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2025 FALL EVENT SESSIONS & SPEAKERS

The Fall Event is all about sharing, learning, and growing. And this year's event is packed full of incredible networking and learning opportunities.

Our speakers are leaders in the industry – thought leaders who embody The Group's spirit of ingenuity and entrepreneurial drive. These powerful presentations by inspired thinkers can shape your future in the ever-evolving world of garden retailing. Be ready to dive in, share and learn – and Get Wiser in Raleigh!

Although The Fall Event Program officially begins at 1:00 pm on Monday, September 22, 2025, you have the opportunity to participate in optional sessions on Monday morning. See The Fall Event 2025 Schedule for a complete list of activities and rooms.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 22

 

John Kennedy is Co-Owner
of BoomerWrangle

 


Learn more about 
John Kennedy

9:00 am - 10:30 am
Emerging Leaders 3.0:  Building and Leading an Invincible Team
John Kennedy, BoomerWrangle

Back in 2023, John Kennedy introduced “Developing the Leader Within You” for our emerging leadership members who are committed to building their leadership bench for the future. It involved an insightful self-survey that each audience member took in advance of the workshop to compare to the overall Garden Center Group audience. We then focused on the top three areas of opportunity to improve in 2024.

In 2024, we took it to the next level and created “The Mindfulness of Motivation” workshop that dug deeply into the key factors that motivate the human condition at work and in life. The audience left knowing that empathy can be a superpower in leadership and that building long-term trust and respect will always be an investment worth making.

In 2025, John will take the audience from the “understanding” of leadership and matriculate them into the “execution” of leadership—Emerging Leadership 3.0.

Leadership is tough when you don’t have a team. You can influence decisions and processes; however, without a team, it is tough to gain traction without others to drive change.

John will introduce the four stages of Building and Leading an Invincible Team, set the processes in place to track success, and layer in leadership to keep the momentum going for 2026 and beyond. With the uncertain economic future ahead, the challenge of workforce talent acquisition and retention, and the consistent need to know your numbers, having the right team and talent at the right time will be key to navigating the future of your IGC.

There will be a GroupTalk LIVE follow-up in November so your entire team can benefit from the content and get rooted and ready for 2026.

And for the participants of this Emerging Leaders 3.0 Session, you will have access to the “Building a World-Class Team” video series with a ten-step process to executing excellence in 2026.

So, register today, and bring your emerging leadership team with you to build your bench for the future!

This special Emerging Leaders Session is included in the registration cost, but seats are limited, so you must select this session when registering to reserve a seat.

JOHN KENNEDY is Co-Founder of BoomerWrangle LLC with his amazing wife Souny. BoomerWrangle is the corporate entity that houses all of their talents & tools to support The Garden Center Group. 

For innovative solutions such as “Your GroupSpace” and customized onboarding videos to strategic planning and team engagement through John’s coaching and consulting, BoomerWrangle LLC has become a single-source digital & strategic agency to maximize employee engagement, strategic planning, organizational excellence, ease of ordering, and operational efficiency! 

For more information and insights into their growing toolbox of IGC solutions... 

Visit: 
www.YourGroupSpace.com 
www.Boomerwrangle.com 
www.JohnKennedyConsulting.com 


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2025

 

John Kennedy is Co-Owner
of BoomerWrangle

Learn more about 
John Kennedy

11:15 am - 12:15 pm
TeamWise
John Kennedy, BoomerWrangle

Delivering an amazing customer experience is a wise investment of time. And in addition, delivering an amazing team experience can be equally important to the success of your IGC.

Join John Kennedy as he introduces “games retailers play”—a creative approach to team engagement. John shares by “leveraging the wisdom of the crowd” with ideas that IGCs have implemented to drive maximum team engagement.

You won't want to miss this captivating session!

 


 

The Fall Event 2025 QuickLinks:  

The Fall Event 2025 - REGISTER
The Fall Event 2025 - MAIN PAGE
The Fall Event 2025 - SCHEDULE
The Fall Event 2025 - TOUR  
The Fall Event 2025 - HOTEL & TRAVEL
The Fall Event 2025 - BEST OF RALEIGH
The Fall Event 2025 - SPONSORS
The Fall Event 2025 - BORDER CONCEPTS TOUR