Food Ingredient Distributors Association

Annual Meeting

FIDA holds an annual meeting open to all members. The agenda for the meeting includes presentations on topics of mutual interest to all members of the organization and round table discussions of issues pertinent to the food ingredient distribution industry. The meeting is held every year, scheduled in April-May.

FIDA Annual Meeting 2008
The Phoenician, Scottsdale, Arizona
April 27 - 29, 2008

FIDA held its 2008 Annual Meeting at The Phoenician in Scottsdale, Arizona. The weather was warm and sunny, and the facilities, service, and food were all excellent.

The meeting kicked off this year with an outdoor cocktail party on Sunday evening. The annual meeting started Monday morning with a few opening words from FIDA President Kathy Kennedy. The meeting began with our keynote speaker Christina Harbridge-Law on the topic of Communication and Customer Service. Christina is a well known trainer and consultant to business leaders and politicians on the topic of effective communication, problem solving and customer service. Christina presented an engaging seminar with many exercises that kept the group involved and she provided a number of tools to use in communicating more effectively. Christina also provided tips on training sales and customer service departments. The presentation was very useful, and there was nothing but positive comments from those in attendance.

Monday afternoon included a presentation from Steve Jobe of Tate & Lyle who addressed the company's philosophy and working relationships with distributors. Steve's presentation was very thorough, and there was quite a bit of interesting discussion. A roundtable discussion was also held on Monday regarding customer & sales management software as well as ERP software and the packages that are well suited for distribution. There was much discussion this topic, and a lot of useful information was shared.

Tuesday morning began with the presentation and discussion of the business metric member survey. In addition, roundtable topics were held on Best Practices in Interviewing & Hiring, as well as discussion on employee performance reviews and personal development. The meeting adjourned shortly before noon and Tuesday afternoon was open for recreation and relaxation. For those who chose to participate, the annual 4-person Scramble FIDA Golf Tournament was held at the Phoenician golf course.

The 2008 FIDA Annual Meeting came to a close on Tuesday evening with the traditional closing reception and dinner.

The 2009 FIDA Annual Meeting will be held in late April or early May. Dates and location for the meeting will be mailed to members and posted here in early 2009.