Registration a month in advance was on track to break the record set last year at the Floral Distribution Conference in Miami, Patricia A. (Trish) Lilly, executive vice president of the Wholesale Florist & Florist Supplier Association, told The Produce News.

Display space for 96 table top exhibits sold out a month ago, she added. The show runs Oct. 23-25 at the Doral Trump Resort in Miami. (See schedule, page 113.)

A new feature of the annual show, which broke a record dating back almost 25 years in 2012, when close to 800 attended, is 30-second, home-made video commercials using staff or unpaid talent, presented by WF&FSA members and interspersed during the opening session and education sessions. “We had no idea how this would be received by our members,” Lilly said in an interview, “but so far we’ve already sold five at $1,000 each.”

WF&FSA past presidents Harrison (Red) Kennicott, center, and David Armellini, right, at last year’s WF&FSA conference with Stephan Lovelace, an assistant branch manager for Kennicott Bros. Co., which Kennicott heads. Armellini is president of Armellini Express Lines.Also debuting at the show is the Genius Bar, featuring a quartet of industry gurus who will respond to questions submitted in advance in a give-and-take panel discussion. The Genius Bar will include Bill LaFever, president of Bill Doran Co. in Rockford, IL; Dave Garcia, president of Pete Garcia Co. and Garcia Group Inc. in Atlanta; Tom Figueroa, vice president of Nordlie Inc. in Warren, MI; and Kelle A. Cantafio, president of Esprit Miami in Miami.

The opening ceremony, “WF&FSA Today Show” will be in the form of a popular TV show and feature segments on rediscovering the retail market and management skills and breaking into the bouquet business, along with presentation of the Leland T. Kintzele Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor given by the organization.

The keynote speaker on Oct. 25 will be Kevin Ylvisaker, a floral trend consultant and past president of the American Institute of Floral Design, who presents design shows and classes nationwide. Ylvisaker led the design team for the inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1993 and has served as a Tournament of Roses judge. He will discuss fashion and color trends in 2014 and how they will influence consumer floral purchases.

Table Top displays will offer exhibits of fresh flowers and accessories, services and hardgoods products Oct. 23-25. New products also will be on display at the opening reception Oct. 23. An Emerging Leaders party for those under age 40 will be held after the opening reception, and the popular hospitality suites will be held Oct. 24.

Bookending the show are a tour of Miami International Airport and a golf tourney. The airport tour Oct. 23 will track the movement of flowers from cargo planes, through the airport facilities, to importer and trucking company warehouses, and end four hours later at a bouquet facility where the flowers will be shipped to supermarkets. The golf tournament Oct. 25 will be held on the Gold Course of the Doral Golf Resort & Spa.