Kyla Szymialis of Denver Wholesale Florists makes remarks at SAF’s 1-Day Profit Blast in Denver earlier this year. Many floral pros say they value the opportunity to get away from their business to network and learn.
It’s not easy to tear yourself away from the shop for education — but meeting fellow industry professionals who “love flowers as much as we do” was exactly why Amber Micciche valued attending SAF’s 1-Day Profit Blast.
Micciche, who owns Mainstreet Flower Market in Parker, Colorado, with her husband, Frencesco attended the event in Denver, Colorado in October, where she met florists, designers, and growers. She also took away lessons from educational sessions, discussed industry trends, and viewed new products.
“We purchased our shop in April of this year and this was our first conference with SAF,” says Micciche, who owns Mainstreet Flower Market in Parker, Colorado with her husband, Frencesco. “We will definitely be attending more conferences in the future.”
Industry professionals will have the opportunity to network and learn next month when SAF’s 1-Day Profit Blast is held in San Marcos, Texas. The Jan. 14, 2023, event, sponsored by the Bill Doran Company, will feature three educational sessions focused on helping attendees ensure a profitable Valentine’s Day and a supplier showcase where attendees can learn about fresh products, hard goods, and services from top industry suppliers.
Being able to see new products and learn from floral industry experts is so important to sisters Johanna Bareford and Elizabeth Call, co-owners of King William Florist in King William, Virginia, they brought the whole shop, about 10 people in all, to SAF’s 1-Day Profit Blast in Baltimore last year.
“We try to take our girls to different things and this was the first time we went to the Profit Blast,” says Bareford. “If you want to learn, you need to do this. If you want to improve yourself and your company, you need to do this.”
Husband-wife duo Lance and Judie Hoopai’s 1-Day Profit Blast experience provided more than continuing floral education; it helped the couple get rooted in their new community. After owning a flower shop in Hawaii for several years, the Hoopais relocated to Missouri in 2018. Judie Hoopai says SAF’s 2019 Kansas City, Missouri event helped them meet other area florists.
“There were about two or three we became very good friends with,” says Judie Hoopai, co-owner of Higdon Florist & Flower Delivery in Joplin, Missouri. “We’ve actually done some wire-in with some of those florists. We’ve sent them orders and they’ve sent us orders. The camaraderie was very good.”
Micciche says, “All the presenters were entertaining, educational, and filled with tips that we could apply immediately.”
She says one highlight was Derek Woodruff’s presentation, a design program that focused on how to build creative arrangements with limited resources, and how to make adjustments and substitutions when suppliers don’t have what you need.
Woodruff, AIFD, CFD, CF, PFCI, owner of Floral Underground, will reprise his presentation at SAF’s 1-Day Profit Blast next month in Texas. He will be joined by Derrick Myers, CPA, PFCI, of Crockett Myers & Associates, who will discuss how to create incentive programs that help motivate and retain employees. Flower Clique management Vonda LaFever, AIFD, PFCI, and Lori Wilson, PFCI, will teach attendees how to effectively communicate, collaborate, and celebrate with both employees and customers to ensure a profitable Valentine’s Day.
For more information about SAF’s 1-Day Profit Blast in San Marcos, Texas, or to register, visit https://safnow.org/events-education/1-day-profit-blast/.
Laurie Herrera is a contributing writer for the Society of American Florists.
