Powder your wig and tighten your knickers for one of the most epic floral conventions in all of America! Here are just a few highlights of the upcoming 2017 AFA “Wild, Wilde Masquerade”:
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The Royal Banquet — Friday, 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Kevin Ylvisaker AIFD, PFCI (sponsored by Teleflora)
Whether it’s a party, celebration, wedding or any event we all are called upon to create a new and innovative idea for a centerpiece.
Where do the inspirations come from? Possibly the client suggested a theme or you have one that has worked for you before. Kevin will show how to be inspired to create a show stopping centerpiece for your event.
From Vintage to Modern to Natural, you’ll be taken on a floral tablescape adventure in this exciting program that will show how to use everyday containers to outside the box props. So come along as we set the table for our banquet.
Breakfast Bash! — Saturday, 9:00am – 10:00am
A welcoming party for all new convention attendees! Breakfast included! Don’t miss it!
Build Online Business with a Digital Marketing Plan — Saturday, 10:00am – 11:30am
Renato Cruz Sogueco (sponsored by BloomNet)
Driving traffic to your website is critical to your shop’s success in this competitive online marketplace. More than 80 percent of customers use search to research purchases, according to RetailingToday. So how do you build web traffic?
In this highly informative session, Floriology Institute’s Renato Cruz Sogueco shares with attendees four specific strategies they need to use to build online business: search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), accurate citation and reviews, and creating consistent content on the website and social media to keep the business relevant with customers.
Key takeaways:
Core SEO strategies to ensure your website ranks high in search.
How to start an SEM campaign to build traffic from local customers.
How to check your online citation to confirm it’s accurate across the Internet.
An easy process to develop content to consistently post blog and social posts.
Let Them Eat Cake! [a floral runway show] — Saturday, 1:00pm – 2:00pm
featuring designs by students of the 2016 and 2017 Arkansas Master Florist program
Ready her Court! The Countess is getting married on Saturday afternoon! Join us for a scrumptious visual romp through floral high fashion in a decadent and elaborate wedding procession like no other!
Everyday… Impacts… Everything! — Sunday, 9:00am – 10:30am
Jackie Lacey AIFD, CFD, PFCI (sponsored by BloomNet)
With today’s economy growing every more demanding and the need to stretch every budget to the maximum, it grows more challenging everyday to provide new and updated looks that can impact your designs without killing your bottom line. Not only do we have to design and market to four generations – they each have a different opinion of what a reasonable budget might be.
As designers we are asked more than ever to provide a high impact look, the WOW factor and memorable designs. And this is true for everything we do – Everyday, sympathy, plants and celebrations. Everything impacts everyday!
Want to take some old tricks and add some new twist on stretching the budget while providing a new and updated look. You can take a few tricks that can be manipulated to provide high impact style on a tight budget and manipulate those to work in every type of design. We will focus on today’s design style of giving more look for the money and explore how that technique can be utilized to update, upgrade and upsell!!
Memorial Flowers with Lasting Memories — Sunday, 11:00am – 12:00am
Deborah De La Flor AIFD, PFCI (sponsored by FTD)
A difficult time can be made easier with memories. Whether it is a favorite color, a hobby, or a personal passion, Memorial Flowers can truly offer comfort to family and friends. Deborah will show you how to incorporate memories into sympathy designs that will make your designs stand out in the crowd.