Having been involved from the outset of Re:fresh - this is now our fourth conference - this writer can impart at least his own beliefs on what constitutes a good conference.
The principle reason for delegates to attend Re:fresh, it has always been the organising committee’s belief, is to be educated and entertained. The format has changed each year and this time it has reverted to a more traditional format. And there has been a conscious and, 99 per cent successful, effort to remove the self-promotional presentation from the programme.
Delegates, we feel, want to learn. They do not want PR shoved down their throats. They want to see and hear ideas that are new and exciting. And they want to meet people. Most of all, they want to add something to their business. Talking to other organisers of conferences, it is clear that the same ethos exists elsewhere. Dick Brighten was president of the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) when it first became involved with FPJ and the Re:fresh Conference. He immediately saw the benefit to the industry of a well-thought-out and targeted conference. “It was what the industry wanted, in my opinion,” he says, “a conference on topical subjects, featuring a group of experts who can allow delegates to leave the conference knowing a lot more than they did before.”
Laurence Olins is behind the City Food Lecture, the annual conference that since 2001 has invited guests to a discussion of modern food issues that promotes the City of London as a centre for food trade. He uses feedback to make informed decisions when formulating the following year’s programme. “After January’s event, we paid a very expensive agency to carry out a questionnaire for delegates. Networking came very high, as did the panel session, whereas the individual speaker came lower, which would suggest that people like the interactive part of the conference - whether with the people on the stage or during the breaks - rather than being lectured at.
“I think you are always going to get that, unless the main speaker is barnstormingly brilliant. Those types of speakers are few and far between and it is also less usual for them to give up their time.”
The Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) organises a series of conferences and seminars of differing sizes every year, and it too bases its strategy largely on feedback. “We always carry out a survey of delegates after every conference and it is very useful to us,” says a spokesperson. “We view the answers as a recommendation for change in the future and they are invaluable in planning.
“IGD is a membership organisation and has an external board, so we do have a good inside track on what the industry wants and needs. Of course we listen to that.”
Maria Cavit, the secretary general of the World Union of Wholesale Markets (WUWM) organises regular conferences for members in various parts of the world. A fortnight ago, she was in Turin, this September the WUWM wagon rolls into Beijing and next spring, the Mexicans will host an event. With a global audience and market authority members from both the wholesale and retail camps, there is a fair amount of juggling to be done when it comes to conference content.
“From my point of view, a good conference combines the interests and desires of the host nation and the needs of WUWM and its members,” says Cavit. “Of course, we will include in the programme two or three issues that are particularly topical to the market authorities at the time of the event - in Turin for instance, the CMO reforms were on the agenda - and we will also focus on the messages that WUWM wants to get out to its membership and the media. But we also look to give time to the hosts. In Turin, the local mayor was extremely supportive and recognised the important role of retail and wholesale markets to the local economy, so we gave him the opportunity to speak.
“It is difficult with an international event to take into account the local market and also cover the rest of the world. But as the international voice of the industry, WUWM has to put across a clear strategic vision and map out how we plan to approach it and achieve our goals.”
Justification emerges as a central theme in the delegates minds and organisers are increasingly mindful of this in their preparation and planning. Guy Moreton of recruitment and training specialist MorePeople has been a serial conference attendee since he began his career at Zwetsloots, but he believes there always needs to be some level of justification for turning up. “The speakers either need to be extremely appropriate or have a good name or reputation in the industry,” says Moreton. “When I was in the flower business, I used to say to my team, if you can come out of a conference with two or three ideas or concepts that you can then put into practice in your business then it is a worthwhile experience. You have got to come away having learnt something or met someone that will add something to your business. If you could have rung them up and gone out for dinner with them, you should have done that.
“Attending conferences can also be expensive, not just being there but the getting there and the time out of the office. So the sensible and logical person would of course ask what’s the point? You could ring the same people up and have a chat or go for a beer, but we don’t always do what we should or could do. Conferences give you the opportunity to do all that in one place.”
Olins likens conference goers to the cash-rich, time-poor consumer we all spend so much time trying to please. “People can cram so much into their business day now, with the internet and mobile phones, that there is more understanding of exactly how productive you can be. If you are sitting down for a couple of hours, cut off from the outside world, you really need to have a very good reason.”
And Cavit certainly includes this in her decision-making process. “People who come to a conference now have to justify it by taking something back with them, an idea they can implement in their own market or put on the table for their chairman or board. It is our job to give them the tools that enable them to go out and hopefully improve their business practices. We have developed various international benchmarks, on waste management and market cleaning for instance, which are valuable for any market in any country.”
Networking opportunities are crucial to the success of any event, says the IGD spokesperson. The think-tank’s conferences have featured innovative methods of bringing people together, such as a speed-dating type exercise which encouraged delegates to meet as many people as possible for short periods and separate areas for retail buyers to locate themselves in during networking breaks, in order that delegates knew exactly where to go to find the person most relevant to their own business for a brief conversation.
“We are always looking for the most appropriate format for each event,” says the spokesperson. “What people want is to be able to go back to their office and report on what they’ve learnt and who they have met.”
The social aspect of conferences cannot be ignored, says Cavit. “Networking has become increasingly important to delegates in recent years and I try to incorporate as much time as possible for one-on-one time as possible into our events. We have even taken away most of our dinners, to give delegates the opportunity to dine and socialise without feeling they are tied to the event.”
It is undeniable that bums on seats are far harder to achieve in the 21st century than they were in the latter part of the last Millennium. “Before Re:fresh started, in 2004, we were struggling to get 100 people to come to another conference and I have long been bemused why people have become so apathetic to these events,” says Brighten. “I think people have become so wrapped up in their day-to-day businesses that they now see a day at a conference as time and money they are unwilling to spend. People have got out of the habit of going to conferences, but I would say they should go along and see what is being organised for them.
“Re:fresh - like some other conferences - does have good ideas and they are pertinent to the business. In my opinion, attending conferences like this can have a very real financial benefit to the companies who turn up.”
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