Those going to the Southeast Produce Council's 2006 Retail & Foodservice Conference can look forward to a keynote address from a national produce association president, two seminars directly targeting the needs of retailers and foodservice personnel, field tours to two of the regions top grower-shippers, an expo with more than 130 exhibit booths, and social events including an opening party, a closing reception and a golf tournament at one of the premier courses in the South.

Any with the expected retail and foodservice attendance up by 35 percent over last years conference, Terry Vorhees has every reason to look forward to this years event with optimism and enthusiasm.

"Im delighted with those numbers," said Mr. Vorhees, executive director the council.

The conference, known as Southern Exposure 2006, will take place March 2-4 in the Fort Lauderdale, FL, area. The workshops, keynote speech and expo will take place at the Greater Fort Lauderdale-Broward County Convention Center; the opening and closing parties will take place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Southern Exposure 2006 gets underway Thursday morning, March 2 with a golf tournament at the TPC Heron Bay, which until just a few years ago was on the PGA tour. Its a wonderful golf course, said Mr. Vorhees. An awards barbecue will follow.

On Friday, attendees will have the opportunity to visit two wonderful premier grower-shippers here in Florida, he said.

The first stop will be Pero Vegetable Co. to visit the companys state-of-the-art facility and its greenhouse operations for colored bell peppers. Attendees will also see field-grown green and colored bell peppers as well as the pepper grading and packingline.

The second stop on the tour will be A. Duda & Sons Inc., where attendees will be treated to lunch before seeing radish harvesting and packing, celery harvesting and packing and a celery field trial.

The opening party will take place Friday evening at the Hard Rock. I think everybodys going to really enjoy this party, said Mr. Vorhees, noting that in keeping with south Floridas Art Deco architecture, the opening partys theme is Art Deco Dazzle.

Saturdays schedule begins with a keynote address at 8:30 a.m. by Tom Stenzel, president of United Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Association. His presentation, How the fresh produce industry can take control of its own destiny and double fruit and vegetable consumption, should appeal to all retail, foodservice and grower-shipper attendees.

This will be followed by two concurrent seminars from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m.

The retail seminar is titled Produce Merchandising for Todays Retail Customer, moderated by Kevin Dunleavy, principal partner at Super Marketing Partners. Panel members scheduled are Heidi McIntyre, president of McIntyre Marketing, who will address consumer trends and demographics; Tony Lima of GolinHarris, who will address merchandising produce to different Hispanic consumers; and Jorge Antona, president of Diaz Produce, who will address merchandising Hispanic produce and products to non-Hispanic consumers.

The foodservice seminar is titled Key Foodservice Trends; Implications & Opportunities for Everyone from Grower to Operator. It will be moderated by Ronnie L. De La Cruz, who provides consulting and training services for the breadth of the fresh produce supply and distribution channels.

After these two sessions, dignitaries from the council, including Mr. Vorhees, SPC President Rick Estess and members of the retail and foodservice sectors of the produce industry, will cut the ribbon to officially open the expo, which will run from noon to 5 p.m.

The closing cocktail reception from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. will conclude the 2006 event.

For those who like to plan ahead, Mr. Vorhees noted that Southern Exposure 2007 is scheduled for Feb. 22-24 in Tampa, FL.