The Details Team had such a fun time at the second annual SAF NextGen LIVE! event in Miami, Florida! It was so great to see our floral friends again and meet new ones. If you could not attend this event, here is our experience at NextGen!
Sunday, June 11th
Opening day of NextGen was packed with big hugs and reconnections with floral friends from around the country. Our friend, Derek Woodruff from Floral Underground, kicked off the conference with an excellent presentation of Give Your Customers FOMO: How In-Store Experiences Can Drive Sales.
Seth Goldman of Urban Stems, Talicia McCall of Ambiance by Lovie, Eric Fernandez and Tricia Gomez of Continental Flowers, and Irving Casiano Flores of Flower Shop Network shared inspiring stories of overcoming difficult obstacles, achieving a dream, and taking risks in the inspiring session, How I Did It.
The Welcome Reception and Design competition was a fun, interactive way to kick off the conference! Teams created stunning installations using Syndicate Sales products. Fun was had by all connecting, sharing stories, and laughs into the evening.
Monday, June 12th
The next day of the conference started off with Mindfulness Exercises led by the incredible Jena Gizerskiy of Rosaprima--what a refreshing start to the day! The next stop on the agenda was the Behind the Scenes Tour of Miami Airport and Progressive Retail Shops. Avery and Olivia got to experience firsthand how our flowers arrive in Miami, how they are processed, and how they are exported to all of the wholesalers and florists all over the country. 
Corrine, Taylor, and Myranda had the opportunity to visit top florists in the Miami area, including Petal Productions, South Florals Group, and Tria’s Flowers and Gifts. We loved seeing our incredible customers at Petal Production using our software in real time to prepare for their busy week of events! Both tours gave us a perspective into parts of the industry we do not see daily. It was certainly a highlight of the week for all of us!
Once we returned from the tours, we learned all about how products come to be from Trent Harshman of Syndicate Sales and Laura Walsh of Smithers Oasis. It was such an interesting perspective about how hard goods are produced and how much time goes into every item we use daily!
The last session of the day was all about How to Communicate Like A Pro in the Floral Industry with Adam Havrilla, AAF, AIFD, CFD, ICPF, PFCI, and our CEO Corrine Heck! Check out this blog for a full presentation recap of the session!
The last dinner of the conference was held at The Doral Yard, where The Casiano was the specialty drink of the night! We had a great time creating floral designs with our new flower friends and enjoying our last night all together in Miami.
Tuesday, June 13th
Our last day at the conference had incredible sessions to close out the event. Our friend, Dr. Breigh Jones-Coplin of Black + Blossomed, LLC, spoke about the Attachment Style in your business. We all learned a little about ourselves and how we can navigate situations based on our Attachment Style. We had Dr. Breigh as a Masterclass Guest last year, where she explained more about Attachment Theory, check it out here!
Valerie Crisostomo of One Soul Events and Black Girl Florists spoke about the importance of including influencer marketing in your social media strategy and why having a social media presence in your community is key to winning over new customers.
The last session of the day was all about the hot new products with AI Technology with Renato Sogueco, AAF, PFCI, of Floriology. AI is such a powerful tool that can do many amazing things--we are certainly interested in seeing how this technology transforms the future.
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We want to give a special thank you to The Society of American Florists' Staff and the NextGen Committee for organizing this event! Without all of the dedication from all of these individuals, we would not have the tools for our thriving industry. We can not wait until next year!
Check out our Reel on Instagram for a fun video recap of our time at Next Gen Live here!