1 Clock Hour | Domain C: Risk Management 

While COVID-19 has not been proven to be transferable through food, can it theoretically be possible? Think about all the touch points there is with the food and beverage we serve at events. Food safety is something planners often overlook, relying on caterers to handle. In the new normal, what do we need to consider about our attendees safety as it relates to the food and beverage we serve them. Buffets vs plated vs boxed? Single-serve prepackaged food? How many people do we sit at table = social distancing? Do we need to add sneeze guards? F&B costs are already high, what if we need to have more servers so to serve the buffets? Do we need to add hand washing stations to the rooms? Do we go back to using bottled water vs. water jugs.

Learner Outcomes:
1. Learn the what questions you should ask food service providers about their food safety practices.

2. Familiarize yourself with food safety policies and practices required of food service providers

3. Discover ways to provide safe food and beverage experiences easily.

3 Clock Hours | Domain G: Meeting or Event Design

Content May Be King – But How Well It Is Delivered Can Make Or Break Your Event

Presented by: Nikole Fridenmaker

Most business events have goals or outcomes around two common areas, networking, and education. If you orchestrate an amazing networking event but your education falls flat, eventually your participation will dwindle. When people commit to spending their time at your event or their money, they typically want to leave with skills, trends, new ideas that they can help implement with their own organization, for their own professional or personal development.

As the planners and organizers of these events, it’s critical that we place enough time and focus to develop a stellar education program and process. It doesn’t matter if you have the budget to pay speakers or if your speakers participate without compensation, the process and the content still need your expertise and curation.

During this session, we will walk through some best practices on how to attract outstanding speakers, how to evaluate outstanding speakers plus how to help your speakers improve and maximize their connection with the attendees. However, the work isn’t done on the last day of the event. There are ways to keep speakers engaged, your stakeholders and attendees engaged and motivate your speakers to improve and keep coming back with bigger and better topics.

Key Take-Aways:

1. Participants will be able to evaluate and create a complete, well-developed process for their speaker and education needs, as well as their goals and outcomes for the life-cycle of the event (pre-event, event, post-event).

2. By participating in this session, planners will be able to apply simple techniques that will elevate the quality of their speakers, speaker selection and education outcomes.

3. By the conclusion, participants will be able to organize and implement an intentional plan to help grow and improve their speakers.

This Is What Tomorrow Tastes Like!

Presented by: Christine Couvelier

Is popcorn the new potato chip? What is a pink lemon blueberry? Peek inside the next breadbasket ~ You can design food experiences, food news & food tastes. Think about Innovation Imagination as we explore the next emerging, developing and existing food trends & learn how to get the most out of your f&b budgets for your events.

Key Take-Aways:

1. Be inspired by the next tastes and trends & get great tips to turn them into food memories at events.

2. Creative solutions for speaking with F&B departments & getting the most of your food & beverage budgets.

3. Find out where to look for new tastes in the food world & how to translate them into great-tasting menu items.

Designing Your Event with Connectivity in Mind

Presented by: Brandt Krueger and Will Curran

As an #EventProf your mind is running in a million directions when planning events. You need to think about the visual design, create engaging content, and of course, the overall experience of your event. But have you thought about connectivity design for events? On average attendees have at least two devices on them at events. If they can’t connect or have a bad connection, it could ruin their experience, and tank your event! Attendees have been known to walk out of an event if they can’t connect. This doesn’t have to happen to you! In this session, we will teach you how to make sure you have the best connectivity so your guests can connect with ease to your event app, social media, live streams and more. Hint: it’s more than just wifi!

Key Take-Aways:

1. Learn the basics of internet connectivity, including WiFi and “hard-line” connections

2. Learn about the modern connection requirements your attendees and partners demand, and tactical tips to keep them connected in the best way possible.

