning from Society of American Florists in Orlando. We have Lori joining, of course, but we've asked Ellie to join us as well. Hello, how's it going? Good morning. Is everyone recovered from last week?

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Um, kind of, yes. Kind of, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

I'm still pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. It's just was amazing to me that Flower Click was so well represented there with the two of you, and then with Cammy Martin and Audrey Christoph. We had just such a great team there. It was just wonderful.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

It wasn't Cammy's first time with us.

SPEAKER_03 1:21

It was her very first time at a floral convention, which to me just is like yeah, she's been in it what 12, 15 years, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:30

She also, when she started, had very tiny little toddlers. Yes. Yes. Um, and so she still has to navigate children at home, all of the stuff, right? And I keep reminding her of that. Like, listen, if you only go to one or two a year, that's okay. Oh, yeah, for sure. I didn't I didn't do that either. Now that my kids are out, I'm like, I know where are we going next?

SPEAKER_03 1:52

Well, and I think she is too. She was like, that was so fun. That was so exciting and you know, life-giving.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Yeah, it's just a different uh energy when you're in person. Totally different. Great to connect with everybody. Yeah, I don't have enough good things to say about it.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

So we were very active there, I would say. Um, obviously interacting with the members and a lot of people in the industry. And we were there at the supplier expo with a booth, which Ellie, you hit it out of the park with our branding. Everybody was just mentioning, wow, this is so awesome.

SPEAKER_02 2:29

I love when people say they walk in and the first thing they see is our colors. You know, like we're literally known by our colors.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yeah. And I want to even lean into that even more. We've got our all-women team, we've got the pink. So uh definitely good inspiration for fun for the next years ahead as well.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

I think it was interesting. This this was one of the first times um in the face-to-face things that I've been to with Flower Click that people were coming to me and saying, We love that you guys are all women. Like we've always said that, like, hey, we're all women, you know, and people like wow, our reputation's getting around. We truly are all hard workers, so it was kind of cool.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

It was cool. And I had Amy from Natural Farms, who does all of our bouquets from us for us, said how we're all individually such dynamic people, but together the energy that exudes out of us is amazing. So that was pretty cool too, because we feel that we're energized by one another.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

So I'm gonna kind of lead this session and ask the two of you to think about what were your three most favorite or valuable sessions or takeaways that you had from this year's convention.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

I think I'm gonna start with you, Lori. All right, bring it on. Okay, well, first of all, in full disclosure, I don't think that I got to attend three different sessions because I was busy.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yes, I feel like you were busy and you guys were doing one, so that took up time before and after.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

Right. And so that is the um wonderful, horrible, bittersweet part of going when you are gonna be teaching. Um it's you don't I had in my mind all the classes I wanted to attend, but then there was this other side of my mind going, it's never gonna happen. It's never does. It's never so anyway, but the three things that I keep going over and over in my mind. Number one, just being among people in the industry. Again, I think I say that every time I walk away, but these one-on-one conversations, I swear I've never had so many in any of these sessions with people. Some people I knew, some people I didn't know, some people were flower clip members that I've never had a face-to-face, but they feel like we already have a relationship. So hey, I dive in and we're now best friends. Right. Those kinds of conversations were just, you know, those re-energize me. Those are like my caffeine. That is the one of the things that was most inspiring. Number two, I I can't even tell you when you and I, so you Vonda and I were doing an experience zone, which is kind of like an intersession between sessions, right? So we had this little 20-minute or tried to no 30 minutes. We actually had 30-minute session, um, see what you sell. We had it set up, it's kind of in the lobby, not the lobby, but where was it? Was I on Patriot? So it was among the sessions, yeah. We're kind of in the open area, right? It was kind of an open area, and so you never know, because it's not like you have to sign up. You never know if one person's gonna be there or 20 people are gonna be there. You we just don't know. The thing that got me a little bit emotional, honestly, during that is all of our members came, and these are people that really already know what we're getting ready to talk about because they have the insight on it because they're members, but they didn't want to miss. And some of them were front row, they were just so and all of these people came. And I just I don't know, Vonda, maybe it is just me, but when that happens, I'm always like incredibly honored and grateful. And no time do I sit there and go, oh good, they're coming. It's like, wow, they could be doing anything else, and they're coming to this.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

