Lori and Ellie's Icks and Picks and Interview with Holly Haveman, CF, with Highlights of the 2024 Great Lakes Floral Event Expo
Vonda's off this week, so Lori and Ellie take the mics — first for a confessional round of "icks and picks," and then for the main event: an interview with Holly Haveman, CF, co-owner and brand manager of Kennedy's Flowers in Grand Rapids and chair of the 2024 Great Lakes Floral Event Expo. If you've ever heard florists rave about "the Great Lakes convention" and wondered whether it's worth the trip, this episode is your answer — plus a strategy for getting the most out of any industry event you attend.
First, the icks (and the picks)
Lori's nightly TikTok habit has produced a list of grievances: influencers announcing "hot girls don't gatekeep" (if you're posting your entire routine with a link in bio, you were never gatekeeping), the word "girlies," and people referring to a coat — or a pasta — as "her." Ellie's ick is more tactile: using utensils on finger foods. A fork stabbed into a french fry is, in her words, disgusting for no reason at all. That prompts Lori's story of a long-ago acquaintance whose husband ate his beloved Cheetos with little plastic tongs to keep his fingers clean.
The picks are actually useful. Ellie swears by a nightly 20-minute Epsom-salt bath that has replaced melatonin entirely, and she's evangelical about her new ergonomic Logitech keyboard — chunky retro keys, built-in wrist cushion, an emoji button — after years on a flat, wrist-punishing slab. Lori's joy is simpler: animal TikTok, where she has become an unlikely possum advocate (they don't get rabies — that's a myth — they eat bugs, and they shrug off venomous snakes). She's also living her 2024 goal of more weekend plans, starting with hosting Ohio friends for a Browns playoff game in Houston.
Meet Holly Haveman and the GLFEE
Holly is what she calls a flower child at heart: she grew up in the industry, detoured through the medical-device world and international travel, and came back officially in 2017 to Kennedy's Flowers' hometown of Grand Rapids — which happens to be exactly where the Great Lakes Floral Event Expo takes place, March 1–3, 2024. The event grew out of the Michigan Floral Association, which became the Great Lakes Floral Association to embrace surrounding states, and it has built a national reputation as one of the strongest regional conventions in the country.
The structure: Friday is a full day of hands-on, workshop-style classes (ticketed separately from the weekend pass) — genuinely 9:30 to 4:30, like a college day, with breaks. This year's Friday headliners are Derek Myers, whose "Turning Flowers into Dollars" makes numbers less daunting, and Renee Van Rems, one of Holly's personal mentors, who plans to unpack why those gorgeous jam-packed Instagram designs aren't realistic for retail — and what to do instead. Saturday and Sunday mix business sessions with floral demonstrations, plus friendly design competitions. New this year: some business sessions repeat, so missing one doesn't mean missing out.
Bring your team — and divide and conquer
Holly's best advice doubles as a playbook for any convention. Kennedy's brings people from every department: the office team for business and marketing sessions, nearly the whole design team, even the gift store staff. Because you can't be in two places at once, they divide and conquer — and Kennedy's pays for team members' classes on one condition: take notes and share them with the rest of the team afterward. Holly reviews the schedule ahead of time, flags who would benefit most from what, then lets each person choose.
Don't skip the social calendar either: a Friday-night mixer (last year's networking bingo was a hit), the Saturday banquet — get a seat, Holly says; watching flower friends collect their awards is a highlight — and a Sunday luncheon included with your ticket, where keynote speaker Dr. Bree Jones Coughlin will speak. Lori and Ellie heard her at SAF NextGen talking about attachment styles, and she's teaching a session on that topic too.
The class Lori thought was about Carl
A word of caution about reading the schedule without the right glasses: Lori — owner of four different prescription pairs — spent an entire afternoon wondering who "Carl" was after misreading the session "Treat Your Business Like Your Car!" as "Treat Your Business Like Carl." (There is no Carl.) The actual class, taught by Shirley Lyons, is an owner's-manual approach to keeping your business running smoothly — and sellable. Other titles on the docket: Petal It Forward with Stephanie Brady, using your financial statements to make more money, Brand Practice with Derek Woodruff, corsage and pocket-square crafting, sustainability, Canva Cash, hiring and finding great people — and "What's Your Leadership Style," taught by Lori and Ellie themselves.
Key takeaways
- The Great Lakes Floral Event Expo runs March 1–3, 2024 in Grand Rapids — registration at glfee.com, open right up to the day.
- Treat regional conventions as an investment in yourself; one member travels from the Carolinas because it's worth the trip.
- Bring teammates, divide and conquer the schedule, and require everyone to share notes when they get home.
- Friday's all-day workshops are separate tickets but deliver a full workshop's worth of business or design education.
- Show up for the social events — the mixer, banquet, and luncheon are where the flower friendships happen.