MGA Fall Conference - Registration Now Open
The tradition-rich annual conference of Michigan Grocers Association moves to a new location in 2011 – the Summit Village at four-season Shanty Creek Resorts in Bellaire.  Summit Village is the hub of all activity at Shanty Creek Resorts, which also includes Schuss Mountain and Cedar River featuring the Tom Weiskopf-designed championship golf course by the same name.

The Lakeview Hotel at Shanty Creek Resort’s Summit Village in Bellaire hosts the Sept. 11-13 MGA Fall Conference. Just 40 minutes from Traverse City, Shanty Creek is surrounded by natural beauty, remote getaways, and quaint towns that offer unique dining, shopping, and site-seeing opportunities. The 2011 theme is “Innovation and Inspiration in the Food Business,” and the event will provide plenty of both for retailers and suppliers alike.

At just 2½ days away from the store or office and only 3-4 hours away (with no planes, trains or ferries to catch) the 113th annual Michigan Grocers Association fall conference is respectful of your busy schedule and packed full of take-away value for your business. The conference combines more than enough thought-provoking ideas and in-formation with a shot of enthusiasm for the business that will pay big dividends right away.

New at this year’s Sept. 11-13 event is an interactive buying-selling food show that features a number of in-show seminars from leading suppliers. These concise presentations will offer the very latest successful marketing and merchandising solutions in your most important fresh and center-store categories. Dozens of other exhibits, including a Michigan-Made product pavilion, will offer new products and services relevant to independent grocers in our region.

Complementing the food show’s educational content is a morning-long general session with two nationally celebrated speakers on topics of growing importance in this competitive marketplace:
 

Many will tell you that the real value of MGA’s fall conference is the opportunity for networking and idea-sharing with food business peers and this year’s conference continues that tradition, providing a number of casual social and recreational events.

Not the least of these is the 18-holeFall Golf Classic on Shanty Creek’s renowned Arnold Palmer signature course, The Legend. And that’s just the start; a fun silent auction with treasures galore, a relaxing Happy Hour, casual outdoor dining, and much more. MGA members are encouraged to register early and stayed tuned for even more of what’s to come in September.