3. Start having productive conversations with stakeholders, venues, technology providers, and beyond!

This Session Graciously Sponsored by: 

1 Clock Hour | Domain A: Strategic Planning

Well planned and executed events should be effective and essential to an organization’s success. They should also host and drive diverse and inclusive experiences for everyone. Yet often they either fail or result in less than desired outcomes for some participants who have special dietary needs and/or other disabilities. Association professionals must regard diversity and inclusion as a strategic and logistical approach in the planning process and should consider all facets of the event, including the food and beverage being served. In this session, we will learn how to create more inclusive food and beverage environments, manage for diversity and capitalize on the unique perspectives of a diverse participant base.

Learner Outcomes:

• Discover how diversity and inclusion are related to food and beverage.
• Learn how disability laws apply to different event participants.
• Set forth a framework to manage for diversity and create inclusion at your events.

1 Clock Hour | Domain A: Strategic Planning

Eating and drinking are fundamental requirements for life. We all must eat to survive. Thus, having safe, healthy and accessible food and beverage to eat at an event is a right, not a privilege. And, yet safe, healthy, and accessible food and beverage are often disregarded when planning meetings and events.

There is definitely plenty of food and beverage at meetings, but in most cases what is offered fails to meet the safety needs of attendees with dietary and/or mobility requirements.

As a meeting professional, you have a duty of care to ensure all attendees, staff and vendors are kept safe and not excluded in at events. Since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was amended in 2008 expanding the protections provided to people with disabilities under the ADA, that care now includes what food is served and how food is handled and served at events.

In this interactive presentation, we will provide a basic understanding of how the laws that protect individuals with disabilities and will offer guidance on how to create safe and inclusive food and beverage environments for all attendees.Learning Objectives:

Walk away with 39 ways to reduce food waste at your meetingsLearn how understanding your attendees food preferences/needs as well as arrival/departure schedules impact food waste at your meeting.Understand food waste impacts your event budget

1 Clock Hour | Domain G: Meeting or Event Design

Food and wellness-based meetings trends are transitory by nature; however, over the past several decades, we have seen an unprecedented increase in health-orientated foods that are driving consumer spend and cross-sector operations. Discover the trends that are shaping conference food and beverage from a comprehensive survey of IACC conference venues, meeting planners and culinary experts around the globe, and how those trends can help you rethink the ways you feed your attendees.

• Discover the latest and greatest catering ideas from venues across the globe.
• Learn how meeting professionals are using meals and menus to prepare audiences for learning, engagement and business.
• Find out how you can better utilize F&B to maximize the event experience.

1 Clock Hour | Domain A: Strategic Planning

We all know that F&B stands for food and beverages--but when it comes to medical meetings, it could very well stand for frustrate and bewilder as well. Every country has a different set of rules and every manufacturer (pharmaceutical, medical device, biopharma, biologic) has its own set of limits and caps. Navigate this perilous environment with the help of industry expert Pat Schaumann, who will share the tools she uses to make sure HCPs at events get fed.

• Understand the different governing bodies that dictate F&B rules for medical meetings.
• Discover how reporting of spend varies from country to country.
• Glimpse what's new and next for medical meeting menus.

This Session Graciously Sponsored by Discover Philadelphia

1 Clock Hour | Domain A: Strategic Planning

What is sustainable food? It's the production of food, fiber, or other plant or animal products using techniques that protect the environment, public health, human communities, and animal welfare. It's a way of food production that generates abundance while ensuring future generations can do the same. Knowledgeable consumers can make choices that support sustainable agriculture, humane practices for raising poultry and livestock, and the responsible harvesting of seafood.

1 Clock Hour | Domain A: Strategic Planning

Discover best practices in meeting design, food and beverage and negotiations from experts in the room! We’ll use a human spectrogram to find thought leaders among our peers, and then drill down into your burning questions, must-know trends and next practices that will help you excel in today’s meeting marketplace.

Learner Outcomes:

• Discover best practices and leading trends in meeting design, food and beverage and negotiations.
• Find key takeaways you can use tomorrow to enhance your events.
• Participate in a Spectrogram, and think about how you might utilize it to similar effect at your meetings and events.