The Craft Brewers Conference is just a few days away, and we’re very excited to be attending, sponsoring, meeting up with old friends and getting to know new ones. If you’re headed that way, be sure to visit us at Booth 976. We’ll be serving beer – and slinging swag – throughout the entire event, and would love to either reconnect or meet for the first time.
Each year, we challenge ourselves to narrow down the incredible list of sessions to ten “must see” events. Granted, we’re down for anything about brewery software, brewery operations or expanding into the “beyond beer” space, but the sessions about sustainability, general trends and mental health have also piqued our interest.
We also love to see our industry partners and customers speak about challenges and successes! Not to mention the keynote with Fawn Weaver telling the incredible story of Uncle Nearest…There is so much to see and learn that we have several conflicting events – which is a sign of an awesome conference!
Keep reading for our top ten sessions, and let us know if we missed any on your list. We’ll see you in Vegas!
SUNDAY
Brewery Strategic Financial Planning and Leadership Bootcamp
Audra Gaiziunas, Paris McFarthing, Maria Pearman, Adam Robbings, Nicole Smith, Sonya White and Charles Willett
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
This all-day seminar is going to be a true deep dive into the financial management of a brewery. Featuring a panel of esteemed financial leaders from the craft beer industry, the day promises to improve your competency and leadership skills with high-level strategies focused on budgeting, calculating COGS, forecasting, as well as KPI identification and tracking. Note: this session requires a different registration than the rest of the conference.
MONDAY
Zero to 100,000 Barrels in 10 Years: What Worked for Schilling Cider
Colin Schilling and Mark Kornei
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Join Schilling Cider’s leaders to hear how they shepherd the company to become the nation’s largest producer of fresh-pressed hard cider in just over a decade. You’ll walk away with ideas and tools to scale your craft beverage business while keeping an eye on culture, consumers and sustainability.
Who’s Hungry? Strategies for Adding Food to Your Taproom
Andrew Coplon, Jake Nunes, Kary Shumway and Elisa Strupp
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Food is a huge part of a taproom’s draw – but it also can be a daunting task. Learn from the pros about how to add food to make your business stand out (and increase profitability) without driving you or your staff crazy with stress.
TUESDAY
Digital Marketing Mastery for Craft Breweries: Your Practical Checklist for Success
Jenna Dutton and Julie Rhodes
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Marketing your beer business is challenging. This session will provide a practical checklist of digital marketing tactics to broaden your digital footprint and improve customer engagement. You’ll also learn about best practices for social media, email marketing, online advertising and website optimization.
Crafting Success: Export Insights for Caribbean Expansion
Jorge Del Giudice and Francisco Santana
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
The Caribbean is an interesting new market for American craft beer. Join these industry experts to learn about optimizing distribution and pricing, working with importers and navigating regulations to best serve customer preferences in the region.
Innovation: What Does It Mean and How Can It Help Your Business
Natalie Rose Baldwin, Tonya Cornett, Kelly McKnight and Megan Parisi
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
This panel will include brewery operations experts to discuss the definition of innovation, the impacts it can have on the bottom line and how to foster it at your brewery. You’ll walk away galvanized to harness the power and possibility of innovation in all its forms.
WEDNESDAY
Brewing with Climate-Friendly Regenerative Ingredients: A Gateway to New Customers
Jack Dyer, Mary Guiver, Paul Lightfoot, Garrett Oliver and Bart Watson
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Breweries looking for ways to innovate sustainably will likely gain a lot of good insight from this panel discussion about climate-friendly grains and the many benefits and challenges of creating new offerings with them. The session will also touch on managing both the financial investment required and the transformation brought about by syncing offerings with consumer demand.
An Introduction to Distilling for Brewers
Phil Markowski
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Introduced by our co-CEO Kristin Steele, this session will familiarize craft brewers with the basics of distilling alcohol from fermented substrates (such as beer). As head distiller for Two Roads Distilling Co., Phil has produced gin, vodka, rum, single malt whiskey, bourbon and a selection of whiskies distilled from Two Roads beer.
Brewing Better Leaders: Tapping Into Operational Excellence
Pulkit K. Agrawal, Jennifer Briggs and Garrett Marrero
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
This panel of brewery industry heavyweights will discuss how they scaled small businesses into massive, multi-brand corporations. Topics include shifting mindsets, delegating to staff members and empowering teams, understanding how to drive growth from investments, running effective meetings and more.
Your Brewery Is a Business, Not a Hobby
Scott Metzger
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Scott Metzger, president and COO of Craft ‘Ohana, has been an integral part of the company’s multi-category success story. In this session, he’ll discuss the foundational elements of managing – and measuring – your brewery business effectively to unite your workforce and drive profitable, sustainable growth.
What Happens at CBC…
Judging from the speakers and topics alone, 2024 may be the best CBC yet. And we haven’t even mentioned the location! (It’s gonna be epic!)
If you’re planning to attend, we hope to see you there. You can pre-schedule a Crafted ERP demo or just swing by Booth 976 to say hi. Bon voyage!
