POLISH STAGING DAY
STAGING DAY POLSKA 9.01.2022
This year, the 9th of January was a very special day – the first Worldwide Staging Day – announced by Barb Schwarz to celebrate the 50th anniversary of home staging.
When I became one of the Ambassadors of the Staging Day, I thought it was the great time to organise the big event for a large number of home stagers from all over Poland. Together with Marzena Piotrowska and Joanna Popławska, we started preparations for the conference. We planned the summit in one of the hotels in Warsaw but unfortunately, covid restrictions forced us to postponed it for April and to change the formula.
Together with Klaudia Leszczyńska’s help, we managed to organise the on-line conference in the very short time. The conference was conducted in a special studio, prepared in the beautiful interiors of Maxfliz Showroom in Warsaw. The main lectures were pre-recorded, the rest of the talks were live and took place in our studio. The conference started with the direct connection with Barb Schwarz who gave Polish home stagers a lot of support. She pointed out that we are the precursors of home staging in Poland and each of us is unique and full of talents that can help others. After that unforgettable meeting with Barb, we presented many interesting and valuable lectures. Joanna Popławska talked about the basics of home staging that are worth remembering. Klaudia Leszczyńska spoke about the home staging consultations as an important part of our business. Marzena Piotrowska explained us how to apply for the European fundings at the beginning of our business. Later we also had a possibility to watch Agata Witkowicz’s lecture about profitable home staging company and Natalia Drysiak about cooperation between home stagers and real estate agents. After each panel, I had the opportunity to talk to each of the speakers, ask questions and dispel any doubts that arose during the lecture.
We managed to invite many home stagers important for the Polish market, such as Maria Semczyszyn, who is currently the most recognised home stager in Poland. She was one of the precursors of home staging in our country. For many years she has been running her home staging program on one of the television stations. The other guests were also Izabella Dębek and Jedrzej Turant from Akademia Stagingu , Martyna Szczawińska, Marta Drozd and Klaudia Leszczyńska. They all took part in the panel that was chaired by Joanna Popławska. The panel turned out to be very substantive. Each of the guests could present their point of view on various aspects of our industry.
At the end of the conference I had the opportunity to talk to Joanna Fajfer and Agnieszka Stefanowicz – two beginner home stagers. We talked about the highlights and shadows of our work, and what difficulties they had to face and how they overcame them. It was a very inspiring and important conversation.
The entire conference ended with online networking for all participants .
The conference was a non-profit event. The surplus from tickets sales has been transferred to the account of the foundation that supports the treatment of children suffering from cystic fibrosis.
Our Staging Day gave home stagers, who do not work with each other on a daily basis, an opportunity to meet and talk about our profession together. For the first time in Poland we met in such circumstances. When I started the project of this conference, I dreamed that it could happen. From the very beginning I got a lot of support from Barb Schwarz who constantly confirmed me to implement my idea of celebration of Staging Day. My dream came true also thanks to the fact that Marzena Piotrowska and Joanna Popławska decided to enter this project and trusted me at the beginning, and Klaudia Leszczyńska and her husband who took on the burden of technical matters related to online coverage.
Of course, this is not the end of our cooperation, because in April, we are planning two-days conference in Warsaw, hoping to meet the home stagers from the whole country, to discuss, to help each other and to train.
Elwira Zwolinska
Home stager, Interior designer and decorator;
IAHSP member