And so that feels really good. I think it feels really good for you also because you support our members so much, you put so much energy into each one of them. And when you see that in return, that they're giving you guys or us the support back, you know, that's just it, that just yeah, adds to the a deeper level of mutual respect and support. And that's what you know the click is all about.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

Yes, yeah, and and even like people that weren't members and really would never be because like they're wholesalers or they're software people, they came just to support. I don't know, it was just so powerful to me, very present in that moment, and realized, gosh, these are this is just a really good industry. We're so lucky.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

So we're very blessed in this industry. You're right, Lori. And you draw energy, we all do, but I see you especially drawing this energy from them, and you become even more passionate and about what you're presenting. It's pretty cool to watch that because when there were just a few people in the audience, you were just like, Oh yeah, here we're gonna go, we're gonna go. And then as more people were coming, you were just like getting into it even more, and you were just like coming alive. Yes, felt like the the ringmaster at the circus, like come on.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

I had people afterwards, Ryan from JetFresh and Dolly and Tim and Amy, the floral coach, all of them were like her energy and the two of them together. You guys are just so dynamic together. You really are the dynamic duo. So yeah, it was great.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

It is fun, and I never ever ever get tired of when I'm teaching with Vonda. My whole goal is to get her to crack up.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

And you always do.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

I have so many photos of you guys both just laughing and smiling. I think she had a smile on her face the entire time.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

Because it's hilarious. Because when Vonda starts laughing, the whole crowd laughs. Because it's like they're in on it with me. It's kind of like funny.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

And we have to give a special thank you to um Tim Farrell, Amy Balsters, and Renee Tucci for being our supporting cast in this session and and bringing up their people. Nicole from City Lines. Um, yeah. So thanks, everybody.

SPEAKER_03 9:30

They did great, they really accelerated our sales presence there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Well, and we were talking afterward to some, and we were like, ah, how it's like we need to, this was like good practice for employees. Like, how can we take this, make it on the game, a syllable game?

SPEAKER_03 9:48

Yeah, make it on the road. Business and pleasure of flowers on the road. We can go take that.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

Exactly. So, anyway, so that was you know, the that's one of the main ones that keeps going to my head. And then the one session I did get to go to, thankfully, because all of you guys allowed me to, I didn't have to do cleanup after our session because I really wanted to go sit in on Barry Gottlieb's because you were starstruck.

SPEAKER_03 10:12

Let's see.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Because I was, I was very starstruck. And it's funny, I don't know. He's written a couple of books, and I remember reading his book like years ago on gratefulness, and he still preaches it. I mean, it's it was so good. So it was on like mental mindset, um, mental health, you know, the whole thing. And so the first part of the whole session was just statistic after statistics, you know, talking a lot about burnout. But but here's what was so inspiring for me. It wasn't necessarily what he said because I had heard pretty much everything. I've read these same statistics. We I get it, but I loved what he said. But looking around the room at who was attending, now keep in mind, uh you guys know this was a late-in-the-day session, and we all know sometimes those late-in-the-day sessions are not as well attended because of the timing, right? You're kind of burned out and it's already four o'clock. And anyway, I was looking around the room, and so many business owners, wholesale house owners, distributor, like high-up level CEO types were in that room. And it again made me not emotional, but made me think, wow, they they get it, they understand mental health is something they have to take seriously for their employees, and it's hard to talk about.

SPEAKER_04 11:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Really hard to talk about, you know, depending on what generation you're in. And so that was incredibly inspiring for me. Um, to to just witness who said, you know what, I know it's four o'clock, but I'm going to this class because I need to, I need to take better care of my employees.

