Nexus looks to spark new opportunities

After holding their successful inaugural event in Dallas last year, BEMA and the American Bakers Association (ABA) will present the Nexus 2024 networking, education and business collaboration meeting on Oct. 1-3 in Washington, DC, where ABA will also co-locate its NextGenBaker Leadership Forum.

“Nexus is a partnership with the two leading organizations in the baking industry, ABA and BEMA,” said Kerwin Brown, president and chief executive officer of BEMA. “The partnership gives us an incredibly strong foundation, as well as a far reach into all categories of the baking industry. This event is designed to bring the industry together.”

Brown said the team is reaching out to other organizations, several of which attended Nexus last year, to see if they want to co-locate board or committee meetings at the Hyatt Regency Washington Capitol Hill.

“We want as many people as possible congregating in one place,” Brown said. “This is just a unique opportunity to bring people together in a very time-efficient way.”

Highlighting Nexus again will be the Spark sessions, which are 45-minute, team-on-team meetings where bakers and suppliers can ignite a new relationship, rekindle an existing one or focus on current projects or explore new initiatives. Suppliers who are registered can purchase the pre-arranged sessions and are then matched with a baking company after both sides complete a confidential profile.

“The idea behind Spark sessions was to get beyond the gatekeeper and invite more of the decision-makers and project managers to be part of the discussion,” noted Emily Bowers, BEMA’s vice president, education and operations.

Responding to feedback from last year’s attendees, Nexus will offer five Spark Supplier Suites, which suppliers can purchase and arrange their own meetings where they have time to discuss business more extensively.

“We like to do things that nobody else is doing,” Brown said. “The uniqueness of these small, curated business meetings that are efficient and save time and dollars, they are a real hit. We learned a lot from the first year and are ready to make a few adjustments to meet everyone’s needs.”

Bowers said Nexus is developing education programs that provide a diverse array of seminars and workshops for the co-owned event. Those who register for both Nexus and NextGenBaker have an opportunity to receive a discount. Nexus attendees can then select those sessions that appeal to them most and customize a program that meets their needs.

In many ways, Bowers said, Nexus is truly an unconventional event.

“At conventions, attendees often experience the programming at the same time. There’s one program,” Bowers observed. “That’s not Nexus. We intentionally bring people together about once a day, and other than that, they’re designing their own experience between the Spark sessions and the education program.”

Visit www.nexusofbaking.com for registration, hotel and travel information about Nexus. For more details about ABA’s NextGenBaker Leadership Forum, go to www.americanbakers.org.