360° Professional Development at IBIE

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360° Professional Development at IBIE

19 May 2022

Joanie Spencer

Since 2008, Joanie Spencer has covered the retail and wholesale sides of the baking industry.
Serving associations such as the American Society of Baking (ASB) and BEMA, Joanie is also in demand as an industry presenter on bakery operations and trends. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from Rockhurst University and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.

When she’s not running or playing soccer, Joanie spends her time with her husband and 11-year-old son.

LAS VEGAS — For a fully immersive baking industry education event, there’s no beating the International Baking Industry Exposition (IBIE), to be held Sept. 17-21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). In fact, Sept. 17 is a day fully dedicated to IBIEducate, one day before the show floor opens.

“IBIE is a feature-rich tradeshow and educational experience,” said Emily Bowers, VP of education and operations for BEMA, which co-owns the show, and co-manager for IBIEducate. “Overall, there are multiple elements of experience and numerous opportunities to network. By dedicating a full day to education prior to the show floor opening, attendees have a day for focused learning and professional development with no distractions.”

While attendees will get the full educational experience from classroom settings to hands-on workshops, the learning doesn’t stop when the IBIEducate bell rings. The program is designed to impart not only knowledge that can be applied to the business back home but also to the right mindset throughout the entire show.

“Education sessions are designed with skill acquisition in mind, and the knowledge you can apply to the other show features creates a truly unique professional development experience,” Bowers said.

It also creates a platform for talking points when visiting exhibitor booths. By combining their own operational and R&D needs with the information they gain from IBIEducate, bakers are ready to have meaningful conversations with suppliers and can make informed decisions about their equipment, ingredient and service needs.

IBIE is about so much more than just touring booths and seeing equipment in action. While that’s an important aspect of the show, IBIE is a multi-faceted experience that can create entirely new perspectives on a baker’s business needs … and uncover solutions that might not otherwise be on the radar.

“There are relevant conversations planned for the exhibitor stage in the RBA Baker Center and the QuickBITES programming,” said Samantha Moore, senior director, meetings and education for the American Bakers Association (ABA), which also co-owns the show. “One of the best ways to learn at IBIE is walking the show and engaging with the exhibitors in their booths. Each one has knowledgeable industry experts eagerly waiting to converse with attendees.”

New this year is the cannabis pavilion, where bakers will have the chance to learn more about the emerging market. It will feature education, demos and thought leadership for any baker interested in breaking into cannabis-based products, which provides valuable base knowledge to keep in mind when talking to supplier partners about their capabilities in cannabis production and R&D.

Additional programming will also be available on Sept. 17 that provides immersive industry segment-specific content.

The Tortilla Industry Association will co-locate its annual technical conference with IBIE Sept. 17-18 at the LVCC. The conference will address technical issues in areas such as tortilla chip production, clean label strategies, preventive maintenance on tortilla equipment, overall production troubleshooting, R&D best practices and more.

Tortilla producers will also have an opportunity to network with suppliers to make introductions and set up appointments for booth visits, where attendees can learn more about how technology advances can help with all the information gained at the conference.

ABA will also host a Cookie Cracker Workshop Sept. 17 as an additional registration offering to provide an opportunity for commercial bakers to dive into the technical aspects of cookie and cracker production. The lineup will include a presentation on the latest cookie and cracker trends, a panel discussion on oven technology, education on plant-based ingredient applications and more.

This workshop will close with a networking reception that creates additional opportunities for introductions and follow-ups that can parlay into show floor visits the following day.

This story has been adapted from the April | Q2 2022 issue of Commercial Baking. Read the full story in the digital edition here.

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