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Society of American Florists -
Society of American Florists (SAF) Convention
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Written by Renato Cruz Sogueco
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Saturday, 06 September 2008 11:58 |
 For the past few days, updates to Twitter and my blog have been few and far between. I've been busy prepping for the many responsibilities I have at the upcoming SAF 124th Annual Convention in lovely Palm Beach Florida at The Breakers resort. We're expecting more than 500 of the floral industry's heavy-hitters who will expect great networking opportunities and useful business educational sessions. In addition, prior to the Annual Meeting and like most associations, we have our volunteer meetings. Following is a run down of what I'll be handling:
SAF Retailers Council Meeting
SAF's Retailers Council include 12 members voted in from various regions of the country. They represent the retailers segment of the floral industry so these fine people could be running a small-town shop serving a town of 2000 people or be the CEO of 1-800 Flowers. It's been a new tradition to have a "trends" lunch prior to the official meeting so the council could discuss issues and trends impacting their business. During the meeting, the Council talks about the various agendas of the Committees on which they serve. I'm the liaison so I'm busily setting the Agenda and prepping the meeting book for Council members. SAF's other Councils include the Wholesalers and Growers Councils.
SAF Technology Committee Meeting
SAF's Technology Committee is responsible for forecasting and analyzing emerging technologies for the benefit of the floral industry. As liaison, I also prepare a meeting book for this group and usually gather articles from online/print resources for discussion like MIT's Technology Review, Popular Science, Wired, Digg, etc. As I gather articles, I highlight certain technology I feel may have significant impact on floral industry businesses. One example would be something like RFID. However, this time, SAF recently conducted a Technology Survey asking what type of tech floral businesses already implemented and the technology they'd like to more about. This will be the focus of the upcoming meeting as we perhaps tweak our Committee objectives.
 Kickoff Breakfast
SAF's Kickoff Breakfast is the first major function of the convention and this will be my first time handling the event. I never thought of myself as a logistics person but when you work for an association, you end up wearing many hats which may or may not necessarily fit at first. Well, in addition to handling logistics, i'm penning the script for the event which means figuring out all the politics of people to mention, companies to recognize, etc. I also get to put together the PowerPoint which of course needs to match the script. The X factor will be our Floral Management Marketer of the Year presentation which is developed by our VP of Communications Kate Penn and be included in the main Kickoff Breakfast PowerPoint presentation and script. I can only trust Kate will not let me down and get me something to include in the main presentation by next week. Again, although not my thing, it's been an interesting experience.
SAF Educational Session: Digital Deadbolt
Security should be a big concern for floral industry businesses and other industries which have retail members. Much of the problem results from bad digital security IT practices and the bad care of customer data. We have two great technology minds of this panel including Jim Talarico of Teleflora and Jim Higginson of FTD. Both serve on SAF’s Technology Committee and can provide much insight on how shops can secure their operations. I’ve been working with these two guys and a good industry friend of mine who’ll be serving as moderator, Chris Drummond of Plaza Florist in Norristown, PA.
SAF Educational Session: Tech Tips to Simplify Your Business and Your Life
SAF’s Technology Council develops a “white paper” of technology which outlines the various business technologies that businesses should be adapting. Or Not. Or will be. We used this as the basis for the Technology Survey I spoke of earlier. We also used it as a basis for this session. I’m serving as a panelist with SAF Technology Committee members Scott Kitayama of Greenleaf Wholesale in Pleasanton, CA, Maris Angolia of Karin’s Florist in Vienna, VA and Bob Aykens of Memorial Florists and Greenhouse in Appleton, WI. Marty Loppnow of Waukesha Floral and Greenhouse in Waukesha, WI will serve as moderator.
SAF Educational Session: Enter the Blogosphere
Most florists are just truly discovering the benefits of search engine optimization for their Web sites which are a growing part of their businesses for obvious reasons. Many of the most savvy florists use blogs to enhance their positions in search results. I will do my best to share my own blogging knowledge through this interactive session where they not only get the sell but create a blog, jot down ideas of blog ideas from fellow attendess and post their first blogs! We’re inviting attendees to bring their laptops and hook up with our wireless. This should be fun although I’m a little nervous because I have yet to develop the program. Yikes! No problemo, it’s a rainy Saturday today and I have finish this blog entry. Back to work!
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Last Updated on Monday, 08 September 2008 14:46 |
