It was concluded with great success the fifth AICG national conference (Italian Association Garden Center) which was held in Venice Mestre on 17 and 18 January: about 320 participants from all over Italy, including the garden center owners, operators industry, experts and journalists.
"We are extremely pleased with the great success of the event - said Silvano Girelli, President AICG - Our aim was to provide participants with the incentives and tools to face the challenges of the future and innovate garden centers between art, nature and web . We wanted to imagine together the industry's future, with the help and suggestions of extremely proactive speakers, and identify some of the trends that will guide us in the coming seasons. One of these is certainly the living garden, the garden a living through sensory experiences and stimuli. "
Highly appreciated the speeches, both Italian and foreign, which have ranged from marketing analysis to stimuli motivational industry trends.
After the institutional and introductory greetings, the first intervention was to Frank Van Der Heide, Director of the Dutch Gardening centers, who presented the Dutch sales trends, the three models of the future Garden Center (Green Garden Center, Green Experience Center and Online Garden Center) and Garden Retail Experience. To follow the fun and interesting speech by Sue Allen, former president of IGCA (International Garden Centre Association) and English GCA (Garden Centre Association), as well as the owner of three Garden Center, with advice and real examples of what to do and not do to improve their sales outlet; Laurens Doesborgh, head of marketing and development of De Haan Group BV, with very practical information to optimize the profit per square meter. International guests help Italians entrepreneurs to confront foreign companies where the green market is more developed and rooted in time.
The afternoon continued with Dott. Claudio Casiraghi, ethical marketing expert that has stimulated us to reflect on the sustainability of economic objectives; Paul Guaitani, The Vortex Partners, who presented the latest digital marketing strategies for Gardening, and Andrea Sales, psychologist, psychotherapist, trainer and university teacher who stimulated in a very original way to present "Growing change "first of all in himself.
The second day opened with landscape architect Filippo Pizzoni who illustrated, from the designer of the green but also an organizer of exhibitions and conferences, as is changing people's interest towards plants and greenery in general; after him, Oliver Mathys, master gardener and florist, consultant in Germany for Garden Center adhering to the VDG (Verband Deutscher GC, corresponding to AICG Association) presented the conference of the International Garden Centre Association (IGCA, which is part AICG ) to be held in September 2017 in Canada and the study trip at the best of the North of Germany Gardening centers, in June 2017; Angiolino Frigoni, volleyball coach and assistant coach of the national volleyball with Julio Velasco, has provided his experience and his reflections on how to acquire a winning mentality and better manage a "team"; and finally Francesca Bortolotto Possati, owner of the Hotel Bauer in Venice, which has accompanied the audience in a visit through images and stories of the four gardens of Giudecca.
The conference closed with a panel discussion, coordinated by journalist Paolo Milani, director of Greenline, which was attended by some members AICG - Carlo Teruzzi (Agribrianza), Fabio Rappo (Viridea Ltd.), Andrea Bardin (Bardin Garden), Lorella Ansaloni (Nurseries Morselli) - who discussed on many issues, such as sales performance in 2016, the e-commerce opportunities, the use of social media, relationships with suppliers and competition.
Who wanted, was then able to enjoy a short guided visit to the lagoon city: the art, the beauty, the scenery of the Italian territory is a very important luggage to look at the challenges of the future!
