Produce Marketing Association’s Floral Council has been intensively studying our industry’s past and present, to prepare for its future. To boost your floral business and advance your career, consider prioritizing these three areas in 2016.

• Trends.Floral retailing is changing rapidly. Our industry continues moving to mass market, where chains are consolidating, while our supply chain is simultaneously globalizing and localizing. Consumer demographics are shifting in important ways. Millennials now outnumber baby boomers, and they are more diverse and require we approach them differently. Meanwhile, flower, plant and design trends are also shifting and we must move with this changing landscape in order to be relevant to our customers. Do you know which social media channels to use to reach your target audiences, how to tell your sustainability story and how to be authentic?

Trends education is critical for 2016 in every form, online and via webinars or in-person learning events. Kicking off the new year, PMA will host a free floral webinar on social media Jan. 12. Also, be sure to mark your calendar for the Pantone webinar on Aug. 11.

• Networking. Delivering a myriad of value, networking fosters our broad floral community, offers one-on-one connections with our more-experienced colleagues, and cements relationships that sustain and grow businesses. Networking is important for floral professionals because of the sensory, emotional nature of our work.

Networking is probably a key reason many of you joined PMA, so in the coming year allocate a specific percentage of time to networking. While you can network via email and social media, you must also have face-to-face occasions because you get a different experience when looking a colleague in the eye. To assist with that in 2016, PMA will expand our Fresh Connections events, adding a Fresh Connections in Southern California in addition to the Fresh Connections in Miami. Plus, the PMA Fresh Summit convention and expo in October will combine education and networking with relevant workshops, a floral-specific reception, and a larger Floral Pavilion to bring buyers and sellers together.

• Professional development. I urge you to invest in yourself this year. When an industry is changing as much as floral is, you have to stay driven to keep up in the marketplace. Those who prepare for the future will benefit from it.

Professional development means getting the job skills you need to better serve your customers and to also possibly get a raise or promotion. It’s learning the management skills to become a department manager or to just manage better. It’s developing leadership skills to inspire and retain employees, and to inform and advise company executives.

Look for floral-specific, or at least fresh produce-specific development, to help sell it to your boss — our perishable focus makes us sufficiently different from other businesses. PMA’s Foundation for Industry Talent provides career-long professional development, from attracting college students to careers in produce and floral, to curricula for mid-and senior-level executives.

If you haven’t experienced PMA’s renewed floral focus, I urge you to join us now — the return you’ll receive on your membership investment is well worth it. If you are already a member, then volunteer —you’ll gain leadership experience and the rewards of networking and business building. To learn more, visit http://www.pma.com/floral.

Best wishes for a green and growing 2016.

Becky Roberts is director of volunteer relations and floral at PMA. She can be contacted at [email protected].