Golf Tournament
The Naples Grande golf course has challenges to put you to the test, yet it remains forgiving enough to remind you that golf is, after all, supposed to be fun. Sponsored by Chr. Hansen

Pre-Conference Workshops
The Product Development Management Association’s pre-conference sessions offer attendees a highly customized, intimate, learning opportunity.

1) The Case for Building Your Innovation Budget
Lip serivce to innovation ends where the budget begins. Successful innovation management depends on the steady long term funding that builds a continuous flow of new ideas for your market. Funding must be matched by an informed leadership team that is both aggressive around expectations and understanding of failure. This workshop will take a hard look at strategies that succeed and strategies that doom a company to low margin slow follower status. We will look at ways to help participants build their case for their innovation budget.
Christopher W.  Miller, Ph.D., NPDP, PDMA

2) Developing New Product Concepts
Responsible for developing new product concepts to fill your innovation pipeline and not sure how to get started? This workshop is a step-by-step guide for building new product concepts from task identification and idea generation through initial screening.
Andre Csapo, Director Discovery & Innovation, PDMA

3) The Creative U
Knowledge of your own creative style and creative preference is important for top performance at work or in your life.  Learning tools and techniques to enhance creativity and bring creative energy into the service of your customer is the topic of this fun and exciting exploratory workshop.
Bree Gillespie, Director, Discovery & Innovation, PDMA

Keynote: Convenience as Defined by the Generations: Boomer, Gen Xer and Millennial
Speaker: Larry Wu Jr., Vice President, Consumer Strategist, Food and Beverage, Iconoculture
Sponsored by Selerant Corporation

"Convenience" conjures up images of a speedy kitchen for consumers, but mealtime stress plays out differently for each generational consumer segment. Time is not always the primary driver, and the definition of kitchen convenience varies by age. How does this “Ready, Set, Go!” behavior differ by each generation? What is the impact on food choices, and how can these differences be applied to product development, packaging and marketing strategies? Wu’s experience as R&D director with Starbucks, as well as with CH Guenther & Son, General Foods Corporation and Campbell Soup, gives him real-world experience for realistic advice.

Understanding La Comida Latina
Speaker: Ricardo Lopez, President, Hispanic Research Inc.

Hispanic culture revolves around food. Neighborhood selections are even based on the availability of Latino foods. This unyielding attitude affects everyone in the food industry and is changing the way America eats. However, understanding Latino food is not easy. Latinos come from some 20 different countries, each with a unique food heritage. In addition, Hispanics demand new prepared foods to go with their new American lifestyle. This presentation examines Hispanic food attitudes and addresses Latino food needs.
Presentation and Video Sponsored by Virginia Dare

Fads and Fundamental Changes, Tracking the American Consumer
Speaker: Joe Derochowski, Director, NPD Group

Dining out or dining in. Snacking or sit-down meals? What do Americans think and do? Utilizing research from 30 proprietary databases and 31 years of trend tracking, a revealing look explores what, where, when and how Americans eat. Year-to-year changes in eating habits can be small but surprising, while significant changes emerge over time.

Exploring Tumultuous Teens
Facilitators: Bryan Urbick, CEO & Chairman, and Abel Westerhof, COO & Director – Consumer Knowledge Centre Ltd

Targeting the critical teen market is a challenge for food manufacturers. Many companies are resigned to lose consumers during these years in the hope that teens will again be brand loyal during adulthood. Mintel has called teens the “ignored demographic.” Learn from a live teen panel discussing food and beverages in the context of their lives, what is important to them and what is not. Hear their views on shopping for food, eating in versus out, choosing brands and products, product winners and losers, and, most importantly, their reasons why. Audience participation is encouraged in an extended Q&A session.
Sponsored by IFF

Obesity: A Defining Issue in Health and Wellness
Speaker: Barb Stuckey, Executive VP of Marketing, Mattson

New products ideally address all consumer desires, from indulgence to healthy eating. With the current “obesity crisis,” how can this be accomplished ethically, yet profitably? What marketing and product development tactics assist food manufacturers in finding overlooked opportunities? Primary research is unveiled providing insights on new concepts offering consumers hope, encouragement and help in weight and overall health management.

Delving into Demographics
Speakers: Lynn Dornblaser and David Jago
Directors, Custom Solutions Group, Mintel International

Consumers want what they want, but what do food manufacturers think they want? This fast-paced presentation discusses new products around the globe that are being positioned for specific demographics. What intriguing new products are for children, for women, for consumers concerned about heart health or digestive health, for those looking for familiar indulgence or searching for novel, creative new foods and beverages? Insights and information will light the creative spark in R&D and marketers alike.

Food and Flavor Trends Through Foodservice Operators’ Eyes
Speaker: Kevin Higar, Director Operator Product Development, Technomic

The foodservice industry is both a vital customer segment of packaged foods companies and also a source of inspiration for new product ideas. What are current and emerging food developments in this arena? What culinary trends, flavor profiles and emerging concepts are operators utilizing to satisfy loyal customers and attract new ones? What strategic consumer trends drive the menu items of today and tomorrow? Most importantly, how do prepared food suppliers help operators succeed in this dynamic environment?

If It Tastes Good, Is It Bad?
Speaker: Dr. Gary Beauchamp, Director, Monell Chemical Senses Center

Foods or beverages will not be consumed unless they taste good. Yet it sometimes seems as if most of what tastes good is actually bad for us--especially sugar, salt and fat. Also, what is good for us often is not so well liked, such as vegetables. These generalizations are particularly pertinent when considering children. This presentation discusses why we like and dislike what we do, how these preferences might be modified, and why recent discoveries in how our flavor sensory systems work may provide new approaches to healthy enhancement of food flavors.

Innovation has been defined as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. Through innovation, companies lift their products above commodity status to provide more profitable foods and beverages desired by consumers. What does it mean to be innovative? What are pitfalls to avoid? Which tools and opportunities can be leveraged? This accomplished panel will offer perceptive suggestions.

Panelist 1: Lynn Gordon, President, French Meadow Bakery & Cafe
French Meadow Bakery has nationally introduced cutting-edge, healthful and even controversial products such as Men's Bread, Healthy Hemp Bagels and Fat Flush Sprouted Tortillas. Founded in 1985, French Meadow is the longest continuously certified organic bakery in the country and has been twice named by Bon Appetit magazine as one of the Ten Best bread bakeries in the U.S. With an unorthodox approach, business success has followed, with Gordon being named Minnesota’s Small Business Person of the Year in 2005 by the Minnesota district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Panelist 2: Jeff Bellairs, Director of the Worldwide Innovation Network, General Mills
General Mills is building relationships with external partners that are enhancing, complementing, and accelerating innovation already taking place internally. Coined "Open Innovation", this initiative is helping the company evolve and expand its innovation efforts. General Mills has found that by leveraging new products and technologies created outside the company, it is better prepared to meet the changing demands of the marketplace.

Cocktail Reception
Relax, unwind and enjoy mouth-watering appetizers and thirst-quenching libations.
Sponsored by National Starch Food Innovation
"Culinary Expedition of North African Regional Cuisine"

Breakfast Buffet
Sponsored by Mane

Differentiating Products with Innovative Flavor Combinations
Speakers and Facilitators: Dr. Victor A.L. Gielisse, CMC, Associate Vice President, and Ronald De Santis, Director, Continuing Education's Industry Solution Group, The Culinary Institute of America