CUSTOM LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE
Watch Your Garden Grow
From Seedlings to Showstoppers
A customized leadership learning experience designed for approximately 100 participants representing 17 Michigan Garden Clubs. The session addressed membership growth, engagement, leadership development, and succession planning through facilitated discussion, collaborative activities, reflection, and practical tools.
Role: Learning Experience Designer & Facilitator
Tools: Canva · Microsoft PowerPoint
Audience: ~100 participants · 17 garden clubs
Focus: Membership · Engagement · Leadership Development · Succession Planning
The Challenge
Michigan Garden Clubs District 1 clubs were facing a familiar organizational problem: attracting new members was only part of the equation. Clubs also needed to keep people engaged, help newer members find meaningful ways to contribute, and develop future leaders before current leaders burned out or stepped away.
The goal was not simply to deliver information. The experience needed to help participants examine how their clubs welcomed people, involved members, shared responsibility, and built leadership succession—and leave with practical ideas they could use in their own organizations.
THE DESIGN APPROACH
Designing for Participation
Rather than treating the session as a traditional presentation, I designed repeated opportunities for participants to reflect, discuss, and contribute ideas. The experience balanced facilitator-led content with table conversation, individual reflection, and shared problem-solving so participants could connect the material to the realities of their own clubs.
Participant Reflection Worksheet
Designed to help club leaders identify engagement gaps, role overload, and opportunities for broader participation.
Turning Concepts into Practical Tools
Membership growth and leadership succession were translated into concrete questions participants could work through during the session. Reflection prompts, discussion activities, and take-home tools helped participants examine what was working, where responsibilities felt heavy, and what small changes could strengthen engagement and leadership development.
Full-Day Learning Architecture
Structured the conference experience from opening framework through membership development, leadership succession, breakout discussion, and practical next steps.
Designing for Transfer
The goal was for participants to leave with more than inspiration. Activities asked them to identify realistic next steps, consider who could be invited into greater participation or leadership, and capture ideas they could bring back to their own organizations.
DESIGN PRINCIPLE:
Design for participation, not passive attendance. Structure the experience so participants reflect, discuss, contribute, and leave with a next step they can actually use.
Action-Oriented Close
Participants left with a specific, low-pressure next step designed to turn reflection into action.
FACILITATING THE EXPERIENCE
From Design Decisions to Live Facilitation
The design came to life through a full day of facilitated learning, with approximately 100 participants moving between presentation, individual reflection, table discussion, breakout activities, and large-group conversation. I opened and framed the conference, collaborated with a second facilitator during the membership-focused portion, and led the three-hour leadership development session, No More Deadheading Leaders.
The goal throughout was to create enough structure to keep the experience focused while leaving room for participants to contribute their own knowledge, challenges, and ideas.
Facilitated Learning in Practice
The session blended presentation, table discussion, reflection, and shared problem-solving so participants could connect the content to their own club experiences.
PARTICIPANT RESPONSE & IMPACT
What participants took away
The strongest evidence of impact came after the conference. Attendees
described the experience as practical, interactive, and immediately useful—and several referenced specific plans to bring ideas back to their own clubs.
“It was the first one that I’ve attended that was of any help.”
— J. Krieman, VP Elect, Livonia Garden Club
“Came away laughing and a head full of ideas… We’re going to meet and discuss possibilities for FGC to incorporate.”
— Pam & George Wright, Farmington Garden Club
“You and your speakers pulled off a wonderful session on a difficult subject to deal with.”
— Ronnie Dush, 1st VP, Michigan Garden Clubs
WHAT THIS PROJECT DEMONSTRATES
This project brought together learning experience design, facilitation, audience analysis, visual communication, and practical performance support. I designed the structure of the day, created participant-facing materials, facilitated key portions of the experience, and built in reflection and follow-through so the learning could continue after the conference.
Learning Experience Design
Structured a full-day experience around clear learning goals, participation, and application.
Facilitation
Led live learning for approximately 100 participants while adapting to discussion, energy, and audience response.
Performance Support
Created worksheets, prompts, and follow-up tools participants could use beyond the event itself.