Episode 292: From Castles to Conferences: Lessons from Abroad and AIFD
What do a castle in Edinburgh and a hotel lobby at AIFD Symposium have in common? This week, both turned out to be classrooms. Lori is back from eight nonstop days in Scotland and Ireland, Vonda is back from symposium with her co-chair hat on, and the conversation lands somewhere neither of them planned: a hard truth about volunteering that every flower shop owner needs to hear.
Education is wherever you decide to find it
Lori's family vacations come with a syllabus. Back-to-back walking tours, castle visits, train rides, hikes — "much to the chagrin of my family," she admits. But there's a repeatable idea underneath the itinerary: whenever she lands in a new city, her first move is a walking tour, because it gives her the lay of the land, the local stories, and the recommendations no guidebook has.
That habit turned up gems everywhere — the legend of Bobby, the little dog who lived in an Edinburgh cemetery guarding against grave robbers; the Book of Kells at Trinity College, a gospel manuscript hand-lettered by Celtic monks around 800 A.D.; and a library so stunning it inspired the one in Harry Potter. "I just feel smarter now," Lori laughs.
The takeaway for your shop: curiosity is a discipline, not a personality trait. Talk to locals. Ask questions. Treat every trip — even vacation — as a chance to collect stories and ideas you can bring home.
Seeing symposium with a different set of eyes
Meanwhile, Vonda was at AIFD Symposium — but not the way she usually attends. As incoming co-chair with Randy Wooten, she wasn't there to learn design techniques. She was there to watch the process: how programs flowed, how people moved in and out, what the buzz was after each session. The two of them planted themselves in the lobby where everyone walked by, observed, took notes, and asked questions.
It's a powerful exercise for any business owner: attend something familiar with a completely different job to do, and you'll see things you've walked past for years.
"Stop raising your hand"
The heart of this episode is a story Lori tells on herself. Decades ago, as a young church volunteer rising quickly into leadership, a mentor pulled her aside and said she was going to speak some truth: stop raising your hand. When Lori's hand went up, everyone else's stayed down — not because they didn't care, but because she intimidated them. Her real job was to look around the room and invite people in.
It stung. But it changed how she leads. And it matched exactly what Vonda experienced at symposium: when you ask for volunteers, nobody moves. When you ask a specific person — "we'd really like you to do this, would you consider it?" — they say yes, and they thank you for asking.
If you run a team, this is the lesson: the people with the most potential often don't have the confidence to volunteer for the spotlight yet. Leadership means seeing them before they see themselves, and asking.
Want in? Just ask (or be asked)
Vonda's building her volunteer list for next year's symposium — the kind of list every event leader needs: people you can text mid-program and say "can you run over here and handle this?" If that sounds like you, email Vonda at flowerclique.com. First-timers should look at the AIFD Ambassador program, which trades volunteer hours for a behind-the-scenes view and a discount.
Key takeaways
- Make learning your default travel mode — walking tours, local conversations, and curiosity pay off in business and in life.
- Revisit familiar events with a different role in mind; you'll finally see the process instead of the content.
- People don't volunteer — they wait to be asked. Ask them by name.
- If you're always the first hand up, your growth move might be keeping it down and lifting someone else's.
Catch Vonda and Lori at SAF on the West Coast, and at the free education event at R.W. Wholesale in Douglas, Georgia on Saturday, September 13 — refreshments, education, and flower friends.
Sponsored by:
Flower Clique
Flower Clique Prep School
Real Life Retail Florist