business drop-ins
Our business drop-in sessions are aimed at bringing you information, inspiration and knowledge on topics that matter to your floristry business. With a wide range of speakers offering talks on a number of essential topics, we want you to feel connected and energised by your community.
The sessions are 45 minutes, which include a talk and time at the end for questions, as well as connecting with your fellow florists.
Simply pop along to the sessions you want to attend and grab a seat - all Business Drop-in sessions are included in the price of your general entry ticket, so feel free to attend as many as you like.
Speakers
As a creative designer and director of over 30 years, Chris has worked with global brands across a number of industries. Currently heading up a creative studio in a marketing network, he also takes time to mentor and support small businesses in his local area on design, brand building and communication along with serving as an advisor on cultural and creative strategy in the region.
Chris has floristry connections that run deep, working alongside his wife Anja with Derbyshire-based Norris Floristry. Whilst not to be trusted with a bouquet (but a mean wreath maker) he supports the business where needed and has developed a successful and recognised Norris brand presence. The floristry industry has become a passion for Chris, seeing it as an incredibly talented, powerful, and not to mention underrated creative industry in its own right.
Rachel is a Florist Virtual Assistant and Freelance Florist offering smart delegation at your floral fingertips. With over 20 years of hands-on industry experience - from Saturday girl to shop manager, to regional account manager for a leading wholesaler - she brings a unique mix of floristry know-how and business-savvy support.
Through her business, The Botanic Business Hub, Rachel offers flexible marketing, admin assistance and freelance services tailored specifically to florists. Her approach is rooted in understanding the real, day-to-day challenges florists face - because she’s been there too.
She’s not just a florist - she’s the left-handed wing woman empowering floral business owners to lighten their load, grow sustainably and get back to doing what they love.
Gemma has run the successful Booker Flowers and Gifts since 2009. As her business grew, she needed better systems, but couldn’t find the right solution.
So, alongside developer Lewis, she created Digital Florists: management software built specifically for florists.
During development, she also created the Florist Toolbox - features that weren’t part of the core software.
Florist Toolbox includes a free forever element, offering essential resources like pricing calculators and bouquet naming tools - to help florists at any stage of their journey.
James Costello has been growing foliage for over 20 years. For a long time his aim was to produce large volumes of safe varieties for the mass markets. But like all growers the real excitement comes from figuring out how to grow something that nobody else can or finding a unique variety that grows particularly well in your area.
In 2018, James set up Irish Green Guys to provide a bespoke range of unique foliages for florists who are looking for ways to differentiate their offering. They offer over 40 varieties of foliage and a huge selection of pre-made garlands designed to save florists time and money.
When James is not out in the fields, he's generally found coaching Gaelic football, hill walking or doing what his wife and 5 children (yes 5!) tell him to do.
Timetable
Saturday | |
10.30
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Helena van Achterberg - Marginpar Chances are, you’ve worked with Marginpar's Clematis, Eryngium or Astrantia before. They’ve cultivated these – along with over 35 other exclusive cut flowers – on their flower farms in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. They’ve noticed that many florists have questions about sustainability, and they’d love to help. That’s why Marginpar are inviting you to join them for a fun and interactive quiz, where they’ll share insights into their flowers, showcase how they meet their sustainability standards, and explain how they’re improving every single day. The quiz winner will receive a surprise gift – and everyone who attends will be the first to get their hands on their brand new magazine!
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11.30
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Adam Barwell
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12.30
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James Costello - The Irish Green Guys
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1.30
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COM:POST and Richard Eagleton
The value of waste COM:POST is on a mission to turn waste into a valuable resource. They provide eco-friendly composting solutions that help divert organic waste from landfills, transforming it into nutrient-rich compost. Join them for an engaging one-hour session - including a live Q&A - featuring Richard Eagleton.
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2.45
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Rachel Cooper - The Botanical Business Hub Wedding Proposals: Create Quick Visual Mock-Ups That Sell Learn how to create quick, professional-looking mock-ups for wedding clients using Canva — no design background needed. This session shows you how to pull together stylish, on-brand visual concepts that help couples see the vision, say yes faster, and trust your expertise. Perfect for florists who want to level up their proposals.
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3.45
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Lou Chudley - Social Spark Instagram Best Practices for Florists In this session Lou from Spark Social will take you through the latest best practices for florists using Instagram.
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Sunday | |
10.00
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Rachel Cooper - The Botanical Business Hub Marketing: 5 Ways to Make More Sales with Email Marketing This session dives into how florists can use Flodesk to create beautiful, on-brand emails that don’t just look good — they convert. From selling out workshops to encouraging repeat business, you’ll learn how to create easy emails that feel like a conversation, not a sales pitch. We’ll explore simple customer journeys, and show up consistently in inboxes (without the overwhelm). Perfect for florists who want a low-stress, high-impact way to stay connected with their audience and grow their business with ease.
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11.00
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Chris Norris Cultivating Your Floristry Brand: From Petals to Personality. This engaging and fun session will cover simple and achievable ways of capturing the unique character and voice of you and your floristry business. Discover how to find your distinct difference and turn it into a visible personality that will transform how customers see and interact with you. Suitable for all types of floristry business and individuals wanting to stand out from the crowd, this is a chance to unlock the fabulously floral brand ‘you’.
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12.00
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Lou Chudley - Social Spark Instagram Reels for Florists In this session with Lou Chudley from Spark Social, you'll learn about how you can use Reels on Instagram to create short form video that will get your customer's attention as they scroll through Instagram.
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1.00
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COM:POST
The value of waste COM:POST is on a mission to turn waste into a valuable resource. They provide eco-friendly composting solutions that help divert organic waste from landfills, transforming it into nutrient-rich compost. Join them for an engaging one-hour session - including a live Q&A.
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2.15
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Gemma Wakerly - Digital Florists Pricing for Florists: Avoid the Common Pitfalls Join Gemma from Digital Florists for a session on fixed pricing strategies and discover the most common pricing mistakes florists make, and how to avoid them. Gemma will show you how to calculate the right markups to ensure your arrangements are profitable and introduce you to Florist Toolbox’s free pricing calculators that simplify the numbers and take the guesswork out of pricing. Handouts will be available to take away.
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3.15
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Smithers Oasis
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