Pizza Today - February 2017 - 66

you are doing something that none of us
have considered yet. Or you may be having
success with something we haven't been fully
convinced to try. Idea sharing is an important part of this seminar, so come prepared
to share. Lastly, I will attempt to look into
the future to see what digital technology is
just ahead. That way we can be prepared to
adapt our marketing strategies accordingly
through the adoption of the technologies
that have the most upside potential. This
seminar will take place at 9:30 a.m. on
Wednesday, March 29th, which is just after
the keynote address by Michael Lastoria,
CEO & Co-Founder of &Pizza. If you are
like me, that is a keynote you won't want to
miss because it will certainly be chock-full of
branding gold.
This brings me to my final thought:

Through my years of attendance at Pizza
Expo, I have found myself spending more
and more time upstairs in the education
halls. This is not just because I have had the
opportunity to share what we are doing at
Farrelli's through seminars, but also because,
at Farrelli's, we are a learning organization. Pizza Expo does an exceptional job of
curating the top talent in the industry to
deliver seminars and educational sessions on
just about any topic you could possibly be
interested in learning more about. Most of
these sessions are FREE to attend with your

admission to the show. And yet, each year I
observe the masses of attendees who never
make their way off of the main exhibition
floor and up to the educational seminars.
That is a shame.
There has not been a single year that our
company has attended the show that we
have not come back and implemented no
less than three things we learned at the show
to make our business better. The result has
been a continued elevation of our brand and
our people, and our customers are the ones
who have benefited the most. In addition,
we have made some lifelong relationships
with some of the industry's leaders. These
are people that we can reach out to when
we need some advice, and we have done so
many times over. Now don't get me wrong
- there is plenty to see and learn on the
exhibition floor as well. The cooking demos
and pizza competition are great for fostering
innovation in your menu. The endless sea of
exhibitors can give you some great ideas for
evolving your business systems or to simply
find out ways to reduce your operating costs.
All I am saying is this: don't forget to head
upstairs for some seminars at this year's
show. n
CLAYTON KRUEGER is the director of marketing
and communications for Farrelli's Wood Fire
Pizza.

Set a Game Plan
A trick to help keep you focused at the show is to schedule out the seminars that you want to attend
beforehand. At Farrelli's we do this every year as a team before departing for Las Vegas. Pizza Expo has
made doing so pretty easy with the introduction of the Pizza Expo app, where you can save your favorite
seminars and add them right to your calendar so you'll never miss a session. Looking ahead at the schedule, here are a couple that I am very interested in attending myself:

* Monday, 12:30pm - Innovation Keeps Me Growing, Doug Ferriman
* Tuesday, 9:30am - Motivating and Marketing to Millennials, Gerry O'Brion
* Tuesday, 2:30pm - Brand Marketing with TNT, Bill Jacobs and Jim Furrh
* Wednesday, 8:15am - Keynote, Michael Lastoria
* Wednesday, 2:30pm - Proven Guerilla Marketing Tactics, Bill Jacobs and Michael Shepherd
* Wednesday, 4:00pm - Adding Pizza Styles to Your Menu, Jeff Smokevitch
* Thursday, 10:00am - Ask the Chefs, Mike Rutledge, Tony Gemignani, and Graziano Bertuzzo

6 6 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / F E B R UA R Y 2 0 1 7

See:

Clayton Krueger
at Pizza Expo

W05 Increasing Sales
Through Customer
Engagement
(Fee: $250)
Sunday, March 26
1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: N254
Speakers: Clayton Krueger,
Eric Shepherd

W10 Creating a
Coordinated
Pizzeria Marketing Plan
(Fee: $250)
Monday, March 27
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Room: N254
Speakers: Clayton Krueger,
Eric Shepherd

Do-It-Yourself Video
Production
Tuesday, March 28
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Room: N258
Speaker: Clayton Krueger

Proven Tactics in
Digital Marketing
Wednesday, March 29
9:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Room: N260
Speaker: Clayton Krueger

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Pizza Today - February 2017

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