The second annual Team Flower Conference was full of flower-filled knowledge, relationship-building, and memories to last a lifetime! Farmers, designers, retail shop owners, wholesalers, event planners, floral artists, and floral media pros all gathered together under one roof for three days. It was incredible.

This year, our vision both for Team Flower and the floral industry as a whole is Building Bridges—that we would build bridges between all flower professions, generations, and design and business styles and together embrace the impact we have in our communities. We all need each other!

This vision was clearly felt at the conference, where 250 floral pros and fans from all walks of life and types of businesses gathered together in Waco, Texas, to learn, grow, connect, and celebrate flowers together.

At the start of each day, Kelly reminded us of a theme: REST for Day 1, RISE for Day 2, and SHINE for Day 3. And, boy, did we feel motivated in all of those things throughout the conference!

During the event, we heard from nine industry experts as they shared wisdom, encouragement, and inspiration with us all, while Kelly continued to encourage us to “rest, rise, and shine!” On Day 1, this gorgeous floral backdrop was created by Bows and Arrows flowers that set the stage for the rest of our time together (with flowers provided by Mayesh!).

The small-group discussions were a serious highlight, and the Team Flower Staff is working on how to incorporate even more small-group time into the 2020 Team Flower Conference.

Throughout the conference, unique gifts and prizes were received from sponsors Accent Decor and Alaska Peony Cooperative, with demos given by Details Software! FloraLife, EcoFresh, Chronicle Books, Floret, Adorn, Floral Genius, Florists’ Review, FLOWER Magazine, ASCFG, Slow Flowers, CoolBot, and Harmony Harvest Farm also graciously provided gifts or prizes to attendees.

The Designer of the Year competition started off with a celebratory entrance, and on the same day, floral artists shared their talents with us for the Flowers in Art exposition. It was a gorgeous way to honor so many different design styles in one place.

We marked this day with floral beauty of all kinds in the creations made by the Designer of the Year participants, the floral artwork shown by contributing artists, and our hands-on service project!

Our service project was a clear illustration of how floral pros can build bridges within the local community. Conference attendees designed approximately 300 arrangements to donate to patients in assisted living or nursing homes in the Waco, Texas, area through The Full Bloom—it was a time of creativity, refreshment, and connection to others.

There were buckets and buckets of gorgeous flowers for us to pull from as we handcrafted arrangements to gift to 300 people to brighten their day. It was an excellent reminder that our work is important indeed!

We wrapped up the event with dinner and a special ceremony together, dressed in all levels of floral attire! The theme for the evening centered on Bridge Building, and we reflected on the goal to build bridges regularly in our own cities and across the floral industry once we left the conference.

While we planned on enjoying a fun outdoor event on the Historic Waco Suspension Bridge in Downtown Waco in honor of our theme, the weather caused a change of plans in our final celebration venue—but we did our best not to let that chilly weather stop us from enjoying celebratory time together indoors before we all departed.

In addition to the education and growth we experienced, for so many of us, the best part of the conference was making lasting connections and friendships (and having those Instagram friendships blossom into in-person ones)! All of us here on staff felt honored to connect with you, and it gave us great joy to see so many bridges built and friendships formed.

Overall, the 2019 Team Flower Conference reminded us all that floral work is not only beautiful, but it is also amazingly impactful to our communities. When you gather 250 kind, open-hearted floral professionals in a room for three days, magic is bound to happen!

So go out into the world knowing that your work is important—you can build bridges that make a difference in the floral industry and your local community. You SHINE!

All photos by Hannah Haston Photography