Understanding the millennial market, social media technologies and changing supplier expectations is crucial to developing successful marketing strategies for the dairy industry.

Edward McLaughlin, Ph.D., international marketing expert and Cornell University professor, will talk about these issues and more in his presentation, “Forces Shaping Today’s Food System: Perspective from Consumers and Retailers,” at the upcoming NextGEN Symposium.

McLaughlin is currently a professor of marketing, director of the Applied Economics and Management’s Undergraduate Program and director of the Food Industry Management Program at Cornell. He is also the director of the Cornell Food Executive Program, widely regarded as the premier executive training program in the food industry.

With his extensive background in international marketing and retail, McLaughlin will examine how retailers and consumers are playing a greater role now than in the past in shaping demand for products and services. His presentation will highlight the changes that dairy leaders will need to watch in the coming years.

The NextGEN Symposium will be held October 6-8, at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. It’s one of the many offerings for IDFA’s NextGEN Dairy Network, which was developed to engage the next generation of dairy leaders.

Now in its second year, the symposium will offer sessions on how to cultivate innovation at dairy companies, on corporate and political leadership, on pathogen control in dairy plants and on dairy economics 101. It also will offer a personality-assessment workshop and tours of Cayuga Milk Ingredients, Sunnyside Farms, Inc., and the Cornell dairy plant.

Other speakers include John Carlin, former governor of Kansas and professor of the Staley School of Leadership Studies at Kansas State University, and Andrew Novakovic, E.V. Baker Professor of Agricultural Economics, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell. For a complete agenda and list of speakers, visit the NextGEN Symposium microsite.

Register today to attend the NextGEN Symposium, and to become a member of the NextGEN Dairy Network. Need help convincing your boss that this is a valuable program for you and your company? Download IDFA’s justification letter here.

For more information about the NextGEN Symposium or the NextGEN Dairy Network, contact Robin Cornelison, IDFA trade show director, at rcornelison@idfa.org.