SPEAKER_03 12:07

And that was his second session because his was a repeated session. So if you had a lot of people in that one, you would have had exactly even that many more in an earlier session. So that's pretty admirable for those people.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Right. So you know my goal was to sneak up and ask him to be on my podcast. Well, there was like a line. That was your goal. You said that last one. I think I'm just gonna message him on LinkedIn because I did introduce myself to him, but there's too many people around. I didn't want to make it about us, right? So I just anyway. So those were those were a lot. My bottom line takeaway having conversations one-on-one with people, I don't care who they were, was just I learned something from everyone. So that's great.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Even at the afterglow party, you were talking business. Oh my gosh. I'm like, come on, guys, have fun. And you're like, no, we're good, we're good.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

We're we're talking. Yeah, it's it's crazy. And I will tell you that after the after after glow party at one point, yeah, and uh, I think it was just Ellie Audrey and I were the last clicker standing, but we were sitting in this little group of again, all women. We were with that was with Amy, Kareem, just a whole bunch of people. Yes, screen heck from details. We were laughing and laughing and just having the best time. That's great. So we didn't feel so great the next morning, but you know, sorry, you were on a plane and you could sleep. It was good. Tylenol, so anyway.

SPEAKER_03 13:43

So, Ellie, now your turn. What are your top three?

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Okay, well, mine are a little more straight to the point and not so lovey dovey. Lori's were really good about the people. Um, but uh my last one was again just that overlap with mental health and focusing on the people. That was really the common theme. And so next week's episode, Lori and I were actually on site recording a podcast episode with again, kind of like we did at AIFD, where we're just grabbing people in, asking them one question about what they're doing to invest in their business. And so the idea of focusing on the people was a common theme. So I'm really excited for you guys to listen to next week's episode on that.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

And I'm excited to edit those so I can hear in advance before it goes to everybody.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Oh, that's right. That's good, that's gotta be kind of fun for you when you hit the surprise. Don't know what we're I mean, it's I have no idea.

SPEAKER_03 14:40

I wasn't in the room, so I'm excited for that.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

Here's here's what you gotta know though, Wanda. That mic, so we were using definitely. Remember, he they were letting us use some of their hot mics the entire time. So we cannot be held accountable for conversations when we thought they were offline. That's all good. It's all good.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

You'll laugh at a lot of them, but the second takeaway was of course the trends with Tomage McLaurin. I think he is amazing. I've always been interested in trends. I feel like he has one of my dream jobs where you know you're doing trend forecasting and you're really looking ahead to 2023. So, very quickly, I'm just gonna give a rundown for anyone who missed it, um, going through the trends and some elements within those. They're not in order, but here they are. Uh, one of them was ephemeral. So this is highlighting soft greens, grays, pale blues, pale pinks, pale yellows. It's very light, it's very fleeting, um, but it lends itself to a lot of texture and openness. The second one is utilitarian. And I thought this was interesting because he said people in the south, when they see, you know, oranges and reds and yellows, they just automatically think of fall and only fall. And what I love is that he's really forecasting this to be a trend that is going to be seen all year round. So it's fall without being fall. There's a lot of earth tones and incorporating the earth elements like rust, dark corals, dark creams, dark ivories, and just the whole um composition of it really doesn't scream fall, but it's still being able to use those colors year-round, which I think is super valuable.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

