Long before the Bravo network turned every creative pursuit and profession into a made-for-TV, dramatic competition  (cooking, rearranging your furniture, selling houses), floral designers were sharpening their knives and competing in a high-pressure, time-limited challenge known as The Sylvia Cup.

This year, Cindy Anderson, AIFD, impressed the judges and became the star of the show, winning the 42nd Annual Sylvia Cup Design Competition. Just hours after designing on demand with 23 other contestants during the two-hour showdown, Anderson, a designer from Colorado Springs, Colo., found out she won. During the Awards Dinner at SAF Phoenix 2009, Anderson received an engraved silver champagne bucket — the coveted Sylvia Cup — along with a $2,500 prize provided by Smithers-Oasis and complimentary registration to SAF Orlando 2010.

Takeaways from SAF Convention 2009

It's amazing how many great ideas are generated when hundreds of floral industry folks congregate in the sun soaked Phoenix desert!

With an economy that is slowly recovering, it is apparent more than ever that florists, wholesalers, and suppliers need to change the way we are doing business. This was the overriding theme at the Society of American Florists’ 2009 Convention. The convention reiterated how the floral industry needs to be more creative about generating business, cutting costs and becoming more efficient. The good news is that everyone in the industry is ready to take business to the next level. This year’s convention was full of great tips on how all levels of the supply chain can accomplish this. Here are just a few of the highlights that I brought back from the convention:

Dare to be Exceptional - Cinda Baxter of Always Upward specializes in analyzing and improving retail operations and helping vendors build stronger relationships with retail accounts. She kicked off the convention with a powerful message – dare to be exceptional. Cinda explained that in order to compete in today’s market, businesses need to find new routes to success. She inspired florists and suppliers to focus on customer service. Give customers a great experience and reap the rewards. Cinda also encouraged the industry to focus on the things they do best. Success comes from quality, not quantity.

The Power of Social Media - How many florists and wholesalers are using Facebook, You Tube, or Twitter? Social Media is defined as content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. Building social networks can be a powerful tool to reach true fans of your business. Just ask BJ Dyer and Guenther Vogt at Bouquets in Colorado Springs, Colorado who won Marketer of the Year. Instead of using social media to promote their business, what they did was teach their event clients to use Facebook and other social media to increase attendance at their events. Their philosophy was keep their non-profit clients successful so that Bouquets would continue to benefit from their business.

Generation Y: A New Generation of Flower Buyers - Gen Y (ages 18-30) are the floral industry’s next group of floral consumers. This generation is just beginning their adult lives. According to SAF’s latest generational study, Gen Y is concerned not just with function and utility, but also style. They are a technology focused generation, but still embrace traditional values and crafts. Gen Y likes to put their personal twist on everything they do. Here are a few promotion and marketing ideas florists can employ to attract Gen Y customers:

The message at SAF was clear – the future is here. It’s time for all of us in the industry to be different, explore new technologies, and focus on uniquely addressing customers’ needs. We're all in this together, so the more each of us do individually, the better we all will be. Let's go out there and make it happen!