This is your last chance to book one of the few remaining places at the HTA Garden Futures dinner and conference, ‘Bigger, Better, Stronger’ which takes place at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London next week.
Latest speakers to have joined the inspirational line-up include BBC HR Director, Lucy Adams and Andrew McMillan from the John Lewis Partnership. Lucy willshare her story of how she kept the BBC workforce happy and will give invaluable tips on employee structure, reward and recognition to take away and use in your own business. Andrew will close the conference by sharing his experience of difficult times and how the John Lewis learned from this to drive the business forward to enhance sales and increase resilience to market conditions.
Lucy and Andrew join an already exciting line up of speakers including David Domoney who will explore the opportunities and tactics needed by British growers, manufacturers and retailers to help cultivate novice consumers into passionate gardeners. HTA Market Research Manager David Denny will share the results of HTA research which will reveal trends likely to affect garden retail significantly over the next ten years whilst Julian Winfield, CEO of Haskins will share his opinion on the pros and cons of the modern garden centre and the direction it is heading.
Attracting new talent is a challenge for the horticulture industry and this will be a big focus for the 2014 conference. Graham Heald, Homebase Retail Director and award-winning garden designer Adam Frost will share their experience of being involved in the pioneering Homebase Garden Academy and where it is heading next.
Continuing the theme of investing in getting the next generation into horticulture, HTA Head of Horticulture Raoul Curtis-Machin and Sarah Cathcart, Head of Education and Learning at the RHS will present details on the Grow Initiative and how it is adapting to attract and meet the needs of young people to assist them into a career in horticulture.
Jackie Eades, Founder and Managing Director of Briers will look at attracting the right consumers with the right products by applying the latest HTA eyetracker research to design, manufacture and retail of products that appeal to different audiences. Tim West, Co-Founder of the Big Green Bookshop, an independent bookstore in London will demonstrate how they use their unique selling points to entice customers to spend instore, rather than online.
Simon McArdle will share the results of research undertaken by William Sinclair to develop brand positioning that truly connects with the feelings and needs of a gardening novice and how this can be applied to drive growth in the growing media category. Garden Industry Marketing Board Campaign manager David Arnold will present the latest developments in the 2015 ‘Love the Plot You’ve Got’ consumer marketing campaign and will highlight opportunities and ideas of how to benefit by fully engaging with the campaign.
The conference dinner will precede the conference and takes place on the evening of 14 October with garden designer James Alexander-Sinclair providing the after dinner entertainment and the HTA Pearson Memorial Medal will be awarded to a well known figure who has contributed greatly to the industry.
With less than a week to go, and such a fantastic set of speakers, this really is an essential event! This is your final chance to book your place so to make sure you don’t miss out, book online at www.gardenfutures.org.uk or email events@the-hta.org.uk .
Garden Futures 2014 is sponsored by Hozelock, Scotts Miracle-Gro and William Sinclair. Look out for the latest updates on the event using #gardenfutures on Twitter.
