BALI hits the mark with members with inaugural webinars

The British Association of Landscape Industries (BALI) hosted not one, but two webinars in May, both of which were a resounding success with members and non-members of BALI. Up first was BALI's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Awareness Day which was held on the 2 May. Mike Holland, Marketing Director for OlsenMetrix Marketing, presented a four hour long webinar split into two parts that covered a vast amount of information on the new regulation and what it means for businesses that handle data in the UK.

The webinar featured instant opinion polls and a chance for the live audience to ask questions to Mike during the presentation. Delegates that had paid for the event but were unable to join on the day were able to access the recorded stream on-demand at a later date, one of the features of BALI's adopted webinar platform.

Joni Beal, Marketing Manager of BALI Registered Affiliate member The Lapa Company, said; "I’ve just finished watching the GDPR webinar as I couldn't make the live event and I thought the presentation was excellent – very informative and ‘sensible’ advice rather than a lot of the grey unclear information that has been circulating. Off to get our checklist sorted! Thank you to both Mike Holland and BALI"

BALI is currently reviewing whether it needs to host a second webinar on GDPR for those members who may have missed the first opportunity to participate. More details will be announced over the coming weeks.

On Wednesday 9 May, BALI hosted its second webinar for members of the association, including members from the Society of Garden Designers and the Landscape Institute. The webinar was the first in a new series of design-focused Professional Designer Webinars. 'Setting up a Design Practice' was the theme of the first event, with 30 people in attendance representing all three trade bodies, from students and landscape architects to managing directors and garden designers.

Hosted by BALI's Marketing and Communications Manager, Darren Taylor, and BALI Designer Board Director Marian Boswall MBALI MSGD, the hour long event had an all-star panel including Adam White CMLI FLI & Andree Davies, Directors of Adam Davies Ltd, Sarah Morgan MSGD Director of Sarah Morgan Landscape Design & Consultancy and current Chair of the SGD and Emma Mazzullo MSGD Director of Mazzullo & Russell Landscape Design.

Topics covered included; the benefits and draw backs of setting up alone, business planning, liability and insurance, VAT, start-up tool kits, Sole Trader vs Limited Company and where to turn if things go wrong.

Erica Warren, who is studying to become a professional garden designer, commented; "Thank you to BALI and the panel for an interesting and informative webinar on setting up a design practice.  As someone making a decision to make a significant career change and currently studying for a degree in Garden Design (I was a Director in the NHS, academic, psychology lecturer) I found the experiences, knowledge and advice from the panel very helpful.  I particularly valued the multi-professional approach – thus far I’ve found myself trying to navigate the SGD, BALI and other Landscape professions, wondering how and if they collaborate – this webinar was well timed for me!"

Landscape Architect Hannah Low, commented; "Thank you all that was really useful and very reassuring too. Look forward to the next one" whilst Cotswold Gardening School student, Claire Robinson, responded "Thanks to BALI and the panel, that was really useful!"

Garden Designer Eileen Wood, said; "The Professional Designer webinar was really useful, big thank you to panel and everyone who put it together, look forward to next one."

BALI has now starting planning its second Professional Designer Webinar event, 'The Profitable Professional Practice', for the Autumn. More details will be shared in due course.