The makings of a great conference, forum or symposium

The life of an expert in food tourism development certainly has its perks and travelling the globe to attend and participate in conferences, forums and symposiums is one of them. I’d like to share some insights from an admittedly over-programmed month on the road.

In the past four weeks I have attended (as a delegate):

• the 6th MAD Symposium, founded by influential chef Rene Redzepi of Noma Restaurant,
• the Freja Symposium, a new addition to Copenhagen Cooks that focuses on gender balance and equity in the hospitality industry,
• the inaugural Skift Restaurant Forum hosted by Skift Table,

And, three that I had the pleasure of contributing to:

• the 4th Sauce Forum held for the first time in Finland,
• Ecorismo Canada, first national bilingual trade show dedicated to sustainable tourism practices and solutions,
• the Ontario East Municipal Conference focused on keeping members of municipal council and staff aware of key issue in economic development,

Each opportunity afforded me a chance to learn, network or contribute (sometimes a combination of all three) and I thought I’d capture and share some highlights from each:

#MAD6 as it was tagged by the 600 delegates from 58 countries that attended the two day Symposium, took place in Copenhagen, Denmark in a tent. The setting was stunning starting with the ferry ride to location, the collaborative meal tent and the ethereal main stage itself. My highlight from the 2 days of programming was the cooking demonstration by Chef Raan Jay Fai. This dynamic 73 year is known as the Michelin-starred street food queen of Bangkok and she delivered awesomeness with the support of a rigorously worked translator. Her passion, humor and aim for perfection made it the perfect start to the MAD program. The food served throughout the two days was spectacular and the workshops were outstanding! I took part in a great tasting and tour of Amass Restaurant with Chef Matt Orlando and was truly inspired by his innovation with a core commitment to addressing and reducing food waste–a theme I’m hearing a lot and that is thankfully moving from idea to practice globally.

The first Freja Symposium was a last minute addition to my 2 week travel plans in Scandinavia. Hosted in Copenhagen’s whimsical Tivoli Gardens the event was moderated by one of my favourite women in food, Fia Gulliksson, the CEO & Founder of Food In Action Company Group. While the number of delegates was intimate, their collective contribution wasn’t. Chefs Kamilla Seidler, former Head Chef at Gusto and Amanda Cohen, Chef/Owner at Dirt Candy NYC knocked it out of the park with raw and honest presentations on the challenges to make it to the top in this male dominated industry. ??Drifa Snaeda, General Secretary SGS Iceland spoke to the pioneering policies developed to ensure gender equality arcoss all industries in Iceland–definitely a destination to watch as they continue to expand this concept. I absolutely LOVED the work that the intelligent and engaging ????????????????????Shakira Simley is doing at Equity At The Table.

The Sauce Forum, in Helsinki, Finland, offered presenters the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the city before the forum took place. I attended the annual farmers market at Nokka Restaurant where they clear out their space to make way for all of the farmers, fisherman and producers they support throughout the year. It was FABULOUS and inspired me to bring home reindeer sausage and lingonberry tea to remind me of their “taste of place”. Afterward, we sailed on a tall ship to a local island and were shown generous hospitality by the team from Arctic Blue Gin, winners of the Spirit of the Year at the 2018 World Spirits Awards. These experiences influenced my presentation on growing food tourism in Finland and help me make my program content more relatable to the audience. Highlights of my favourite presenters at Sauce included photographer and author of We Chefs Joao Wengorovius, Chef/Owner, Edouardo Jordan, of Junebaby and Salare in Seattle, WA, and Kamal Mouzawak, Symergos Social Entrepreneur and Founder of Souk El-Tayeb.

Upon returning to Ontario my colleague Christine Kuzyk, our Feast On Program Manager, and I hit the road for a few events much closer to home:

• ECORISMO Canada where we shared insights into the value of supporting “taste of place” when travelling as a way to reduce your environmental impact on a destination and support its local economy. We shared information about the Culinary Tourism Alliances Feast On certification program and why supporting our local economy and Ontario’s farmers is important; especially for the food service industry. It builds our local food identity, puts dollars back into our communities and limits our environmental impact. The Feast On program is one of many ways the Culinary Tourism Alliance is building Ontario’s food identity, while supporting our agriculture, viticulture and aquaculture sectors. Through Feast On, we work to connect chefs directly to producers. Our goal is to increase awareness about local products, sourcing systems and sustainable practices, while building our local food culture. We met many interesting suppliers at ECORISMO that support the environmental movement related to travel. I was especially inspired to read a fellow presenter Adria Vasils book Ecoholic.
• the Ontario East Municipal Conference (OEMC) where I facilitated a workshop that gave delegates an overview of food tourism and its potential to grow local economies while providing a point of differentiation from other destinations. It was great to see that OEMC incorporated “taste of place” into their conference activities by doing a dine around of local restaurants that are Feast On certified.

My last stop on this 4-week adventure was the Skift Restaurant Forum in New York City. A tightly run 8 hour day that explored the impact of technology in the restaurant industry from online reservation platforms such as Resy and Open Table to take out delivery like Grubhub. I was intrigued by the work that Sue Chan from Care of Chan is doing for her clients to build experiences and to hear from Angela Dimayuga about her new role as Creative Director of Food & Culture for the Standard International. I am definitely going to follow up with Chef JJ Johnson to see how the opening of his new concept Fieldtrip by JJ Johnson goes–enjoy what he’s doing to bring rice as culture to our tables!

KEY TAKEAWAYS for me moving forward in my career in growing food tourism and managing the annual Terroir Symposium are:

• Keep your content on theme,
• Great presenters prepare! Just because someone has an interesting story doesn’t mean they know how to tell it. A little bit of coaching goes a long way,
• Shorter is sweeter. Long presentations are difficult to stay engaged in,
• A dynamic moderator or interviewer makes a world of difference,
• Ensure all panels have gender balance and ethnic diversity to ensure the content is sincerely reflective of our global community,
• Reduce your environmental footprint–there is no need for bottled water, printed programs or ANY plastic at these events,
• Engage your audience either through a custom App
• Time to network is fundamental to a good experience. It is even better when good food and drink is served!

Oh, and a final thought–seek balance and share good ideas widely;)