2010 MFA/IDAHO CONVENTION
October 9th-10th
"Bringing the Stars to Montana"
At The Garden Hilton Inn in Missoula
3720 North Reserve Street
406-532-5300
At our upcoming 2010 Convention, we are honored to have a designer, entertainer, and educator as our Guest Designer.
René van Rems AIFD
René van Rems International - Floral Design, Décor Staging and Consulting Company
Biography
René van Rems is a world-renowned ambassador of the floral industry. Originally from Amsterdam, The Netherlands, René has called San Diego, California, home for over 20 years. He is a member of the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD), The National Speakers Association, and the Professional Floral Commentators International (PFCI). René was formally educated in the entire spectrum of Floriculture/Horticulture through his studies at the Rijksmiddelbare Tuinbouwschool at Aalsmeer (Floral
Institute). He has led design shows, workshops, and seminars throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia on the styling of fresh-cut flowers.
A frequent speaker at leading art museums including the Minneapolis Art Institute and San Francisco’s de Young Museum, René has also been featured in numerous national publications like California Florists, Sunset Magazine, Flowers & Magazine, Floral Management, Florist Magazine, and Flower News. René’s design work has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens as well as the Florists’ Review publication
of 101 Wedding Bouquets.
René and his work have been covered on television (HGTV), particularly for his European influence on trends in American floral design. In 1995, the American Horticultural Society awarded him the Francis Jones Poetker Award, and in 2001,Van Rems was the recipient of the Los Angeles Flower Market’s first annual René van Rems Award for excellence in design education.
Convention Guest Speaker
Paul Goodman
Floral Finance Business Services, Inc.
plgoodman@aol.com
Biography
Paul Goodman has been involved in the floral industry for 36 years. In 1974 he entered the industry as the Vice President and General Manager of the Wire Service Division of Florafax International. From 1979 to 1982 he operated a large retail florist and nursery operation in Eugene, Oregon. He founded Floral Finance, Inc. in 1982 and in cooperation with AFS began publishing Floral Finance, a monthly newsletter aimed at providing “Financial information, education and control for the retail florist.” This publication continues to this day and is still the industry’s only publication dedicated to the financial side of running a flower shop. In 1983 he wrote the original version of Rosebud (now called Eagle Technologies), the #1 selling floral software in the industry through 2000, which is now owned, developed and distributed by Teleflora. In 1987 he wrote the only financial manual for the retail florist, The Profit Minded Florist. In addition he has conducted numerous educational seminars throughout the United States and Canada over the past 36 years. Paul started Goodman’s BottomLine Group in 2006 – a small group of large florists focused on improving bottom line performance through one-on-one consulting and group meetings. Floral Finance is now owned by Teleflora, however, Paul continues to write the monthly publication. He received his MBA from Stanford University in 1973 and is a CPA.
Hands-On Guest Designers
David Kesler AIFD & Leanne Kesler AIFD
Floral Design Institute (FDI) & FlowerSchool.com
Biography
The husband and wife team of Leanne Kesler AIFD and David Kesler AIFD provide an amazing contrast of design styles and a delightfully entertaining approach to the creative discipline of floral design. You will find this hands-on program to be a delightful blend of serious design, humor, playful banter, frivolity and pizzazz. Who knew learning could be such fun!
Together David and Leanne own and operate the world-renowned Floral Design Institute (FDI) of Portland, Oregon. FDI is the largest privately owned floral design school in the world offering both classroom and online training to thousands of students each year. Founded in 1969, FDI has grown beyond the classroom and today is a multifaceted creative resource for the floral industry that includes design, development, consulting, writing, photography and videography. Their designs, photography and writing can be found in numerous printed and online publications throughout the world. They are the publishers of the floral design website FlowerSchool.com and have produced over 120 floral design training DVDs. They contribute hundreds of free floral design training video clips to internet media servers. Their video clips were viewed by over one million floral design enthusiasts last year.
Both David and Leanne are accredited members of AIFD and have earned many titles in their careers. Yet the title they both cherish is the title given to Leanne by the Seattle Floral and Garden Show many years ago. “The Lady Who Makes Floral Design Fun and Easy”. Below is an example of Leanne's beautiful work!
2009 CONVENTION PHOTOS