2012 Workshops Currently Being Determined
 2011 Pre-Conference Workshops

1.  Selling to Retailers: Scaling Up Farm-Fresh Foods 
(9:30– 5:00) Fee: $125; additional registrants from the same organization $95.

It’s nearly impossible to seriously scale up a food hub or farm without selling to retailers. It’s the sure way, and in many locations the only way, to reach large numbers of people where they normally shop. But how 
do small- and medium-scale businesses and farms connect with a retail distribution system that has grown massive and foreboding over the last half century?

In this daylong session, Red Tomato food hub veterans and two retail leaders who dared to think and act outside of the box, will explore with you:
        Basic language, concepts, and formulas of food distribution
        The history and current state of the retail industry;
        Competitive retail strategies at play today: private labeling; local programs; sustainability initiatives; branding; cost reduction; inventory management; quality control, purchasing, and distribution;
        How to speak supermarket buyers’ language and get their attention;
        Common bottlenecks that stand in the way of success;
        Strategies for small- and medium-size food hubs, businesses, and farms; and

This session is open to both (a) experienced practitioners currently engaged in some form of food business, and (b) those without business and marketing experience, but a healthy curiosity.  Experienced practitioners will be challenged -- there will be time for Q&A and opportunities to discuss your issues and bottlenecks through case work and real-time problem-solving.

Leaders:
Michael Rozyne, Sue Futrell and Red Tomato staff, with special guests
José Alvarez, former president and CEO of Stop & Shop; currently senior lecturer at Harvard Business School
Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s; currently Fellow at Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative

2.  New Leaders: Communicating and Framing for Social Change (12:30 – 5:00 PM)  Fee: $45
How we talk about the food system and our work impacts the support and success we encounter as we collectively work to build strong local and regional food systems.  Whether your work is focused on policy, consumer education, coalition building or any other approach, you communicate with others! This session will give you tools to improve the effectiveness of your messages about the work that you do, and why it’s important. In this session, Lynn Davey, psychologist and strategic communications expert, will explain recent research on “framing the food system” and help you develop framing strategies in relation to your own work. 

Participants are encouraged to visit Lynn's blog at http://daveystrategies.wordpress.com and view the Frameworks Institute's "How Did this Broccoli Get on My Plate: Framing Food as a Public Issue" presentation at: http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/workshops/broccoli/  

We will hear from Roger Doiron of Kitchen Gardeners International and former NESAWG organizer, who has harnessed the power of effective communication through various channels, including coalition building, policy work and creative use of new media and social networking to launch campaigns that have mobilized tens of thousands of people around simple, yet innovative ideas, such as installing a kitchen garden on the White House Lawn in 2009.

Leaders:
Amanda Beal, Eat Local Foods Coalition of Maine 
Emily Sandusky, Karp Resources
Lindsey Lusher Shute, National Young Farmers Coalition
Lynn Davey, Davey Strategies
Roger Doiron, Kitchen Gardeners International