Have You Heard?
Registration is now open for the National Conference which will be held April 1-4, 2020 in Louisville, Kentucky. This is going to be so much fun and informative I can hardly wait to attend. We will be in the hometown of the Kentucky Derby which will occur the following month. Bourbon lovers will be ecstatic to be in the birthplace of this smoky drink. Then there’s the conference itself with all the social and educational opportunities to aid you in becoming successful in your BBQ focused business.
Just take a look at what is being planned, although there are still some more details to come, what is there will make it well worth the trip. There will be something for everyone to take home to apply to your business, even if it’s the smallest nugget of knowledge, you’ll be glad you came. To show you what I mean I’ve dividing the conference activities into three aspects, Social, Competition, Educational.
Social
One of the key aspects of coming to the conference is how many socializing opportunities there will be. In addition to the just walking the halls and eating together, there are times built into the general agenda. One of the most requested and highly anticipated events is the yearly BBQ bus tour. Every year attendees are asking one another if they are going and they are. The laughter and fun taking place on these bus tours is always a highlight of conference week. Then we will have daily Happy Hours beginning with Wednesday’s Welcome Reception until Friday night’s Annual Rhinestone Steak cook off where everyone has a great time even if you are not cooking a steak.
Competition
After last’s extremely successful Culinary Fight Club kickoff, the event planners saw no other choice other than to bring it back to kick of the conference once again. The overall winner, Jason Bauer and People’s Choice winner, Craig Carter will be back to defend their titles against some formidable cooks looking to win their own CFC title. Friday will see the Annual Rhinestone Cowboy Hat Steak Cookoff which has seen a variety of winners through the years, one of whom went on to win the SCA World Championship. However, the coup de grâce of the competitions is the Annual Award of Excellence. Every year rubs, sauces, gift packs and a variety of media are submitted to the judges for evaluation. Then on AOE night we all gather to celebrate the best of 2019.
Educational
I read recently when Julia Child would attend a food conference, one could find her on the front row taking notes in sessions where she wasn’t even the speaker. Every year we have remarkable classes for every person at every level in their BBQ journey. In the past we’ve have classes on media, hog prep and how to prepare for TV just to name a few. You can expect this and much more this year from the Keynote Speaker to the Meat the Masters to the new Saturday sessions A call for speakers to lead the sessions just went out so look he in the coming months for topics to be revealed.
So much happening to make this year’s conference truly remarkable you’re just not going to want to miss this. Now that you have decided to register for the conference, go ahead and book your hotel room so you can get in on the discounted rates (you have until February 24th but why wait). What will make this year even better is bringing someone who’s never been to show them how exciting BBQ can be.
Looking forward to seeing you there.