And didn't they throw in just a touch of pink on that? Because he said using that just touch of pink in that one makes it look so it's not quite so full as well. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Because I love that because I was like, And then we have voluptuous, which is a lot of deep pinks, deep reds, oranges, a lot of volume, a lot of drama, and of course a lot of romance. Then we have atmospheric. So we have blues, greens, again, earth elements. Like I think he had a uh it almost looked like a petrified wood vessel that he had those flowers in. So just incorporating that a lot, you know, obviously not just with the flowers, but the vessel that you choose to use for your designs. Then we have green space, which I think of as the garden trend really on steroids. I love it. It's pinks, purples, it has a ton of lush foliage involved, obviously, with the namesake of green space. And then the last one, we historic. So this is kind of something I'm also seeing on Instagram, especially with um interior design, where you have like these Corinthian pedestals. It is historic, but it is done in a fresh way. And you're doing a lot of lilies, you're doing dramatic muted elements, definitely those pinks, those purples, um, and then even incorporating like painted foliage to really bring it to that modern perspective, which I love that as well. Um, but one kind of overarching theme that we saw within all of the trends was pink, as you had mentioned, Bonda. And especially Lori being on trend with this before she even knew it, which is like this dark hot pink. It is everywhere. Next time you go into a retail store, I'm sure you will see it in whether it's athletic wear or home decor. But if you want to, you know, get a visual, you can look up the Pantone colors. There's a few of them: cabaret, bossy pink, and pink yarrow. All of those will give you a good visual of exactly the that deep hot pink that um he's referencing.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

You know what's so funny? You guys will think it's funny because you know I'm not, I don't really know trends, especially in I mean, I just know. I think you do. I think you do. I had so many people I'm intuitive as far as what I love, which is pink. Right. Always any shape of pink. Um, but I had so many people coming up to me, assuming I had already known what Talmadge was going to be. Like, like I was in the know, and I was a little like, uh-huh, sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Well, at next gen at the next gen conference, you have the hot pink on, and that's that's your thing. That is your signature color.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

It is, it makes me so definitely is your signature color. Always makes me happy for a very, very long, many decades. So, all right, keep going. This is good.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

And then my last one just was how exciting it is. I think there were, don't quote me on this number, but around 150 first-time attendees to the conference. And that just makes me so excited because for so long it was like our industry is dying, you know, this and that kind of a negative, negative cloud. And to to see all these new faces and new people excited, just again, really re-energized me.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

One thing I want to say about that, because I think a lot of people assume it if it's their first time, maybe it's the younger generation, but you know, Mike Black, who owns Jet Flowers, he was telling me the first time he goes, you know, this is my first time. I've never been to an SAF. He said, I can't believe I've never been to one of these. I get that. I think once you go, I've never heard anyone say, Oh, I really regret it. It was a waste of my time.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

Maybe there are those people, but yeah, she's talking about Mike Black, who owns JetFresh Distributors, which is a flower wholesaler, also an importer, and they won SAF Marketer of the Year this year. So he was there with his family, and Ellie and Lori, you met the team at Nextgen, correct? Yes, yep, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 20:55

But I thought it was interesting that you know he's like my age. Vonda's, he's up in he's more my age, Lori. Yeah, probably well. But anyway, he was just saying, even the very first night, he said, I can't believe I haven't come to one of these. So he he felt it immediately. So I thought that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

Yeah, I do too. I think that was great. All right, so I'm gonna go in with mine. My first one is members, our flower click members. It was amazing to me to listen and see and watch their faces as they talked about how Flower Click has changed their lives and their businesses. To me, that I just I mean, I know you guys too were taking that in, but individually and collectively, it was such a powerful group of intelligent, hardworking business owners who figured it out that they don't have to do everything themselves, right? And still same time have control. So that was just oozing out of them. The Thanksgiving for you and Ellie and and Audrey and Cammy, and it was just great to be able to witness that. Then my second was my team. I mean you guys. It just to have the opportunity to be face to face. We haven't seen each other well, we have been like Audrey last year, but just to see that and the positive energy. Um then you guys are such amazing, confident women, and of course our others, Leslie and Denise and Katie and Allie, all of them, just make the business happen. Um and really I think more importantly, just for that I sat back and I could hear the compassion that you would have for shop owners and letting you them know they we could help and doing it like not you're not selling anything, right? You're just sharing a story and to be able to stand back and go, you know what, you're not a fit for us because it's not for everyone. But knowing um who was right and who wasn't a fit. And of course, be the two of you being inducted into PFCI, the professional plural communicators international, that was a real highlight for me at the awards banquet. Yeah, we should we forgot to bring that up. I know you guys, it was more fun to me, I guess, than it was for you. No, it was for us.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

It was very good, but what sticks with me longevity-wise are the the relationships that I think rather that's what I was thinking. Absolutely, I totally agree.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

Yeah, this was more of a selfish thing. So my number three was Talmage. So you talked about Talmage's program, and then there was the follow-up on full floral trends that were really in action with some pretty great designers, huh?

