About this episode
Welcome to the final episode of the Slow Flowers Podcast for 2020. As I have done since the beginning of 2014, I'm turning the spotlight on our year of Slow Flowers. Next week, on January 6th, I'll bring you the annual report for our 2021 Slow Flowers' Floral Insights and Industry Forecast. Last year at this time, we celebrated a successful 2019 with more members, more participation and more Slow Flowers blooming in the marketplace. Speaking for myself, there was a definite feeling of anticipation in the air, as we turned the calendar to a new year and a new decade. We felt optimism and creative inspiration. We wanted to celebrate and embrace a progressive climate for local, seasonal and sustainable flowers in agriculture and design . . . and could see on the horizon a floral climate where Slow Flowers increasingly took center stage. The year kicked off with some exciting opportunities to connect with members, including speaking twice in Oregon -- first, for the PNW Cut Flower Growers Meet-Up in Corvallis, and next at the Good Earth Home, Garden & Living Show in Eugene. In late February, I returned to the fabulous Northwest Flower & Garden Festival to produce the floral stage for the third year in a row. I welcomed six Slow Flowers Members to teach sold-out, hands-on floral design workshops called "Blooms & Bubbles." We welcome the beautiful Fleurs de Villes floral couture installation with eight of the fashions created by Slow Flowers members who showcased their talents. Slow Flowers sponsored Melissa Feveyear of Terra Bella Flowers, for an all-domestic floral gown -- Here's my interview with Melissa in which we discuss her studio, art practice and floral fashion! Also at the flower festival, I joined a panel presentation moderated by fellow podcaster Jennifer Jewell, author of the new book: The Earth in Her Hands, profiles of 75 extraordinary women working in the world of plants, as one of those profiled (PS you can hear that full conversation moderated by Jennifer on Episode 443). 2020 Trend Summit speakers, from left: Susan McLeary, Hitomi Gilliam, Francoise Weeks, Holly Chapple, Debra Prinzing, Leatrice Eiseman and Gregor Lersch (c) Collin Gilliam A few weeks later in mid-March, the reality of the Covid-19 Pandemic began to sink in. I was in Vancouver, B.C., at Hitomi Gilliam's Trend Summit, and at the time, I had no idea it would be my last in-person opportunity to speak to a floral audience. Here we are, nine months into it and we've all accepted the new norms required to fight the pandemic, keep ourselves and others safe from infection, and use our energy and resources to hang onto our livelihoods. In response, we found ways to stay connected this year. I sought and invited you to share your personal "Stories of Reslience" for our Slow Flowers Podcast and Virtual Member Meet-Ups. Learning how you personally tackled and creatively addressed such huge challenges has been a major source of inspiration to me and other. And similarly, our definition of thriving has greatly changed. Month by month, we forged ahead. We forged ahead through the Pandemic, through a racial justice awakening, through the increasing threat of Climate Change. We looked in the mirror and asked ourselves: "Are we doing enough to walk the talk?" "Are we communicating our values through our actions?" We also found and nurtured community in new ways. We spent more time at home than ever before. We re-evaluated what's truly important. And in doing so, I believe we have gotten stronger. In late October, I gathered with Karen Thornton, our operations/membership and events manager at either end of a huge conference table and we were joined via Zoom by Niesha Blancas, our social media manager and Becky Feasby, our new Slow Flowers Canada associate, for our 2021 planning retreat. We started the day discussing the Year in Review. You know, that exercise was so affirming. It was so valuable to not only itemize the accomplishments I felt were important, but to hear from my colleagues about the highlights that excited them. And we came up with a pretty amazing list. It is essential to stop and take stock in the year that's coming to a close. This year it's especially important! I'd like to walk you through our list and invite you to join me in celebrating what the entire Slow Flowers Community has accomplished together: SLOW FLOWERS SUMMIT Our original panel of speakers includes, (clockwise from top, left): Susan Mcleary, Kellee Matsushita-Tseng, Molly Culver, Lorene Edwards Forkner, Debra Prinzing, Jennifer Jewell, Pilar Zuniga and Emily Saeger Last week, I sent out an email to our registrants, members and followers with a Slow Flowers Summit update -- you can find it here. Top items of note: The Slow Flowers Summit 2021 is moving forward with confidence! We know for certain that the management at Filoli Historic House & Garden are taking the utmost