The show floor is the primary destination for most attendees of Seafood Expo North America, but the educational component the expo is well worth the time, if you have it to spare.
The scope of the 2017 Seafood Expo North America Conference is wide, with 30 separate sessions focusing on practically every major issue affecting the seafood industry, including Brexit, IUU fishing, mergers and acquisitions, marketing and sales, traceability, trade and customs issues and more.
This year’s keynote, “Delicious & Profitable: Chefs discuss the Business of Seafood,” will feature some big-name chefs “talking turkey” about seafood. Polly Legendre, a well-respected food trends expert with Polished Brands, will moderate the panel, which will also include Ned Bell, Ocean Wise executive chef at the Vancouver Aquarium; Rich Garcia, the vice president of culinary for Crescent Hotels and Resorts, North America; Rick Moonen, the executive chef at RM Seafood in Las Vegas (also a noted cookbook author and star of Top Chef Masters); and Jeff Black, the executive chef of Black Salt Restaurant Group in Washington D.C.
The panel will explore one of the most vexing issues facing the world of seafood today: why people don’t eat more seafood, one of the healthiest and most delicious foods around. Attendees of the panel will be privy to insider information on the factors chefs take into account when putting together their menus, insight into how chefs influence consumer trends, and how the seafood industry can better partner with foodservice to increase the amount of seafood consumed in the U.S. and worldwide.
If you can spare it, take a moment away from networking and deal-making to attend at least a few of the panels and presentations offered at SENA 2017. The time you spend exploring the learning opportunities available at the conference might just prove to be the best investment you make at the conference.
