The third national meeting of Florists For Change Inc. was held March 4-6, 2012 at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, MI. The meeting was positive, productive, and well-attended, including several prospective members who joined during the conference. Members shared stories of recent challenges and success, particularly related to technology, internet advertising, and wire order transmission. Approved vendors were able to connect directly with FFCI florists who are looking for progressive alternatives to their current technology environment.
Productive break-out sessions included:
- Sales Training with Bob Negen from Whiz Bang Training
- Branding Development with Ryan Freeman from Strider, Inc.
- Photography and editing of floral arrangements with Flower Shop Network
- “How to conduct a local FFCI meeting” by Bonnie Bank of Superior Florist (NYC)
- Update and discussion on progress of talks with wire services by Tim Galea of Norton’s Flowers & Gifts (Ypsilanti, MI)
- Steve Juiffre of Chappell’s Florist (Burlington, VT) reported on his meeting with Google executives, regarding deceptive advertisers
o Google encourages florists to report evidence of false or deceptive advertising
o Google also encourages retail florists to band together and purchase AdWords opportunities in bulk, which they say (when combined with our local SEO) will push deceptive national advertisers down in even the paid listings.
Consensus among attendees indicates the conference was a good value for the low registration fee. Multiple local and regional FFCI membership recruitment meetings will be conducted between now and the end of July, including April 10th at Green Mountain Florist’s Supply in Burlington, VT, and April 16th at Delaware Valley Wholesale in Sewell, NJ.
Source: Florists For Change Inc.
