United Fresh Produce Association Moves Its Annual Convention Online
April 1, 2020 With the 2020 season ramping up for growers and the produce supply chain — and the full impact of COVID-19 still unknown — the United Fresh Produce Association announced it will transition its in-person annual convention to a virtual event this summer.
United Fresh LIVE!, previously scheduled for San Diego, will be held entirely online, debuting the week of June 15, 2020. The event will be free to all attendees. The experience will be designed to maximize connections between customers and suppliers, ideally encouraging multiple participants from individual companies and virtual attendees from around the world who would have been unable to attend in person.
Shifting from a live event on such short notice offers some unique challenges.
“This is not a cheap alternative to a live event,” said United Fresh President & CEO Tom Stenzel. “We made the decision we thought was right for our members and for the industry.”
Stenzel pointed out that the adjustments the entire world has gone through over the past few weeks convinced the leadership at United Fresh that the produce industry was ready to take such a step.
“During these past few weeks, we’ve all learned something about connections,” he said in a release announcing the event. “While we can’t wait to join with industry friends again in person, we’ve also realized that we’re connecting today in new ways. We’re all online, with video streaming, face-to-face chats, and group interactions that, just a month ago, we didn’t know how to do.”
United Fresh representatives said the event platform will feature live keynote presentations, roundtable discussion groups, networking interaction, and a virtual expo floor where exhibitors and attendees can share information, view videos and other content, chat live, and make the same connections one would at an in-person event. Much of the content will also be recorded and available for participants who couldn’t attend the live presentation.
Is “virtual” the future of United Fresh events? Stenzel said his hope is that as the COVID-19 crisis passes that United Fresh will still be able to host its Washington Conference in person this fall. That remains to be seen of course. He left the door open to the future of the annual United Fresh LIVE! event as well. “Is it possible that this is an online event in the future? It’s possible. We’ll see,” he said.
United Fresh will be releasing more information about the event at United Fresh LIVE! in the coming weeks.
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