IDDBA's Dairy-Deli-Bake 2008 Program Announced

For Immediate Release

Madison, WI, February 21, 2008— The International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association™ (IDDBA) is proud to announce the world-class seminar lineup for Dairy-Deli-Bake 2008. This year's featured speakers include: Emeril Lagasse, Paula Deen, John Cleese, Malcolm Gladwell, Lou Holtz and Tony Snow.

New Orleans–home of great music, great food, and Dairy-Deli-Bake 2008. The music is legendary and the food is extraordinary. And it gets even better in June when the IDDBA's show of shows takes center stage at the convention center. IDDBA's 44th annual seminar and expo will be held June 1-3 in New Orleans, LA. The theme for this year's show is "Super Mardi Gras."

"Foodies" from all over the world will celebrate the rebirth of this beautiful city. They'll be eating the finest cuisine in local restaurants and taste-driving new offerings from the 1,500-plus booth IDDBA expo. IDDBA continues its tradition of program excellence with another lineup of top-rated speakers.

BAM! The Man and The Magic

Chef Emeril Lagasse received his first culinary experience from his mother, Hilda, when he was growing up in the small town of Fall River, Massachusetts. As a teenager, he worked at a Portuguese bakery where he mastered the art of bread and pastry baking. He passed up a full scholarship to the New England Conservatory of Music to pursue a career as a professional chef. And the rest is history. A graduate of Johnson & Wales (with an honorary degree), and has trained in Paris and Lyon, France.

Early jobs were in fine restaurants in New York and at Commander's Palace in New Orleans. He is now the chef-proprietor of ten restaurants around the country and has received numerous awards for excellence. He was inducted into the Menu Masters Hall of Fame by Nation's Restaurant News in 2006 and was named 2007 "Restaurateur of the Year" by New Orleans City Business. He's a national TV personality, has hosted over 1,500 shows on the Food Network, and is seen in more than 85 million homes daily. He's received numerous awards and Emmy nominations, is a best-selling author, and has a charitable foundation that supports and encourages programs creating developmental and educational opportunities for children. See "Emeril Live" and experience the magic that makes this man a best-loved chef.

Hey Y'all – It's Paula! From Bag Lady to Food Queen

Paula Deen is a self-made success story. She learned the secrets of southern cooking from her grandmother but had no idea that her love for grandma's Southern cooking would lead to a life-long career. But don't let her sweet, warm, down-home demeanor fool you. Behind that big smile and big hug personality lies one of the sharpest minds in food marketing. It all began with the need to support herself and her two sons. She moved from Albany to Savannah, Georgia, and started her own catering business called The Bag Lady, where she prepared fresh lunches to sell to downtown businesses and doctors' offices. She parlayed that into her own 42-seat restaurant called The Lady and Sons. In 1995, the restaurant was moved to downtown Savannah, where it's been ever since.

he's written a series of successful cookbooks and stars in two television shows. Her cookbooks include Paula Deen and Friends: Living It Up, Southern Style, The Lady and Sons Savannah Country Cookbook, The Lady and Sons Too, The Lady and Sons Just Desserts, Paula Deen Celebrates, and Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin.' She also recently published Christmas with Paula Deen.

Paula brings a sunny personality, electric energy, and a southern touch to the Food Network with her show, "Paula's Home Cooking". She also shows her fun side on her second show, "Paula's Party". Her warmth and vitality make believers and friends out of everyone. Not since Julia Child has the public seen so much cooking with butter.

Her appearance at the IDDBA Show is sponsored by Smithfield Foods.

The Importance of Creativity

Too often, businesses are all about one thing: business. With an eye ruthlessly fixed on the bottom line, businesses sometimes forget to remember that the human capacity for enjoyment and fun can make for much better business climates than those in which an eye is invariably fixed on margins, overhead, and costs.

John Cleese, one of the most influential comic writers and actors of the past 40 years, shows you how an element of creativity in the business world can reap untold dividends. From recruitment, training, and retaining employees to better and more enjoyable customer service, he's focused on helping businesses innovate and accommodate change. John was a co-founder of the groundbreaking and influential British television comedy, "Monty Python's Flying Circus".

His Cheese Shop sketch is one of the most-watched and hilarious presentations on product and customer service (or lack thereof). It's a classic in the world of food and comedy. He has written two best-selling books on psychology, appeared in numerous films, and runs Video Arts, a company that produces management and training films. Cleese's humorous presentations help businesses understand the difference between successful customer service and what can happen when it goes horribly awry.

The Tipping Point

Malcolm Gladwell has an incomparable gift for generating value by interpreting groundbreaking research in psychology, sociology, and neurology and applying it to business. He is the author of two best-selling books. His first book, The Tipping Point, offers a unique perspective on how and why change happens and describes tools for creating positive epidemics of ideas and behavior. His second book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, shows us how our unconscious mind decides lots of important things for us without our knowledge and explores ways that we can improve our decision-making abilities.

This presentation is about change: why change happens as quickly and unexpectedly as it often does, and how to recognize trends and activities that predict tipping points. These tipping points often are just ideas, behavior, messages, or products that, while individually interesting, can create avalanches when combined. Understanding how such social epidemics work can help us make our own business strategies more effective.

Election 2008: Fads, Chads, & Choices

Tony Snow wasn't just an observer of the political scene; he was an active participant in two White Houses. He served as director of speechwriting for President George H. W. Bush and as press secretary for President George W. Bush.

In this election year, he'll take you behind the scenes to discuss the candidates (what they're really like, how they act off-stage, how they respond to pressure, and whether or not they have what it takes to lead a great nation in challenging times). He knows the jokes (both funny and people) and the insider stories. He understands the dynamics between the candidates, the party activists, the media, the protestors, and the camp followers.

From true leader to wannabe, he'll cut to the chase and deliver the goods that separate the politician from the statesman from the operator. This insider's look at the political scene will delight, destroy, and deliver a full, rich picture of what's really going on in the 2008 election.

On the Edge: Operating in a Flat World

Some sectors, such as housing and banking, have had major slowdowns. We're luckier than most in that, while people don't have to buy a new house, they do have to buy food. Food isn't optional but the amount and quality of food is and that's where the price-value relationship takes over. Stakeholders are still looking for huge increases even though economic indicators tell us that sales are flat and that any growth should be applauded. If you accept that as a premise, then sit back and relax, because, as Betty Davis once said, "It's going to be a bumpy ride."

In the past, slow sales meant it was time to do a SWOT analysis or circle the wagons. SWOT stood for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. That's old thinking. The new thinking is SWOC which stands for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Challenges. That's right, Challenges. Some of the challenges we're faced with as an industry include attracting, and more importantly, keeping, good employees. Another challenge is tracking product efficiently. Whether it's data mining, e-commerce, or product recall and food safety, we have to be able to identify and track perishable products just like CPG.

When it comes to business, you can grow it or you can steal it. Whether you're growing your market or stealing market share from the competition, it boils down to share of market and market penetration. Join Rick Goodman, Senior VP, Smithfield, as he shares insights and ideas to help you pull back from the edge.

Game Plan for Success

Whether in sports, business, or life, you need a game plan, a work ethic, and the ability to pay attention to the details and to ask questions. Legendary coach Lou Holtz said, "I never learn anything talking. I only learn when I ask questions." He was the only coach in NCAA history to lead six different programs to bowl games and four different programs to final top 20 rankings.

He reaches beyond touchdown tales to apply his winning plays to the realms of business and personal achievement. Success comes from understanding your strengths, working as a team, and embracing the values that make a good organization great.

A living legend and leader of astounding ability, his turnaround success record is amazing. Holtz took a struggling Notre Dame to the national championship and a record 23-game winning streak. As head football coach at the University of South Carolina, he brought the nation's longest losing streak to a halt and placed the team in a bowl game within two seasons. He is the author of several best selling books and is an analyst for ESPN's college football network.

Winning Her Wallet by Meeting Her Mind

"Shopper marketing" has enjoyed a lot of attention in the industry as retailers and manufacturers fight to differentiate their brands at the point of sale. But the fact is – savvy marketers have been applying the principles of shopper marketing for a decade or more. Today's innovators are thinking about how to transform shoppers into buyers – by thinking like them.

Dr. Christopher Gray, Vice President of Shopper Psychology, Saatchi & Saatchi X, delves deep into the minds of consumers to better understand the motivations and influences that shape their attitudes, decision-making, and purchase behaviors.

Dr. Gray will challenge you to think differently about how to attract, engage, and motivate your customers and ultimately how to influence them to buy. At the center of Dr. Gray's philosophy is the belief that to win with shoppers, companies and brands must move beyond spreadsheets of data and develop relationships with their customers to truly understand the motivations and influences that shape their perceptions, decision-making, and purchase behaviors.

In this session, you'll see innovative approaches, strategic models, and case examples that will help you win her wallet by meeting her mind.

Behind the Mask: The Future of Retailing

In the 2008 election year, the buzzword is "change." That single word has created a groundswell that is sure to redefine our nation's path. In the world of supermarketing, change is a constant that defines how we survive and prosper. Just as the sad and happy theatre masks represent the struggle between comedy and drama, so do the masks worn by retailers, manufacturers, and consumers represent how change is both a threat and a promise. The reasons are many: changing consumer tastes, changing needs and lifestyles, changing formats, changing eating behaviors, changing competition, and changing merchandising concepts.

Join Phil Lempert, the Supermarket Guru, as he explores global supermarketing initiatives that reveal the strategies behind the tactics that are driving growth and creating new opportunities and shopping experiences. He'll use best-in-class examples and the results from an IDDBA/Supermarket Guru Consumer Panel Survey that will identify the upcoming trends.

From big to small and small to big, product and store format innovations are changing the retailing landscape forever. From ethnic to local to fresh concepts, these new forms of "category busters" are changing the face of retailing forever. You only need to look at the explosion in new store formats to understand that accelerating change is the new driver at retail and speed is the name of the game.

Food Trends: The Good Times

The lyrics for the B.B. King and Bobby Land song, "Let the Good Times Roll," includes a line that says "Don't stand there moaning, talking trash. If you wanna have some fun, you'd better go out and spend some cash and let the good time roll." In short, forget the trash talking and take responsibility for your own life. It's all about experiencing life and, no matter what your age, living for the moment. The experience is the key and that's what we're seeing and hearing from consumers and marketers.

Everyone talks about "experiential marketing" and creating lifestyle moments, but it's not easy to be on the cutting edge. It's much easier to follow the parade than to lead it. It's much easier to wait, watch, and see which direction the band is marching in and then jump out in front. If your timing is right, you're a hero. If your timing is off, you're either marching out of step or stepped on. Come join the parade.

Carol Christison, Executive Director of the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association, tracks the trends and innovations that impact our business. From technology, to new products, to merchandising, to consumer lifestyles, to economics, to you-name-it, she tracks it. She does the research, identifies the similarities, and interprets what bandwagons are in the parade and which way they're going. She uses analysis and humor to highlight the trends, products, and behavior that affect how we go to market now and in the future.

Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way (Am I the Leader I Need to Be?)

Are you a genuine leader or a pretender? Are you decisive or a procrastinator? Are you fair to all or only fair to those who'll return a favor? If you're not sure, then you need this session. It will help you discover your inner strength, root out weaknesses, and improve your leadership score. You'll come away with insight, vision, and a better understanding of the differences between a manager and a leader.

Harold Lloyd, president of Harold Lloyd Presents, says, "A good manager does things right. A good leader does the right things." The simplest explanation of ethics that we ever heard was this: Ethics is doing the right thing when no one's looking. This session isn't about Six Sigma or TQM. It's about people and doing the right things at the right time for the right reasons. As a frequent presenter at industry events and management seminars, Harold uses humor to get us to laugh at our own shortcomings and uses intelligence to get us to open ourselves to learning and excellence. No matter what your role in your organization, this session is for you. From top down or bottom up, you'll learn the eleven key leadership skills that will give you the insight, tools, and techniques to lead and motivate your team.

Health & Wellness: The Purpose-Driven Consumer

For years, we've heard the old story about digging your grave with your fork. While that may still be true for some consumers, there are growing numbers that are using their eating utensils to carve out a longer life, a healthier body, and a fit lifestyle. Known by a number of names, the "Better for You" consumer is seeking products and activities that meet their health and nutritional needs. The Health & Wellness category encompasses natural, organic, food-as-medicine, special dietary choices, and other nutritional drivers that are changing the way consumers eat.

To provide a thorough understanding of the driving forces and nutrition trends in the dairy, deli, and bakery categories, the IDDBA commissioned Dr. Elizabeth Sloan, Sloan Trends, Inc., to study the topic, survey consumers, and do an in-depth analysis of nutritional awareness, diet choices, superfoods, value-added foods, labeling, etc.

The study covers store format changes, category changes, product development, and marketing strategies. The consumer survey looks at changes in attitude, buying behavior, lifestyle, and demographics. We'll look at changes in market share, growth potential, fads versus trends, taste factors, shopper types, and consumer understanding of what the health issues are and how food can impact their lives.

Click here for a PDF version of the Schedule-At-A-Glance.
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Information on IDDBA's research, education, and other industry activities is also available on the Web site, www.iddba.org, or by calling 608.310.5000. Now in its 44th year, IDDBA specializes in promoting the dairy, deli, cheese, and bakery industries. Member companies enjoy many benefits and services including the annual seminar and expo, leading-edge research, video and CD-ROM training programs, management tools, an annual trends report, and a member directory of key industry contacts.

Jessica Hughes, Communications Coordinator
International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association (IDDBA)
636 Science Drive, Madison, WI 53711-1073
PO Box 5528, Madison, WI 53705-0528
Tel: 608.310.5000 Fax: 608.238.6330
jhughes@iddba.org