GCA delegates to get ‘fascinating explanations for everyday numbers’

A world-renowned behavioural economist, award-winning Financial Times columnist and BBC broadcaster will be offering delegates at the Garden Centre Association (GCA) annual conference in January (2017) an insight into the economics of daily life.

Tim Harford will be bringing storytelling, humour and intelligence to the oft-maligned discipline of economics when he appears before delegates at the event.

Iain Wylie, Chief Executive of the GCA, said: “With a knack for finding fascinating explanations for everyday numbers, Tim’s first two books, ‘The Logic of Life’ and ‘The Undercover Economist’, have been translated into 30 languages and sold well over a million copies.

“His Radio 4 show ‘More or Less’ looks at the truth behind dubious statistics and manipulated figures, which is a fascinating subject. We feel he’ll be a wonderful addition to our line-up of speakers for our 51st annual conference and are sure he’ll entertain and inspire all those who attend.

“While he’s a ‘serious’ economist with a career spanning Oxford, Shell and the World Bank, Tim’s Financial Times columns dwell on the economics of daily life and offer tongue-in-cheek solutions to readers’ problems.

“His first book built on these themes and ‘The Undercover Economist’ was likened to ‘Freakonomics’ in its examination and explanation of the workings of everything from coffee shops to organised crime, to development aid.”

Tim’s other titles include: ‘The Logic of Life’, which applies economic theory to the world to explain how rational, or otherwise, decisions are.

He also wrote: ‘Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure,’ which shows how challenges of all types and sizes can’t be solved with simple ready-made solutions.

His most recent work ‘The Undercover Economist Strikes Back’ is a look at the truth behind the headlines now that economics has become front-page news.

A regular speaker with TED, which is a not for profit organisation devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks, Tim also looks at why it’s so hard, yet so important, to learn from mistakes, the importance of obstacles and interruptions to creativity, how forecasting works and what to do when it doesn’t, and what innovation means and why the wrong sort of innovation can be a distraction.

Iain continued: “Taking in everything from the military to game shows, aviation to ballet, global catastrophes to finding the right socks, Tim questions received wisdom, common sense and statistical certainty. His accessible, easy style provides entertaining, thought-provoking insights relevant to every garden centre owner, manager and employee and to all our member garden centres whatever their size.

“Our conference speakers are selected to supply our delegates with entertaining and intelligent concepts that they can use within their daily roles. The industry is everchanging and we want to give our members the tools to be able to lead from the front.

“The idea behind the conference is to share information on a wide range of topics such as merchandising, marketing and management. There are always plenty of opportunities for delegates to network and socialise too, and there are still places available for anyone interested in joining us.”

Tim Harford will be speaking at the GCA’s 51st annual conference on Tuesday, January 24.

The organisation represents nearly 200 garden centres nationwide.

Through sharing information and its inspection programme the GCA helps members to achieve high standards in customer service, plant quality and reliability.

The GCA’s annual conference will be held at St Andrews in Scotland between January 22 and 25, 2017. More than 300 delegates are expected to attend the event.

For other information, please call 01244 952170, visit www.gca.org.uk, log on to www.facebook.com/pages/GardenCentreAssociation or  follow the organisation on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GC_Association.