Schedule of Events

Get an inside look at one garden center’s sale from longtime owners to industry newcomers in this candid panel discussion. Theresa and Kevin Riley will share the ups and downs of making the decision to sell, preparing their garden center for the market and finding the perfect buyers. On the other side, new owners Devon Klingman and Brendan Hayes-Morrison will walk attendees through their entry into the garden center industry, what made Rockledge Gardens an attractive purchase and all of the nitty gritty that goes into the buying process. You’ll also hear all about the transition process for staff, customers and the owners themselves with insights from former Managing Director Liz Lark-Riley.

Michael Perry, known worldwide as Mr Plant Geek, has amassed a huge following by making connections with gardeners through social media channels, his blog and TV appearances. He has developed a signature style of simplifying information for all levels of gardeners, but especially ones new to the hobby. In this witty and energetic presentation, we’ll hear how Michael went from a teenage hortpreneur to the product development team at Thompson & Morgan to the globe-trotting persona of Mr Plant Geek. He’ll explain how he makes those special connections with gardeners and provide tips on how you and your staff can do the same in your own community through social media and beyond.

Since Michael enjoys focusing on the fun and trendy side of gardening, he’ll also reveal a few trends that North American IGCs are likely to experience in the next few seasons.

From SMS to AI to data analysis and more, there are exciting opportunities for garden centers on the market. But how do you navigate this new world of technology and feel confident in your investments? In this session, Katie Elzer-Peters will translate computer-speak into language we can all understand. By examining examples of tech opportunities in our industry, you’ll walk away from this session feeling confident about exploring how new tech can improve your business.

Generative AI tools are widely accessible for your customers and your staff, and are becoming standard issue components of software as a service (SaaS) that you use to run your business, such as email marketing and ERP software. What's the big deal? Why should you care? Unlike cryptocurrency and the metaverse, AI tools are here to stay, and their adoption will change the way you interact with customers, manage staff, and grow your business. If you're unclear what generative AI actually is, and why its rapid adoption will matter for your business, this session is for you.

By taking the right approach to data analysis, you can gain valuable insights that can drive better decisions. But with so much data at your fingertips, how do you know what matters? It’s time to learn how to filter through your data to focus on the numbers that matter, cut out the noise and set the foundation for successful data-driven strategies.

Join Peter Wigren to learn how your data can give insights into your customers’ preferences, needs and behaviors, and offer tailored product suggestions that foster customer loyalty. You’ll find ways to connect marketing, online sales and in-store sales data for a selling strategy that really works. You’ll also learn how to identify effective marketing channels and strategies to improve reach and engagement with your target audience as well as ways to utilize data analytics tools and key performance indicators to make informed business decisions.

Pain Points is a concept most often applied to online product access: it covers all those glitches to signing up for, accessing or discontinuing online services or products. If you have tried lately to discontinue an online subscription either for a streaming service or a print magazine, you have encountered common pain points. This concept can also be applied to your customer’s journey through your garden center. In group presentations and interactive workshops, we’ll identify and address common pain points like parking, customer flow and cash wraps and “Can you get that hanging basket down for me?”

Participants are urged to identify the pain points in your own store - those places where confusion overrides customer-merchandise contact and staff must mitigate the pain, often repeatedly. Bring your pain to these interactive sessions and we’ll try to find remedies for your customer’s pain - and yours.

This panel from Tonkadale Greenhouse takes you on a day, week, month in the life of content planning and creation. You’ll discover new ways to connect with your customers, find your voice, and plan your social media calendar. Bring your questions about your social media strategy for this exciting conversation.

Join your peers for lively roundtable discussions and examine the important topics of the week. In a small group setting at each table, you’ll have the opportunity to share ideas and solutions with one another. Each table will have a list of questions to jumpstart the conversation. Before we depart, we’ll share some of those ideas and solutions with the entire room. This is an excellent way to extrapolate the information presented during the sessions, as well as learn about some of the topics you may have missed.

Here are a few of the roundtable topics: