TUESDAY, JULY 17
COMMODITIES

Making Your Commodity Dollars Work for You
Participants will take home a template to calculate the real cost of a specific commodity that includes all related costs such as storage and delivery. Attendees will be made aware of their processing options with respect to a state distributing agency's structure for warehousing and delivery

Hot Topics Affecting Commodity Processing
What's late breaking news in the commodity processing program? Keep up with issues that are most current. Find out what changes are anticipated to affect your operations and, during the Q & A segment, voice your support or concerns for the potential changes. While the proposed regulations may not be finalized by the ANC, there will be some indication of which provisions will be approved if they are non- controversial. You will also be advised of any new initiatives that USDA may be considering and/or guidance material that has been developed.

Recipient Agency Procurement Guidance: A
Handbook for Processing Success
Come hear about this comprehensive, up-to-date recipient agency handbook straight from its team of authors. Also, learn about requirements for combining commodity and commercial bids, as well as tips on staging a bid opening. Attendees will receive a take-home manual.

You Just Opened Your Box of Commodities…
Understanding the chain of events and the importance of your feedback to USDA about the commodities you receive. New USDA funding,ordering,and entitlement policies, combined with new technology allow for more demand driven and cost effective commodity ordering. Learn how schools can get the maximum benefit from their commodity planned assistance levels. Learn how to make smart ordering decisions and to anticipate and resolve food ordering issues early in the school year.

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Building a Healthy a la Carte Program: Making Cents Out of Change
The goal of this session is to provide school food authorities with the tools and resources needed to offer healthier, appealing a la carte options to children without losing revenue. Participants will have the opportunity to share their own success stories.

Local Procurement Challenges: Navigating the Maze
Learn how a “public interest broker” works with school food leaders in NYC to apply a local foods strategy that includes fresh, frozen and processed foods. The discussion will focus on how to establish a base line, set realistic goals and measure results.

Making a Vending Decision
Participants will be provided with tools and case studies to assist in completing a vending feasibility study in a large or small district. Applying this information will support a final decision to vend healthy snacks and reimbursable meals. Attendees will be encouraged to share their experiences.

The Amazing Race, Deal or No Deal, Survival
How do you survive renovations and new construction? Learn all you need to know in this session, including layout and design, do’s and don’ts, working with key team players and much more. Participants will view handouts of working documents, as well as before-and-after pictures of renovated schools.

Kitchen Financial Success
Come learn how to use inventory, production records and standardized recipes as tools to manage the budget for each individual school. Participants will learn how these tools affect the finances in their kitchen and how they can use these tools to improve each school’s financial success. (Two sessions on Tuesday)

Work Simplification for Non-Commercial Kitchens
Live demonstrations of work simplification techniques and equipment will complement this presentation. Attendees will learn to identify simplification techniques recommended for non-commercial kitchen production. (Two sessions on Tuesday)

LEADERSHIP
Implementing Mandatory Certification of Child Nutrition Directors and Managers
Learn about the legislative and rules-making process for Arkansas public schools through examples based on recent regulations. Review of nutrition regulations will be emphasized.

Industry Legislative Update
The session will highlight legislation that has been introduced in the 110th Congress. Attendees also will learn how this legislation affects industry, as well as their operations.

Membership Recruitment and Retention
The Member Services Committee will present a train-the-trainer workshop to help participants learn how they can present all the benefits of membership to gain new members. An opportunity to share ideas and success stories will be included.

Public Speaking 101
During this session, Steve Kissell will share insider tips gained from his professional speaking experience and will demonstrate how to grab attention and keep it. Participants will learn ways to
punch up and add pizzazz to any presentation.

Aspiring Assistant Managers
Participants of this session will role play common situations in school kitchens to gain a better understanding of what it takes to succeed as a manager and advance in the school nutrition profession.

Cultivating Leadership in Your Staff
Everyone has the potential to be a leader, but how individuals interact with other staff either can encourage or prevent leadership. This session will give you some quick tips to help grow leaders in your ranks and make your job easier!

Making a Good First Impression
(See Sunday for description.)

MARKETING
Get the Skinny on Kids
Designed for industry and foodservice directors, this session will provide keen insights into the factors shaping students’ food and beverage decisions both inside and outside the school cafeteria. The presentation also will review a Spring 2006 student survey.

National School Breakfast Week Kick Off!
This session will kick off a new, fun and creative theme for increasing breakfast participation throughout the year. Presenters also will share celebration ideas and review tools for members to make their school breakfast promotion a huge success!

