The week of October 23 - 28 was jam-packed with fantastic experiences and people as we attended two conferences filled with inspiring people from school nutrition departments, family farms, state and national agencies, advocacy groups, and even California’s First Partner, Jennifer Siebel-Newsom.
CA Farm to School Conference
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the 24th & 25th, several hundred people gathered at The Packhouse at Aziz Farms in California’s Coachella Valley for a gathering produced and sponsored by CDFA’s Office of Farm to Fork. CDFA Secretary Karen Ross was on hand to champion her Farm to School team, including Nick Anicich, Rachel Finkes, and Amy Garfinkel, as well as many of their regional specialists.
California’s First Partner, Jennifer Siebel-Newsom, speaks about her advocacy for Farm to School at the CDFA Farm to School Conference at The Packhouse at Aziz Farms
The Chef Ann Foundation presented awards for some of the most innovative people in school nutrition, and we were thrilled to see friend and former client Eric Span of Sweetwater Union High School District among them. In addition to the awards, panel discussions, and expertise shared, we were thrilled to be able to meet so many people in person that we’ve only seen via Zoom.
What a pleasure to get some face-to-face time with Erin Primer of San Luis Coastal Unified School District, National Farm to School Network Interim Co-Executive Director Miguel Villareal, EatReal’s Nora LaTorre, Ben Thomas and Tim Wilkinson from Shared Plate Strategies (more on them from CSNA), School Meal Marketing Podcast guest Missy Poirier from Jurupa Unified School District, and many more.
Let’s Taco-Bout The Avocado On Your Head
Dunk Tank’s Dave Palmer explains the secret of his home-made guacamole to Adam McLane of The Farm at Worman Mill in front of Eat Real’s festive backdrop
In addition to the new in-person faces it was great as always to see friends like our San Diego buddy Prem Durairaj from Data Elevates, Adam McLane from The Farm at Worman Mill in Mariposa County, Judi Reynolds from Fallbrook Union High School District, Nora Stewart from Friends of the Earth, and more.
“Let’s Both Wear Maroon Today…”
… is not what Prem Durairaj of Data Elevates and Dave said to each other; it just worked out that way so we took a picture in front of a Farm to School Celebrations board.
We’re looking forward to the sequel of this year’s conference where we can look back on the Farm to School Dreams, Celebration, Questions, and Solutions that were cataloged, and see how the movement continues to grow, change, improve, and innovate. There’s been a lot of progress but there is much, much more to accomplish.
CSNA 2023
This was our second year to attend CSNA, and the first to present a workshop as well as the first to have a booth in the exhibit hall. The workshop, How Does Your (Digital) Garden Grow? Leveraging Social Media For Marketing & Engagement, went well for those hearty enough to make the 8 AM start time. The time presented a strategic and practical process to level up marketing and messaging for school meal programs.
The booth where it happened - our inaugural CSNA booth
Rather than offer a deluge of tactical ideas that flood people's brains, we opted to present a strategic approach that offers a foundation to build on, as well as step-by-step approaches to clarifying messaging, creating content that aligns with the messaging, and the discipline to stay on message. It was a blast and we’d be happy to present it again and again.
I am also grateful to Jennifer McNeil of Lunch Assist for a pro tip ahead of the session. CSNA has an event photographer capturing images during each workshop, and when I realized that he was in my session I stopped to face him directly in hopes of getting a better image. You can see the comparisons and hopefully, it turned out well; I think it did.
Speaking of Jennifer and Lunch Assist, we took advantage of the near-perfect Palm Springs weather to record a future episode of the School Meal Marketing Podcast outside near the Renaissance Hotel pool (but out of earshot of the piped-in music). Jennifer has a wonderful warmth about her and is also an inspiring person to glean insights from. She’s also a bad-ass in the best possible way and we’re so grateful to have gotten some time with her.
Booth Visitors: Jennifer McNeil of Lunch Assist and Amy Haessly of Fallbrook Union Elementary School District. Jennifer did her dietetic internship with Amy, which was a key factor in her decision to enter school nutrition. Amy was one of the first clients I ever had at Vista Unified’s WaveCrest Cafe. Both are inspiring, encouraging, and insightful leaders I am grateful to know.
And once we get our episode with Jennifer posted they’ll both be guests on our podcast!
Our booth time was a lot of fun, as Ben and Tim from Shared Plate Strategies were right next to us and we encouraged people to talk to each other (while also learning about air guitar competitions and promo items at bicycle conventions). It was a blast to have friends and clients stop by as well as bring others to see us.
Our message, “Take Control Of Your Story” seemed to resonate with a lot of school nutrition professionals. There was a keen desire to transcend the cheap stereotypes and over-used cliches about school food and staff to tell a different story. Of particular importance was the encouragement to build a model, however small, and then build capacity from there.
More Booth Pics: What a blast to have Tim Wilkinson and Ben Thomas of Shared Plate Strategies as our next-booth neighbors! They do fantastic work and we like ‘em a lot. And lots of fun trouble ensued when Missy Poirier of Jurupa Unified School District and Mark and Nicole Tadros of Aziz Farms stopped by. At one point all four of us were rocking Aziz Farms’ cool “I AM LOCAL” shirts - a hit at the show.
Booth Images, Part 3: When Michael Jochner of Morgan Hill Unified School District and Erin Primer of San Luis Coastal Unified School District stopped by, the energy and creativity skyrocketed! Such smart people and amazing creativity and innovation. Not to be outdone, San Diego Unified’s Leslie Luna stopped in to talk about our recent work together. Again, we’re so grateful to know, learn from, and work with these leaders.
WIN. BUILD. REEPEAT. Starting to market a program, or to level up the marketing that’s already being done, can be overwhelming, which can be paralyzing. But getting small wins and then building on them builds momentum, enthusiasm, and buy-in. The hardest step, as they say, is the first, and we love helping clients take that first step (we also like helping them take the 1,000th or 10,000th step).
So no matter where you are with taking control of your story, we’re ready to walk with you on that journey. If you haven’t begun to market your program, we can help you take those first steps. If you’re ready to level things up and dig deeper, we’re here to equip and assist you with that as well.
Thanks to everyone we met and talked with at the two conferences, and for all of the amazing work you’re doing. Don’t keep your stories a secret - they’re too important and too life-changing to our children, families, and communities.
Take Control of Your Story.
If marketing your school meal program keeps slipping away from you, now is the time to take control of your story, and we can help!
Put our 10+ years of school meal marketing to work for your program and build participation, engagement, and awareness for the amazing things you’re doing.
Click here to get started today.