A fresh opportunity

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Change is everywhere, leading to profound shifts in how your produce business gets done. With technology and globalization increasingly infused into every aspect of commerce, the business landscape will continue to shift in ways few can expect and faster than anyone can fully anticipate. As technology accelerates and boundaries all but disappear, the fresh produce supply chain is growing even more interconnected — not only by default, but also from necessity.

Sure, success in the produce business means different things to different fruits, vegetables and companies. Nonetheless, when the entire supply chain comes together to combine individual connections, information and cultures, common ground transforms into fertile ground for innovation, problem solving and growing consumption. This is what Produce Marketing Association’s (PMA) Fresh Summit International Convention & Exposition is all about.

With 20,000-plus attendees from more than 60 countries and 900-plus exhibiting companies, Fresh Summit is a unique meeting place where different perspectives, businesses, generations and cultures converge to create value and innovation. It’s where what’s new meets what’s next.

This year, Fresh Summit takes root in New Orleans Oct. 18 to 20. For those who’ve attended before, you know the event has something for every segment of the value chain and all the businesses that support it. If you’ve never experienced Fresh Summit, just ask anyone who has. They’ll tell you about an industry meeting like none other, reaching across the value chain and around the world, attracting the best of today’s decision-makers and tomorrow’s game changers. Fresh Summit helps industry members anticipate change, identify emerging trends and profit from new opportunities.

It’s also the largest fresh fruit and vegetable trade show in this hemisphere, so we take steps to help simplify and focus attendees’ experience. For example, educational workshops are concentrated on Friday: It’s one day organized into three series. This year, we’ve also scheduled fewer workshops that offer more in-depth information focused on three areas of interest: global connections, industry talent, and science and technology. These areas can help you tailor the whole Fresh Summit experience to meet specific business priorities, whether it be educational workshops, receptions, or even finding products and services. You’ll find deeper engagement and peer discussions all around, which means greater relevance to your business.

To further make best use of your valuable time, the exposition is concentrated on Saturday and Sunday; you can be back in the office on Monday. Another time saver is PMA’s new Innovation @ Work destination, where the latest innovations in technology, packaging, merchandising and more are displayed. Within the destination is the New Products Showcase, a series of displays spotlighting exhibitors’ new products and services. It’s accessible before, during and after exposition hours, allowing attendees to zero in on what’s new on the show floor at their convenience. The showcase once again will feature a ‘Just 4 Kids’ section highlighting new products that appeal to children. For the first time, the showcase will include a ‘Digital Innovations’ section to highlight novel uses in digital technology designed to move the produce industry into the future.

If you haven’t noticed yet, ‘innovation’ is this year’s theme running through every Fresh Summit offering. General session speakers are no exception. Peter Sheahan will give you creative strategies for turning challenge into opportunity and change into competitive advantage. As the CEO of ChangeLabs, Sheahan is internationally known for inspiring innovative business thinking and creating lasting behavior change. Also on the bill is Mat Shore, innovator and founder of Outside In. Shore has an infectious passion for new ideas and an engaging ability to explain and encourage them. He’ll offer some unbelievable examples of innovation that will inspire you to rethink how your business works and what you can achieve.

Of course, the greatest source of innovation and inspiration can often be industry peers, something I myself draw from enormously whenever I connect with a member of our industry. This is why networking opportunities abound at Fresh Summit. Catch up with old friends and identify new contacts, chat with an expert who has the exact answer to the challenge you’re facing. It’s the kind of event where you can bump into someone on the show floor or a shuttle bus, in a workshop or at a reception — and your business may never be the same again.

Fresh Summit is a once-a-year event reflective of the year-round value of the PMA community, helping industry members grow by providing connections that expand business opportunities, increase sales and consumption of fresh produce, and transcend geographical borders. I invite you to this year’s Fresh Summit to gain a more vivid picture of the consumer, of global trade, and of innovations in packaging, science and technology. You’ll find it’s an unprecedented opportunity to not just manage change, but to leverage change and grow your business.

Learn more and register online at www.freshsummit.com.

Bryan Silbermann is president and CEO of the Produce Marketing Association.