Green Team Consultancy+ organized the third edition of florist event IFTF World of Flowers between the 2nd and 4th of November 2016. Inspiration and connection were coupled successfully, and imaginatively, again. While close to 700 florists visited the World of Flowers in 2015, it welcomed around 900 of them this year: a strong increase of nearly 30%!
Cooperation of Florint, Flower Lab and companies
Central to this edition was an inspirational floral world of no less than 500 m2 in the new hall of the International Floriculture and International Trade Fair (IFTF) at the Expo Haarlemmermeer. There, florists and other visitors got to learn about the world of the Millennial – in ‘The Flower Lab’. Through a visual tour, theme displays and demonstrations by the florists in attendance, a link was made between theory and practice.
Visitors, of course, also got to meet the countless exhibiting companies, as well as International Florist Organisation Florint, there to promote its 20 European member associations. This was often followed by a visit to the nearby Royal FloraHolland Trade Fair or one of the nearby ‘open houses’.
Sponsors
The list of sponsors that greatly contributed to the success of IFTF World of Flowers 2016 reads like a who-is-who of the sector: Smithers Oasis, Florismart, HPP, Bloomtube, Chrysal, Vanad, Bloomy Pro, Ai2, Strelitzia Software, Barendsen, Fidrio, Jodeco Glass, Your Lily, Queens Flowers, Marginpar, Arendshoeve, Verhagen Transport, Mobach, Adomex, Agricola el Cactus, Holla Roses, Andromeda, Bouman Anthurium, Simply Calla, Hein van Hemert, Benefits of Nature, Floramedia, Royal van Zanten, Special Orchids, van der Lugt Lisianthus, Vreeken Bouvardia, Vannova, Winco, Alflora, Lehner Wolle, Favicon, Coloured by Gerbera, Let it Grow, Kenia smallholders, van der Plas, Schoneveld Breeding, Parfum Flower Company, VGB, Athi Gravity (Kenia), Saruwo Self Help Group (Kenia), Mustafa Flora (Kenia), Munyu Floriculture Ltd (Kenia), Tegmak (Kenia), Kimakis (Kenia) en Wackx.
Wim Hazelaar Trophy
12 candidates, 7 assignments and 2 days of intense competition: the first edition of the new Wim Hazelaar Trophy has been a great success. Many IFTF visitors came to the competition area to be amazed by the beautiful arrangements made by the competitors. The cameras never stopped taking photos!
Winning florist Karin Pasman received the Mobach-designed Wim Hazelaar Trophy, the first prize of €250 made possible by Smithers Oasis, and the Bloomtube video prize on Thursday afternoon. Competitors, Jury members and organizer Ruud Hazelaar were unanimous: the competition needs to have a follow-up edition in 2017!
Communicating with the future
The IFTF also welcomed 200 children (11-12 years old) during the fair. Alongside a tour through the World of Flowers, where they were welcomed by Dutch florists Michael van Namen, Dini Holtrop and Lily Beelen, they entered in to a dialogue with each other and the sector.
A central topic during these discussions was the connection between the flower sector and the future. All students were unanimous in their opinion: the floriculture sector can provoke a lot of interest in children. The first step, however, was to welcome them to the fair! Furthermore, some very welcome suggestions were given by the children, which will be taken up by the organization of the World of Flowers.
A fourth edition of IFTF World of Flowers?
The experience in 2016 gives many opportunities to Green Team Consultancy+ and its sponsors to organize a fourth edition. Next year the IFTF will be organized from the 8th till the 10th of November (one week later), which gives the florist a better chance to visit, as this is a better period with All Saints being out of the way.
The second edition of the Wim Hazelaar Trophy will now be organized, and on the 9th of December 2016 a follow-up will be given to the Youth Dialogue, when a meeting is organized in the Circular Expo together with the Missing Chapter Foundation!
Source: Green Team Consultancy+