BEMA
BEMA will celebrate its 100th anniversary at the summit.

OVERLAND PARK, KAS. — The 2018 BEMA Summit will offer three education sessions for attendees this year that address changes being made to the International Baking Industry Expo (IBIE), offer insights on the Chinese baking market and give a preview of BEMA-U’s new training platform. Taking place Feb. 23-25 in Chicago, the education sessions were developed to cover key challenges facing BEMA members.

The IBIE Exhibitor Insight session, being held on Sunday, Feb. 25, will outline new bundled booth pricing at IBIE 2019, online contracting, show floor attractions, housing blocks and more. A team from Freeman Expositions will discuss booth trends and how to use virtual reality at tradeshows.


“There are a lot of positive changes at the 2019 show for exhibitors,” said Kerwin Brown, president and chief executive officer, BEMA. “This session will help you understand the changes and get you ready for booth selection in March.”

Growing Internationally: Best Practices in China, also on Sunday, will offer advice on establishing a business in the country. Speakers from Euromonitor will present an in-depth look at China’s demographics and changing preferences. BEMA members from Unifiller, Foodtools, AMF Bakery Systems and Intralox will share best practices for opening an operation there.

Following committee meetings on Saturday, Feb. 24, Emily Bowers, BEMA’s senior director of education and professional development, will present a preview of BEMA-U’s new training platform Insights Discovery. Admission to this session is free, and registration for the BEMA Summit is not required to attend.

The summit also will feature several networking events that include a gala celebrating BEMA’s 100th anniversary and BEMA’s Lifetime Achievement awards luncheon. A full schedule for the event may be found at www.bema.org/bema-summit.