Registration Now Open for Annual Meat Conference, March 9-11 in Nashville, Tennessee

Washington, DC -- Registration is now open for the industry’s premier retail meat merchandising conference, the Annual Meat Conference, slated for March 9-11, 2008, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, Nashville, Tenn.

Co-sponsored by the American Meat Institute (AMI) and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), the conference each year attracts 800 members of the retail grocery and meat industries. It is considered the leading educational event focusing on meat and poultry marketing developments, merchandising issues and consumer purchasing trends.

Associate sponsors for the conference include the American Lamb Board, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the National Chicken Council & U.S Poultry and Egg Association, the National Pork Board and the National Turkey Federation.

This year’s conference will serve up some bold thinking about selling strategies, operational efficiencies, packaging, marketing, technology and workforce issues. General session topics include the secrets to unshakable customer loyalty, and an in-depth look at meat through the customers’ eyes. Workshops will focus on important topics such as regulatory compliance, animal welfare, grilling trends, environmental sustainability, electronic marketing and new ways to increase sales.

AMC session sponsors this year include Kayem Foods, Odom’s Tennessee Pride, Maverick Ranch, Cryovac-A Division of Sealed Air and Tyson Foods, Inc. Additional sponsorship opportunities are available.

In addition to numerous educational sessions and workshops, the 2008 conference will feature the popular Product Tasting Reception on Monday, March 10. Nearly 50 meat and poultry companies showcase newly developed products and brand line extensions to a retail buyer audience.

AMC 2008 also will feature the annual Tech Fair Luncheon. At this luncheon, suppliers to the meat, poultry and retail supermarket industries display new technology, ranging from irradiation services to labeling machinery to in-store processing and packaging equipment. This year, participants can also visit the Tech Fair displays during the Monday breakfast, morning break and at the traditional luncheon. The new hours will be from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Advance registration for the conference is $595 per person, or $545 for three or more members of the sponsoring associations. On-site registration is $695 per person, or $645 for three or more members registering together or $515 when 10 or more retailers/wholesalers register together. Non-member registration is $1,290 per person.

The complete conference program, as well as a registration form, may be accessed by logging onto at www.MeatConference.com.

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AMI represents the interests of packers and processors of beef, pork, lamb, veal and turkey products and their suppliers throughout North America. Together, AMI's members produce 95 percent of the beef, pork, lamb and veal products and 70 percent of the turkey products in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Institute provides legislative, regulatory, public relations, technical, scientific and educational services to the industry. Its affiliate, the AMI Foundation, is a separate 501(c)3 organization that conducts research, education and information projects for the industry.

Food Marketing Institute (FMI) conducts programs in research, education, industry relations and public affairs on behalf of its 1,500 member companies — food retailers and wholesalers — in the United States and around the world. FMI’s U.S. members operate approximately 26,000 retail food stores with a combined annual sales volume of $680 billion — three-quarters of all food retail store sales in the United States. FMI’s retail membership is composed of large multi-store chains, regional firms and independent supermarkets. Its international membership includes 200 companies from more than 50 countries.