Highlights of the GEAPS Exchange 2023 [Video]

Transcript:

Feed & Grain 00:00

Can you tell us a little about yourself and what you do at GEAPS?

Adrianne Fjerstad-Miller 00:01

Hi I'm Adrianne Fjerstad-Miller. I'm the Conference Expo director for GEAPS. So I'm the lead staff liaison for our exchange futures committee. I also worked on planning and a lot of Expo production, as well as a lot of vendor management for the show.

Brittany Labatt

00:28

And I'm Brittany Labatt. I am the conference and sales manager at GEAPS, and I work directly with exhibitors, doing booth sales and sponsorship as well as special events here at Exchange.

F&G 00:39

What's new at the GEAPS Exchange this year?

Labatt 00:45

So this year, I believe, is the first year where the EPC made a marriage between the education tracks and the innovation stations. So the themes of those run throughout the entire Exchange. Something else is that our exhibitors always use Exchange as a time when they sort of launch new products and services. So I think that's something new as well. You just got to go out and find those exhibitors that have the new products and services ready to show you.

F&G 01:26

Is anything fun happening on the trade show floor?

Fjerstad-Miller

01:26

Yeah, we have a couple of things that are pretty fun. So we have a chapter cornhole tournament, which is actually taking place at the GEAP's booth, and a lot of our chapters are participating in that. And so, that's been really fun. Also, we are allowing the first time this year, our exhibitors to serve food and beverage to attendees from their booths. So I think that just adds other nice elements for our attendees at the show.

F&G 01:50

Are there any other GEAPS conferences or events happening in 2023?

Labatt 01:56

Yeah, so we will be hosting a leadership conference coming in June of '23. This will be in Portland. It's a really good opportunity to meet industry professionals and friends from Exchange. It's much smaller in scale. We'll have some education sessions, as well as a smaller tabletop show for companies to bring some of their services and products.

Fjerstad-Miller

02:23

And then we also, for the first time, we're co-locating with VICTAM. They've got a show in Brazil. So it will be the inaugural event. It's in Sao Paulo, October 3 through fifth and will the GEAPS pavilion there. So if you're interested in exhibiting, please reach out to us. We'll also be providing some education tracks at that show as well. So [email protected] is a great way to reach out if you're interested.

F&G 02:51

What's your favorite part of the GEAPS Exchange?

Adrianne Fjerstad-Miller 02:58

I think for me; it's all year long. We interact so much with our members and the exhibitors. And it's just a nice way to celebrate everybody in person. And you know, email and phone are great communication tools, but nothing beats that in-person interaction. So that's my favorite aspect.

Labatt 03:17

And I would say the "Get Acquainted" party, which is Saturday before the conference really kicks off. The first big event of the conference where everyone kind of is seeing each other again, since the previous year. So it's a great reunion, and this year was fun. It was speakeasy-themed, so we had a really fun time. I would say that's my favorite.

Adrianne Fjerstad-Miller Conference & Expo director and Brittany Labatt Sales and Conference manager for the Grain Elevator and Processing Society talk with Feed & Grain as part of GEAPS Exchange series of videos.

Topics include:

• What was new at this year's Exchange
• Fun activates on the Expo floor
• Other GEAPS event happening in 2023
• Their favorite part about the Exchange