The EMC Go Live Event Story #1

Where were YOU on 13 & 14 July 2021? 

I know where I was. At EMC Go Live Event by Sara Marie Andrews.

I was glued to the screen of my computer, to start with a little uncertain of what to expect from the opening session of the EMC Go Live 2021 but within an hour, I was hooked! 

By the end of Day 2, I didn’t want it to finish other than to have time to assimilate what I had heard and seen over the two days, as I was really buzzing, and I was definitely not the only one to feel like that from the comments that were appearing in the Chat area.

I consider myself to be privileged to be aware of what an exciting and inspiring teacher and ‘conscious creative’ Tomas de Bruyne is. He led the day off with a lecture full of his interpretation of ‘The Conscious Creative within You’ and that established the mood and excitement of what was to come as we progressed through the programme. Having had our interest grabbed, we were then led into the world of Stacey Bal, AIFD EMC and her workshop ’Art Fusion’.

So many excited comments came through on the chat of how the work that she was doing could engender so much for others to bring to their own floral business; new ideas, integration of ideas, promotion of different products and how to excite their clients.  The mood was altered by the panel presentation that followed, ‘Where do we go from here?’ The panellists were drawn from all areas of the floral world, led by Diana Toma, one of the EMC core members, along with An Theunynck, Chief Editor of Fleur Creatif; Dianne Braafhart and Janine Borduin, from the Tooolbox; Ellen van Turnhout, CEO of the Agora Group; José Azout, Owner of Alexandra Farms and Denise Patterson, Director of Corporate Marketing, Smithers-Oasis – what a wealth of experience and business knowledge across the international floriculture world discussing the recent changes, many due to the pandemic, and their insight into the way ahead and what the future will hold for those who are willing to embrace change – so much based on communication, integration of ideas and connection.

With brains almost on overload, it was an intuitive piece of planning to allow us to join Orit Hertz demonstrating her thoughts and creativity in ‘Integration with Nature’. A blissful feeling of calm and tranquillity exuded from this truly conscious creative working with many of the plants, flowers and berries from around her kibbutz, whilst making us all fully aware of her depth of knowledge of the elements and principles of design and the close-ups of her use of a range of techniques bringing her to a sublime completion of the desired outcome, which was absolutely breathtaking. 

What more had the organisers got in store for us!

How could they have planned anything that could successfully follow this inspirational session?  They just took it to a different level with ‘Modern Floristry in Vintage Vases’, a demonstration by Dmitry Turcan.  Dmitry led us into his world of beautiful vintage vases and artifacts and, with very careful and controlled use of mechanics and techniques, integrated them into floral designs that were modern and elegant, almost minimal in some contexts and showing total respect for the shape, size, colour and age of each individual container.  A complete master of his conscious creative art which he could convey with total clarity of expression.

I relaxed into the depths of what I had been experiencing and revelled in the emotions that had been released within me, just in time to be hurtled into the present and the future by the words of the dynamic Sahid Nahim on ‘How to grow your business’. I wonder how many of those watching his step-by-step guides spent the night trying out Instagram Live or reworking their social media and making improvements to their websites.  He communicated his desire to improve the way we work and make our business more successful and prosperous in such a way that we were all convinced that he was right, and we could do it!

The final and gentle flourish of the day was the wonderful ‘conversation’ between Diana Toma and Piet van Kampen, who had so much knowledge and history pouring out of him, with magical stories of episodes in his life where he has learnt and grown, how he has changed his ideas and business to keep abreast of the changes around him, including becoming co-founder of G-Fresh and Floral Fundamentals.  His main emphasis is now to connect growers and florists to enjoy mutual benefits and promote growth in business for all.  The message was communicated clearly, with the wealth of experience making it very understandable and the stories which strengthened the message just kept bubbling up, based on the many years spent in the floriculture world.

A wonderful way to end the first day!

I felt that one of the comments on Chat encapsulated everything that we had experienced during the day…..’ The passion conveyed by all the presenters to share their knowledge! The platform was exciting and focussed on sharing and learning! The whole programme is about teaching and really a prime example of networking for all across the world’

A wonderful way to end the first day prior to the networking sessions, almost completing the circle of communicating the thoughts and methods of integration and creativity back to the initial lecture by Tomas; and, certainly, giving me so much to consider overnight and the deep desire to be involved in what would take place on Day 2! 

Just remember ….. MISS IT, MISS OUT! You certainly did this year!

Read all about day 2 of the EMC Go Live event here.

Subscribe to our mailing list and connect with us!