TPIE Short Courses

TPIE's Short Course features two separate options to attend nursery tours on the Wednesday prior to the show.  

The two-day classroom format held on Thursday and Friday offers programs on garden center and interiorscape management. Come in a day before the show starts and participate in the optional nursery tours held on Wednesday, which features unique tours to the West Coast of Florida and Homestead. Each tour offering educational opportunities at each stop.

8 am — 5:00 pm — TPIE Road Show

Garden Center and Interiorscape tours have combined to form a new and stronger networking experience. Two buses, both going to the same locations, are headed to Homestead, FL. Are you looking for a great networking opportunity? The new format offers customized information while attendees travel to their designated locations. One bus will concentrate on interiorscape issues and another bus will address garden center trends and merchandising ideas. Luncheon topic will be “How to Buy and Ship Foliage From Florida.” It’s a day jam-packed with plenty to see and learn. Tour locations are Sunshine Tropical Foliage, Pine Island Nursery, Plants In Design, and Greendale Nursery.

What It Means To Go Green! – Amy Stewart, author of Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the

Beautiful in the Business of Flowers, Eureka, CA

Your customers are ready to go green – are you? Amy Stewart has traveled across the country talking with a wide range of people who purchase cut flowers and plants. She’ll share what she’s learned from consumers related to flower and plant purchases and what it means to “go green” for those who sell floral and plant products. For instance, did you know more than 2/3 of the audiences she met with want to buy organic or are in tune with the term “sustainable”? Come find out how your piece of business fits into the whole green puzzle! Tagged as “A passionate and inquisitive writer” by the Boston Globe, Amy Stewart is the author of the New York Times bestselling Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers. Her essays and commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Garden Design, Organic Gardening, just to name a few. She’s been featured on NPR, Good Morning America and CBS Sunday Morning. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) granted her a Creative Writing Fellowship for 2006.

BREAK: 10:15 – 10:45 am

Use of Green Marketing – Jeremy Brunner, Espoma, Millville, NJ; Andre Viette, Andre Viette Farm and Nursery, Fishersville, VA; Nellie Neal, Garden Mama, Jackson, MS

If you are going “green,” do your customers know? This session will take a look at innovative marketing techniques and business practices that companies are using to stay on the cutting-edge of the “green” trend.

Success With Verticalscaping and Living Walls - Shane Pliska, Planterra Corp., West Bloomfield, MI; Dr. Alan Darlington, Air Quality Solutions Ltd., Guelph, Ontario, Canada

As an industry, it is important to be leaders in the movement of linking communities and people with nature and landscapes. This session will provide real-life success stories of verticalscaping and the uses of living walls.

• Shane Pliska will tell about Planterra’s project that was designed and installed as an indoor terrace garden at the Joel Robuchon – Mansion, MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV. The gently curving living wall stands 14 feet high, is 40 feet long and is much more than just pleasing to guests’ eyes. 
• Dr. Darlington will provide information on the living wall project developed in the Canada Life Insurance Building and show how plants are being use to clean the air and create a better work environment.

LUN

Lunch & Learn Power Session

This luncheon is jam-packed with a wealth of information and networking opportunities. Grab lunch and choose a table with a topic of your choice. Each table will have a facilitator to help kickoff the discussion on many hot industry issues. This event is not only educational, but provides meaningful networking with industry colleagues. Bring your business cards!

21st Century Leadership — Patricia Fripp, San Francisco, California

Everyone is doing more with fewer resources. Learn how you can produce a productive and creative environment with the “inside secrets” and best practices of the Fortune 500 clients with whom Patricia works and consults. Patricia Fripp will share ways to foster creativity, motivate employees and utilize the best management tools.

EAK: 10:15 – 10:45 am

Building a High Performance Team – John Spence, John Spence LLC, Gainesville, FL

Incorporating extensive research, “Best in the World” team benchmarks and numerous personal anecdotes and real-life examples, John will clearly outline the fundamental aspects of high performance teams and teach the essential skills necessary to build great business teams. Attendees will leave this session with a thorough understanding and respect for the challenges of creating and sustaining truly great teams and a specific framework for implementing advanced teambuilding in their organization.

Superstar Sales Presentations: The Inside Secrets — Patricia Fripp, A Speaker for All Reasons, San Francisco, California

Recruiting new business clients or maintaining repeat customers depends on how well your sales department presents your services. How many more sales could your salespeople make if they stopped making stupid mistakes and started giving totally awesome sales presentations? Suppose there was a way to get the people who hear your sales associates to not only remember what they say, but to repeat it (yes, word-for-word) to the decision-makers in their organization. Come learn the secrets to be a Sales Superstar!

Sharing the Meaning of “Green” — Brian Minter, Minter Country Garden, Chilliwack BC

The elusive generation X’s and Y’s, and even the Boomers lured by the siren’s call of iPods, flat screens and BlackBerrys are drifting away from gardening. As the nursery and landscape industry, we have an important role in educating the population about the need to be environmentally conscious and protective of the land we live on. How can we create for this generation a lifestyle surrounded by plants? How can we inspire them back to the world of dirt? As a creator of a world-class show garden, and a grower and owner of one of the innovative retail garden centers in Canada, Brian Minter will share with attendees what he has seen as the latest in trends in the gardening industry from a worldwide perspective. Whether selling plants or designing, Brian will inspire attendees by highlighting the importance of “being remarkable.”

Interiorscape Technician Workshop

Interiorscape technicians, this is the place for you to be! This in-depth workshop will focus on general maintenance techniques, watering issues and pest control. The workshop is not part of the complete seminar registration; Separate registration is required.

• Control of Fungus Gnats Before and After the Plants Are On the Job – Clem Cirelli, Summit Plants and Flowers, Inc., Springfield, NJ
• Interiorscape Basics 101 – Vicki Cate, Evergreen Interiors Inc., Lakeside, CA

Who Should Attend?

Retail Garden Center Professionals, Interiorscapers, and Interiorscape Technicians.

Continuing Education Units:

• FNGLA Certified Horticulture Professional (FCHP)
• FNGLA Certified Landscape Contractor, Technician & Designer (FCLC, FCLT, FCLD)

CEU’s applied for from the following programs:

• PLANET Certifications
• Pesticide Applicator License
• Landscape Inspector’s Association of Florida
• Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD)

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