precaution in making it safe for guests to visit their grounds, despite ever-changing policies for public gatherings in their county and state. For the Summit specifically, we are shifting plans to have an all-outside conference, made possible by Filoli's incredible gardens, and infrastructure such as an outdoor meeting space where seating is socially-distanced, an outdoor stage and boosted Wi-Fi, among other logistics being attended to, as well as all accommodations for outdoor catering and service. Two new speakers are joining the 2021 Slow Flowers Summit! Abra Lee of Conquer the Soil (left) and Max Gill of Max Gill Design (right) The other big news is that we've invited two additional speakers to join our expanded educational program, rounding out an already amazing lineup. That means author and speaker Abra Lee of Conquer the Soil and floral designer Max Gill will be part of the program when we all gather June 28-30, 2021. I truly cannot wait! Member and Social Media COMMUNICATIONS Thanks to the talents of our social media manager Niesha Blancas of Fetching Social, our engagement hit 98 million impressions, with a 13 million reach in 2020. One of the most meaningful things Niesha has done - and this requires a serious investment of time - is to find ways to highlight as many members as possible, by showcasing your flowers and designs in our social media posts and stories. I am in awe of the attention to detail that Niesha brings to this effort. For example, each month, we highlight new and renewing members, usually 40 to 50 of you, and that means Niesha digs deep into your social media feeds or websites to find just the right photograph to represent you and your brand. We just surpassed 30k IG followers -- all organic growth thanks to the time and attention that Niesha takes to showcase and engage with you! VIRTUAL MEET-UPS At the end of March, I upgraded our Zoom account to accommodate longer meetings and a larger group of participants. It felt like a desperate act at the time - we just had to DO SOMETHING, right? Like you, I was in a bit of a fog, trying to figure out how to navigate the new COVID landscape while running a floral enterprise. That Zoom tool allowed us to host the first "Virtual" Member Meet-Up on Friday, March 27th, with more than 60 of you in attendance. We attempted to give everyone a chance to say hello and check in with our community. As Karen, Niesha and Lisa Waud, who helped us with membership for the first half of 2020, and I learned more about virtual meetings, and as we heard from you about the state of your floral enterprise, we continued to improve and refine those meetings. We met weekly as a community, each Friday, through the end of May. We hosted a series of guests, from members who shared their strategies for contact-free deliveries and product sourcing to outside experts on wellness and mindfulness. And we dabbled with break-out rooms, which is a more manageable for smaller groups to converse and connect. After eight weekly meet-ups, by the beginning of June, we shifted to monthly sessions -- to date, there have been seven monthly Meet-Ups attracting more than 350 members. You seem to love our floral design demos and crop-specific topics, as well as our speakers, our giveaways and the important lifeline to connect with kindred spirits. Most of the Meet-Ups were recorded and you can find the playback videos on YouTube where there have been hundreds of views, reaching those who couldn't attend in real time. The Virtual Meet-Ups will continue into 2020 -- our first of the year is scheduled for Friday, January 8th - so stay tuned for more details in the January newsletter and on social media. Hope to see you there! AMERICAN FLOWERS WEEK American Flowers Week, June 28-July 4, took place against the COVID backdrop but you were not deterred in participating! We showcased five beautiful botanical couture fashion looks for 2020 featuring orchids from Hawaii, peonies from Alaska, local flora from South Dakota, dahlias from Washington State and annuals from Maine. The opening pages of Slow Flowers Journal coverage of American Flowers Week botanical couture features one of Sarah Pabody's dahlia dresses, photographed in the fields at Triple Wren Farms (c) Katherine Buttrey Florists' Review published the photography of these incredibly creative floral stylings in the June issue and we picked up some local press, interested in telling the story of locally-grown flowers in their markets. Several of you joined the momentum led by Lisa Waud to use local flowers for public installations in their community-- from Milwaukee and Detroit to Portland, Maine, with the goal of raising awareness, supporting flower farmers and celebrating beauty at a time when everyone so needed it. Plans are already underway for 2021 and we have just unveiled our new branding by illustrator Jeanetta Gonzales, so please save the dates.