DAIRY NEWS – The 2024 Business Conference presented by the Professional Dairy Producers® (PDP) is just around the corner, with two days of programming designed to meet the needs of every member of a dairy farm team. Known as dairy’s premier educational event, the PDP Business Conference is scheduled for March 13-14, 2024, at the Kalahari Resorts in Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
Attendees can design their own conference experience by selecting learning sessions focused on their area of expertise and interest, including a number of sessions dedicated to building stronger teams.
“Having farmed with my family from a very young age, I’ve always been taught that taking care of our people is just as important as taking care of our animals and our land,” said Laura Raatz, dairy producer from Oconto Falls, Wis., and PDP board member. “One of the things I love about business conference is the variety of sessions there are to learn new strategies we can incorporate as soon as we get back to the farm.”
Sessions focused on building and sustaining effective teams will include:
- Risk management 101: succession planning, presented by Marissa Nehlsen, money and business strategies, certified speaker and coach, will help assess where producers are on the succession planning continuum, identify potential predators of estates, and learn the best five questions to ask insurance professionals. Day One Morning Specialty Session.
- Use DEAL to score negotiation wins, presented by Linda Swindling, global negotiation expert and best-selling author, provides an opportunity to learn negotiation styles and how they can be instrumental in business, salary and other negotiations. Day One Morning Specialty Session.
- Lead your team with DEAL styles, presented by Linda Swindling, will provide the next level of negotiation skills, including communications styles and how to use DEAL to lead and negotiate with confidence and integrity. Day One Afternoon Breakout Session.
- Build – and keep – the perfect team, panel discussion of Kyle Achord, vice president of team sales at Marucci Sports, and Ryan Levendoski, district leader at Kwik Trip, facilitated by Michael Hoffman, founder and owner of Igniting Performance, Inc., will share insights on hiring team members and growing a culture where both businesses and people thrive. Day Two Morning Specialty Session.
- Multi-site dairies: organizing the systems, panel discussion of John Mueller, owner of Spring Hope Dairy in Clifton Spring, NY, and John Vosters, partner and livestock manager of MilkSource LLC in Kaukauna, Wis., facilitated by Tim Swenson, owner of Swenson Management Service LLC, will share learnings from operating multi-site operations, including managing people, establishing and overseeing processes, streamlining internal management systems and more. Day Two Morning Specialty Session.
- Turn complainers into contributors, presented by Linda Swindling, will provide tools to boost morale, increase productivity and promote effective communications. Day Two Afternoon Breakout Sessions.
Attendees can choose from 54 learning sessions categorized by subject areas: animal care and food safety, business and financial, human resources and next generation, and social license, to design their own conference experience. In addition, sessions are delivered in several formats, including general sessions, breakout and specialty sessions, Learning Lounges and Hands-on Hub interactive sessions.
Simultaneous translation is available for attendees who prefer to learn in Spanish, and continuing-education unit (CEU) credits are available for select sessions through Dairy AdvanCE® (DACE), American Registry of Professional Scientists (ARPAS) and Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) Program.
Premier dairy suppliers from around the world will network and share the latest technologies and innovations in the Hall of Ideas Equipment and Trade Show. The Hall of Ideas also features space and amenities for connecting with speakers, vendors and other dairy producers during breaks, meals and other times throughout the conference.
Register today by visiting the 2024 PDP Business Conference website. Also available are the English-language flier, the Spanish-language flier, information on exhibiting and details on lodging.
Professional Dairy Producers (PDP) is the nation’s largest dairy producer-led organization of its kind, focusing on producer professionalism, stakeholder engagement and unified outreach to share ideas, solutions, resources and experiences that help dairy producers succeed.
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