Nine Education Sessions to Expand Your Knowledge, Increase Profits, Overcome Labor Challenges & More!

The Minnesota Hospitality Conference & Expo is pleased to announce its education sessions for October 3 at Saint Paul RiverCentre. Bring your management team because you can't catch it all by yourself!

Attracting Top Talent:

How to Fill Your Candidate Funnel

9:00-9:45 a.m. | Stuart Gray, Hospitality Rocks

If you are struggling with filling positions at your business, this is a "must-attend" session that will positively impact your recruiting results going forward! You'll leave with techniques, resources and tools to have an abundance of candidates to fill your positions:

Connecting to Customers

Through Social Media

9:00-9:45 a.m. | Caryn Butler, Socially Smitten

This presentation will focus on the various social media platforms and how to use them successfully to promote your business and connect with your guests. You will learn tips and tricks on what makes an engaging social media post, free resources available to help you in your social media adventure as well as how to create an effective social media strategy by what makes sense for you!

The Workforce of the Future

9:00-9:45 a.m. | Patsy Keech, Eagan High School, Monique Sabby - Elk River High School, Brandon Supernault - Normandale Community College, Josh Walbolt - Lat14 Asian Eatery

Focusing on our workforce of the future is more important than ever. Our four panelists will discuss the ProStart and Hospitality & Tourism Management programs in Minnesota schools and how they're changing the future of Minnesota's hospitality businesses. The teachers will discuss what students and hospitality operators get out of connections with each other and how you can influence the next generation of foodservice and lodging operators. A former ProStart student will share how his journey through the ProStart program has helped him gain success in the restaurant world.

Driving Business Through Community Involvement

1:00-1:45 p.m. | Bill Foussard - Best Western Plus White Bear Lake, Tom Frederick - Pub 500, JJ Haywood - Pizza Lucé

Trying to figure out new ways to drive business? Community involvement has helped some business owners build a strong and devoted customer base and become a respected mainstay in town. Two restaurateurs and a hotelier will illustrate what they do for charity and community building and how their businesses have reaped the benefits. They're pleased to share the lessons they've learned along the way!

Your Digital Experience

1:00-1:45 p.m. | Trygve Olsen, BizzyWeb

What’s new...what’s hot...what’s now? There's always a cutting edge tool that gets released that "you just have to be on," but do you really? How do you know if the "next best thing" to build your reputation is right for your brand and worthy of your precious time? Will it really demonstrate great customer experience for your potential guests? In this presentation we will cover your baseline of your experience, your website and social channels and what people are saying about you..and how you can get them to say nice things! Join us as we examine how to best demonstrate the great customer experiences you can provide in a digital environment.

Retention Rocks - Making Day One Count

1:00-1:45 p.m. | Stuart Gray, Hospitality Rocks

You invest your most precious resource of time in attracting and selecting the best. But how long will they stick around? The recruitment revolving door is a tragic waste of talent, resources and energy. Stop the rotation by discovering new tools to engage, involve and connect your new team members on day one. You'll experience the “Orientation and Onboarding Cookbook” for recipes to help new employees succeed and connect with their new position. Not all recipes will work in every environment (menus always have things we don’t like) but the key ingredients of connection are universal. The ultimate measure is retention and you will improve that by focusing on day one of their employment with a system of success.

Independent & In Control:

Seven Lessons in Profitability

2:30-3:15 p.m. | Len Ghilani, Ghilani Group, Inc.

Most diners today will likely tell you they prefer independent restaurants to chains. Independents often cater to local tastes and fit comfortably into the neighborhoods they serve, while chain operations are typically plagued by sameness of menu and décor, no matter where they are. So why do the chains survive where some independents fail? What can independent restaurant and hotel operators learn about how to succeed from the big guys? In this session, we’ll discuss how the systems that make chains efficient and profitable—often helping them thrive—can create the same favorable results for independents.

Everyone Communicates; Few Connect

2:30-3:15 p.m. | Jason Hunt, i2: Eye Squared Leadership

Every day each one of us is inundated with over 35,000 messages. And just about every one of us speaks over 16,000 words each day. We all communicate, but do we connect? Whether you work mostly one-on-one, in small groups, or with large teams, connecting with others is a major factor in every business' success. Learn how our presenter really messed up in this area and what it took for him to become a great connector. He'll help you attain the right attitude, become a better listener, capture people's interest and find common ground quickly...all while staying authentic. Learn proven principles and practices to build rapport and watch your influence increase as you make more and deeper connections with people. Connecting to others is a skill that you can learn and apply in your personal and professional relationships and that doing so is essential to your organizational development.

Chefs' Panel: Stories From the Stove

2:30-3:15 p.m. | Chef Josh Brown, D'Amico Catering; Chef Susan Dunlop, Joan's in the Park; Chef Josh Walbolt, Lat 14 Asian Eatery

Our panelists will discuss their paths to becoming a chef, what drives them to succeed and the varied challenges they face in the restaurant world. Chef John Schiltz of the Lake Elmo Inn will serve as moderator. The chefs' panel is a perennial favorite at the Minnesota Hospitality Conference & Expo!

In addition to these valuable education sessions, the Minnesota Hospitality Conference & Expo features a keynote presentation by Ari Weinzweig from Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, MI; 18 Connection Corner conversations on marketing, operations and workforce topics; 160+ vendor displays, a demonstration stage and much more. Registration is FREE so bring your team!

Learn more at www.hospitalitymn.org/expo .

THANK YOU TO OUR EVENT SPONSORS: