Imagine walking into a hotel or convention center and telling the sales team that you’d love to have a meeting at their venue,
but there’s just one catch: You want to bring in all of your own food. That’s what the Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (cfsa) does
every year during the site-selection process for its annual Sustainable Agriculture Conference, which this past Nov. 11–13 attracted a record 1,200 attendees to Durham, N.C. “It’s a major request. It’s the make-or-break piece of our negotiation,
and oftentimes hotels or venues will refuse our business,” said Fred Broadwell, program manager for the Pittsboro, N.C.–based organization.
“We typically say that we are going to be holding an organic-farming event, so we want to walk the talk. We want to have local, seasonal, and organic food to the extent possible,... and we’re looking for the hotel to be flexible. “Will they allow us to purchase our own food and bring it in and have
them prepare it? Or will they allow an outside caterer to be involved? If we sense there is flexibility, we can start a dialogue. But the devil is in the details.”
›
Test Time Here’s how to earn your CEU hour. Once you finish reading this CMP Series article, read or watch the following material:
› A list of basic tips for offering sustainable F&B from BlueGreen Meetings, at convn.org/basic-tips.
› A video of San Diego Convention Center Executive Chef Jeff Leidy on site at Suzie’s Farm, explaining the produce planted specifically for F&B functions at PCMA 2012 Convening Leaders, at convn.org/pcma-farm.
To earn one hour of CEU credit, visit pcma.org/convenecmp to answer questions about the information contained in this CMP Series article and the additional material.
Local Bounty CFSA’s 2011 conference menu was 90-percent locally sourced.
The Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) is a registered trademark of the Convention Industry Council.