10 Marketing Secrets of the Purple Cow
Purple Cow marketing involves communication techniques and building partnerships. Participants will understand the concept of the Purple Cow and learn marketing ideas, find resources and change problems into opportunities in both small and large districts.

Creative Customer Service
Motivational trainer Steve Kissell offers dynamic tactics on how to reduce stress, improve employee morale and increase job performance. Learn the necessary skills to deal with customers in a positive, creative and constructive manner.

Increasing Participation: Serving Food that Kids Love
Participants will learn new ideas for healthy and good-tasting menu items that will help increase participation and improve revenue. Also, learn how commercial trends in the restaurant industry can affect participation.

Public Relations Is You!
If you are committed to assuring that customers leave the cafeteria nourished and ready to learn, check out this session. Participants will climb the “Happy Customer Ladder,” using the four “rungs” for maintaining and promoting customer loyalty.

SAFETY AND SECURITY
Leftovers for Pigs or People
Got leftovers at the end of lunch?
Learn how to connect with local agencies to provide meals for the needy. Or if your leftovers only are fit for pigs, learn how they may benefit livestock.

Realistic Strategies to Support a Food-Safety Management Plan
Find out how a school district designed and executed strategies to ensure the success of their food-safety management plan. These strategies include facility assessments; use of an independent party to conduct food-safety audits; and development of a proactive training program to ensure consistency.

Healthy Cuisine for Kids
NFSMI’s Healthy Cuisine for Kids (HCK) helps school nutrition professionals develop the culinary skills needed to prepare and serve healthy and appealing meals. The presenters will discuss practical approaches for incorporating the Dietary Guidelines for Americans into school meals.

Food Allergy 101
Participants of this session will discover the importance of effective food-allergy management in a school foodservice setting and learn what to do in case of emergency. The presentation will use a mini “quiz show” to illustrate lessons learned. The first 100 attendees will receive a food-allergy resource.

Food Safety Is in Your Hands
Research on more than 120 hours of observation of handwashing practices in schools will be presented, along with proposed benchmarks for school foodservice. Participants will practice proper handwashing with GloGerm supplies and become aware of new training materials.

Safe for Me: Tools to Help Implement Your Food Safety Plan
This session will highlight useful tools that directors and supervisors can use to train kitchen staff in implementing food-safety and HACCP plans.

Dealing With a Suspected Foodborne Illness Outbreak
Learn how a director endured a suspected outbreak of over 350 children. The discussion will cover the critical process of collecting samples with the health department and identify the need to create protocols in individual schools to handle such a situation.

WELLNESS
Alliance for a Healthier Generation: School Beverage Guidelines and Healthier School Environments
This session will identify sustainable actions that schools can take to develop healthier school environments. A video will be shown describing school beverage guidelines and the recommendations will be explained. Participants will discuss strategies and lessons learned, as well as learn about available support and assistance.

Improving Wellness and Educational Outcomes Through Breakfast and After-school Nutrition Programs
Come learn from a panel of experts who will share winning strategies that promote participation in after-school snack programs, the Summer Food Service Program and the School Breakfast Program.

Put Your Wellness Pants On
Motivate wellness partners with quick 3-5 minute activities that students, teachers and staff can do to improve wellness by increasing their physical activity.

The Role of Schools in Promoting Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
Participants will review the connection between health and academic achievement and be introduced to research-based strategies, tools and resources to improve the school environment and provide opportunities to adopt healthy eating and physical activity behaviors. Tools and resources will also be shared on local school wellness policy implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Bring Magic Back to the Cafeteria!
Come learn the secrets of food to bring back the magic in your cafeteria. Participants will increase their creativity and knowledge of nutrition; learn how to incorporate USDA’s Food Pyramid with their nutrition lessons; and be prepared to partner with school faculty, staff and community with this new venture.

Laugh Your Way to Success
Professional speaker Laura Stack will teach the importance of fun in the workplace as a way of increasing creativity and productivity; improving morale; and creating stronger teams. Participants will learn strategies to inject humor into each day, as well as how to diffuse tension and help co-workers lighten up!

Driving Nutrition Awareness for your Menu Plans, Wellness Policies and Student Participation
Whole grains, trans fat and sugar –three nutrition subjects which are significant to your menu planning and wellness policies yet largely misunderstood. Through the course of this presentation, participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of these three topics … so that you can continue to shape your menu plans and wellness policies, and market effectively to your students.