Monday January 6, 2025 | Delta Hotel by Marriott Toronto Airport
An initiative of Landscape Ontario's Landscape Designer Sector Group.
Each conference session qualifies for one (1) Certificed Landscape Designer (CLD) CEU.
A full-day event with lunch and closing reception.
Pricing
Early Bird Member $175 | Regular Member $225
Early Bird Non-Member $225 | Regular Non-Member $295
Early Bird Student $75 | Regular Student $125
*Early bird pricing ends December 15. 2024
Includes: Full day conference with lunch, 3-day Congress Trade Show Exhibit Hall access, admission to Tailgate Party (Jan 8), LIVE Stage Demos. Congress Conference and other ticketed events sold separately. Early bird pricing ends December 15, 2024.
The Business of Design
8:30 am - 8:45 am
Landscape Designer Sector Group - AGM
Join your sector peers and learn about what the Landscape Ontario Horticultural Trades Association Designer Group is doing on your behalf, and help shape future initiatives and projects.
Ed Hansen
8:45 a.m - 9:00 a.m
A warm welcome from Landscape Ontario's President
Dr. Allan Armitage
Dr. Allan Armitage is a well known writer, speaker and horticulturist. Born and raised in Quebec and Ontario, he later lived in East Lansing, MI and now resides in Athens, GA. He has worked with landscape plants and greenhouse crops in the North and South, and travels the world speaking and sharing his passion for plants.
9:00 a.m - 10:00 a.m
The Road That Got Us Here: Old, New and Along The Way Perennial Favorites
10:00 a.m - 10:15 a.m
Networking Break
Beth Edney CLD, CIFD
Beth is entering her 38th year in the world of Horticulture. She began her career as a landscape designer at Weall and Cullen Garden Centre. She studied Landscape Architecture at Ryerson and opened her design firm, Designs By The Yard in 1994.
Beth discovered her love of teaching when she taught workshops at Landscape Ontario for the certification program. This led to her teaching part time at numerous colleges throughout Ontario.
Beth is currently teaching online courses for Dynascape CAD Software program. She is the Artistic Director of The Winter Village at The Toronto Distillery District and enjoys being selective about the Landscape Design Projects she now pursues.
She is currently serving on the Provincial Board as the Representative for the Landscape Designer Sector Group and is actively involved in the Certification of Landscape Designers in Ontario.
10:15 a.m - 11:15 a.m
The Value and Psychology of Charging for Design
For anyone in the Design profession, setting design fees is probably the biggest stumbling block. Sure, it is straight forward for the contractor to figure out his pricing based on materials, labour, overhead etc. and there are many services and programs to assist the contractor with this but for anyone in the creative realm this doe not always apply.
This interactive session will do a deep dive into the psychology of design fees from our preconceived thoughts about money to the client’s perception to our price.
11:15 a.m - 11:30 a.m
Networking Break
Danee Marie Lambourne
Founder and Creative Director of EDEN Projects; a full-service landscape design studio operating on Vancouver Island. Danée Lambourne is an expert in white-glove client services, and the art of the pivot, specializing in landscape and construction curation and project facilitation. The EDEN umbrella hosts 2 distinct branches: EDEN Projects, a Residential and Multi family Design/Build firm; Inventing Eden, focussing on holistic wellness and restorative land-use and livelihood. Since the inception of the company, Danée has been designing gardens across Vancouver Island for now 20 years+, leading the way in plant-driven design and construction management. Valuing client relationships and human connection, Danée is passionate about cultivating quality of life, leading with vision and executing with conviction, to transform master plans into emotive spaces.
11:30 a.m - 12:30 p.m
Fostering Collaboration Between Design and Build Professionals
Please join us in an exciting session designed to share insights on a vital topic: how designers and contractors can come together to overcome obstacles and enhance project success.
As a passionate design and build professional, Danée Marie Lambourne has been at the forefront of Design/Build, witnessing the unnecessary divide that often arises between these two important roles. The focus of this valuable presentation aims to highlight the often missed opportunity to collaborate and benefit the transition between Design concept and Facilitation. By working together, designers and contractors will overcome obstacles to maintain the integrity and intention of a thoughtful design while improving the overall quality of the build efficiency and execution.
Joining Danée is Dan of Dancor Landscaping; together they will facilitate an engaging Charette exercise. Encouraging participants to dive into 3 real-world design examples, where design/build experts will identify missing details crucial for accurate estimating and installation. Additionally, teams will tackle a problem-solving scenario involving unexpected complications that threaten a design layout, fostering creative solutions that honor the original vision.
This session is all about building bridges, sharing knowledge, and advocating for a collaborative approach that benefits everyone involved, most importantly, our valued clients. Danée invites all attendees to join in on this lively discussion and leave with fresh ideas and a renewed sense of camaraderie in the design-build community!
12:30 p.m - 1:30 p.m
Lunch Break
1:30 p.m - 2:30 p.m - Four Speakers, Four Rooms
2:30 p.m - 2:45 p.m - Networking Break
2:45 p.m - 3:45 p.m - Four Speakers, Four Rooms
Jacki Hart
What to Charge for Design and How to Figure it Out?
Say Good-Bye to 'Coming Up Short'
Facilitated by one of Landscape Ontario's top business coaches, this interactive workshop-style session will supercharge your strategy for making profit as a landscape designer either on your own, or in a landscape design department. Designers are often challenged (or terrified, or bored) by 'managing the numbers' - how much to charge and how to accurately project how much they can earn at the end of the year. If you (or your team) are frustrated with end-of-the-year profit, then this session is for you. Join your Design Peers in a facilitated round table discussion to gain insight and tricks into pricing design work in order to turn a profit.
Paul Brydges
The Process – From Phone Call to Proposal to Pricing
You have just received a phone call from a potential new client. What should you do next? How can you transform this initial call into a profitable design? In this seminar, we will discuss the essential aspects of working with design clients - from the first call to creating a design proposal, correctly estimating the time required to complete the drawings, determining the cost of landscape construction to meet a client’s budget, and finally, effectively collecting payment for your design work. This practical knowledge will give you the confidence to handle potential client calls and convert them into profitable designs.
Peter Guinane
Finding the Right Clients, Dealing with the Challenging Ones, and When to Let a Client Go!
As landscape designers and architects, it is important for us to find clients and projects that align with our design skills. This requires a good understanding of our design abilities, the type of clients we prefer to work with, and the nature of their projects. To identify the right clients, we need to screen them carefully. Once we start working on the design, we may encounter clients who repeatedly request design changes. This can be costly and time-consuming, and we must know how to handle such situations effectively. When dealing with challenging clients, we must maintain our patience and professionalism, knowing our skills have value. Sometimes, it may be necessary to end our professional relationship with a client. This can be a difficult decision. For years, these issues have troubled designers and often arise when we take on clients who are not a good fit for us. This seminar will provide insight into finding the right clients, dealing with challenging clients professionally, and, when needed, how to let a client go.
Anne Bartlett
Dare to be Different - New, Uncommon & Unique Plants for the Landscape.
Want your landscape to stand out? Plants are the backbone of any landscape. Don't be afraid to add plants that are new to the market, uncommon or under utilized. Many new cultivars are improvements upon old standbys. Learn about plants that will add unique features in foliage, blooms, texture and more. Elevate your design from excellent to extraordinary!