The Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit will name a Floral Marketer of the Year, host a Floral Networking Reception and hold a town hall-style meeting on plans for a floral affiliate. Also, the event will offer workshops on topics of interest to the floral community, including social media, mobile marketing, engaging multiple generations in the marketplace and competing in the “E-Revolution” in retailing.

John Oxford, chairman of the 2011 Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit, posed last year with Terril A. Nell of the University of Florida, named Floral Marketer of the Year. The 2010 winner, Bill Byland, right, presented the award. Dr. Nell will announce the 2012 winner this year at an Oct. 27 reception.The annual show will run Oct. 26-28 this year at California’s Anaheim Convention Center. Officials at PMA said in a statement in mid-September that they expected more than 18,500 attendees from about 70 countries, with the largest attendance from the West Coast. The 247,000-square-foot exhibit hall will have more than 1,000 exhibitors.

The 2012 show has been shortened from three days to two (though actual exhibit hall time was shortened by just 90 minutes) and educational workshops have been centralized in one day, Oct. 26. The agenda includes a women’s leadership event, eight receptions, a 5K race and a closing party.

The Floral Networking Reception, traditionally a no-program event, will be the venue this year for the Floral Marketer of the Year Award and a town hall-style meeting on a proposed PMA floral affiliate. The presenter of the marketing award will be 2011 award winner Terril A. Nell, emeritus professor and department chairman at the University of Florida.

The town hall meeting will highlight the work of the 30-member PMA Floral Council, which is laying the groundwork for a floral affiliate and working on plans for the floral program at the 2013 Fresh Summit. This year’s summit was already planned when the council was named (see “PMA Floral Council guides Fresh Summit floral offerings,” The Produce News, Sept. 10, 2012, page 94).

The centerpiece of the floral council’s plans for the 2013 Fresh Summit is a new floral pavilion to serve as the focal point for floral networking on the show floor. Most of the pavilion space has been reserved, said Michael Schrader of Schnuck Markets, chairman of the floral council. He said additional town hall-style meetings are planned, including one in Miami in November or December.

A special floral package is available for registration for the 2012 Fresh Summit and includes Friday’s Welcoming Reception, general sessions Saturday and Sunday, all days of the expo, Saturday’s Floral Networking Reception and Sunday’s Closing Party at a cost of $700 for members and $1,050 for non-members.