CALL FOR PRESENTATION PROPOSALS

2025 ENERGY & STORE DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE - CALL FOR PRESENTATION PROPOSALS

January 28, 2025 - March 21, 2025

 FMI is a nonprofit trade association conducting programs in research, education, industry relations and public affairs on behalf of food retailers and wholesalers around the world.
  
 The E+SD Conference provides trends, innovations, and tactical solutions to help retailers design, build and maintain stores that are more energy-efficient, effective and meet changing consumer needs and desires. 
  
Target Audience:
  The E+SD Conference draws hundreds of attendees; in 2024 we hosted over 780 attendees. This included supermarket retail and wholesale executives and suppliers/service providers with responsibility for: 

Store planning and design, Construction, Engineering, Maintenance, Refrigeration, Sustainability, Utility cost control, Energy management, Equipment purchasing, etc.

The retail/wholesale audience is the focus of the education program.
  
Education Program:
  The E+SD Conference offers a variety of general sessions (6), as well as concurrent breakout sessions. Breakout sessions focus on 4 main tracks: Refrigeration, Energy, Store Development/Design, & Sustainability. Most sessions are an hour in length.
  
 Sessions cover a range of topics such as:

• Store design, formats and merchandising
• Construction
• Sustainability
• Equipment
• Lighting
• HVAC
• Energy management
• Facilities management
• Utilities cost control
• The connection of store design/layout to energy and refrigeration systems
• Regulatory/compliance issues.

Presentations:
 Education sessions may be presented in a number of formats. Research has shown that adults learn best in settings where they are able to participate actively, relate the new information or techniques to their experiences, and practice new skills. Prospective presenters are encouraged to suggest session formats that incorporate these components. Our audience has a strong preference for presentations that include case studies that feature both practitioner and service provider perspectives. Session proposals that include retailer/wholesaler speakers are typically the most successful within this conference's RFP process. A list of retailer requested topics is available for download within the portal.

Content should avoid commercialism and/or product bias. 

Proposal Review, Selection and Notification Process:
Proposals must be submitted by March 21, 2025 using our online submission system, which opens January 27, 2025.
  
Proposals must include:

• Full contact details 
• Presenter bio(s)
• Contact information for all confirmed presenters
• 3-4 learning objectives
• Selected topic and presentation method
• Summary and full description of content

Proposals will be reviewed by the members of the Energy & Store Development Committee and FMI staff March 24 – April 30th. A combination of sessions identified through the presentation proposal system and sessions developed by the E+SD Committee will be used to build the E+SD Conference education program. We aim to have an agenda finalized during the month of June.
  
Due to the high volume of submissions, submitters will be notified ONLY if they are invited to speak on the program.
  

Questions: Contact Rebecca Daniels rdaniels@fmi.org