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Yeah, we've got Deborah De LaFleur, Jenny Thomason, and Adam Havrilla, where they translated those trends into something you can put onto the sales floor in your portfolio, which is super great to have the application version of the trends report.

SPEAKER_03 23:54

It was, it was great. But then we could go on and on, right? The Sylvia Cup competition and the winner who was Kelsey Thompson, congratulations to her. The Tommy Bright award winner. Yeah. Good friend, amazing, talented, loving caring woman, and a fellow Pearl sister, which is Sharon Magukin. Woo-hoo!

SPEAKER_02 24:11

So, one other thing that I want to bring up, I guess would be my fourth favorite thing, is you were you had mentioned earlier about Ellie and I getting our PFCI. And when we were standing up there, I looked around and I realized we had a lot of clickers up here. Like the AAF, what what exactly is that? They were behind us that were getting the AAF awards.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

That's the American Academy of Floriculture.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Okay, so we had what like four or five members there and in that row, and then in our row, we had you and I. Um, and it was just a cool moment.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Yeah, and I so give a shout-out. Give a shout-out. So we've got Jen Barnard from Tillies. We had Cameron Pappas from Norton's, who also won the Century Award for having his business for over a hundred years. Not him personally, but Nicole Palazzo, our dear friend from City Line. She's not an official member, but we claim her. Um, and then we claim her. We had Robin Rep. We had Heather Town, and then our friend Renee Tucci as well. So um along with others, but we claim her too.

SPEAKER_03 25:33

Yes, we do.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

Yeah, it was so great. It was just a very cool moment that I realized we are sharing the stage with some friends, so it just felt really good.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

You know, there was a lot of great awards given out that night, and you I think Cammy even said it was very long, but it was really cool.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

Well what's funny, it wasn't as long as it had been in the past.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

We were talking to Amanda after, and they really are, you know, striving to make it efficient and you know be entertaining, but also, you know, have people be able to interact afterwards and not drag on. So and then of course, I know Vonda would appreciate this shout-out. We have to give a shout out to the design team who did all of the flowers for the entire convention, which is a total labor of love. Uh, Corey Harbour, Robin Arnold, Bill Haddell, Kelsey Thompson, Steven Santos, Tiffany Pruitt, and Rhonda Paris. So thank you to all of them as well.

SPEAKER_03 26:35

Yes, and that was great. And Corey Harbour has been a dear friend for many, many years. And Ellie and he recreated a picture from 20 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Yeah, that was pretty impressive. So we did one at the Afterglow party.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

We did a picture of I have to get that. So, Cory, if you're listening, I need that photo. We did one where his leg was popped and I was being him, so we traded places.

SPEAKER_03 26:59

Oh, yeah, we gotta see that. I know that's fun. It was just a great time. And if you've never been to the Society of American Florist Convention, put it on your calendar for next year. You've got to be there. We'd love to see you.

SPEAKER_02 27:10

Yep, and it is in Phoenix. You need to be there and bring your team. Woo-hoo. I'm very excited about Phoenix. Me too. I got family over there. So I may extend my stay.

SPEAKER_03 27:20

There you go. All right, thanks, Cal. I look forward to editing the question that you ask. And I don't even know the question, so I'm gonna be so surprised.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

So yeah, that'll be fun. Yeah, everybody, tune in next week.

SPEAKER_01 27:33

Thank you so much for listening to our podcast. We hope you enjoyed spending time with us because we enjoy spending time with you. If you did, make sure you hit that subscribe button or add the business and pleasure of flowers to your Google morning routine or your flash briefing on Alexa. We look forward to seeing you next week.

SPEAKER_03 27:54

So please come back and join us to discover how a bit of knowledge and one small change in your mind.