Featured Hospitality Educational Sessions

Morning Session 10am

Accelerating the Customer Rapport Building Process

What creates a customer connection and loyalty?
How should a salesperson’s time be spent, selling vs. servicing vs. administration?
How many calls does it take to earn a booking?

Learn six critical selling skills and understand what it takes to build customer rapport.

By Steven J. Steinhart, CHSE, CHME, Principal of Steinhart and Associates –  See full bio

First Afternoon Session Options 1pm

Food and Beverage Trends

What’s on the horizon? What are the up-and-coming flavors? Learn what food and beverage planners are seeing more of and expecting more of, and how to work these trends into your business.

By Michael Galyen (General Manager of NapaSport Restaurant and Bar) and Ryan Harris (Co- Owner, Contimo Provisions) – See full bios

Secrets of Sales Excellence for Wineries, Part I

Do your newest employees know how to sell wine? Do they consistently provide outstanding customer service? Do they know the Napa Valley story? Ensure your front-line team is up to the challenge.

This session helps hospitality employees hone their sales and customer service skills and become leading ambassadors for their wineries and the entire Napa Valley. Includes best practices for direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales, with information helpful for staff training. The focus is on sales skills and resulting scale confidence, leading to higher bottle, wine club, conversion rates, and average order value.

With Lesley Berglund, Co-Founder & Chairman of the Wine Industry Sales Education (WISE) Academy – See full bio

Human Resources and Hospitality Law

Explore contemporary issues in the management of human capital in the hotel and tourism industry, within both macro and micro perspectives. Hot topics include hospitality law and human resource trends.

Panel discussion with Judith Rowlings (HR Director, Las Alcobas, Napa Valley, Tami Pacho (HR Director, Meritage Resort), and Cheryl Velasquez (HR Director, Hilton Hotel) – See full bios

Second Afternoon Session Options 2:20pm

Secrets of Sales Excellence for Wineries, Part II

This session builds on the material covered in the prior session, digging deeper into sales excellence:

Do your newest employees know how to sell wine? Do they consistently provide outstanding customer service? Do they know the Napa Valley story? Ensure your front-line team is up to the challenge.

This session helps hospitality employees hone their sales and customer service skills and become leading ambassadors for their wineries and the entire Napa Valley. Includes best practices for direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales, with information helpful for staff training. The focus is on sales skills and resulting scale confidence, leading to higher bottle, wine club, conversion rates, and average order value.

With Lesley Berglund, Co-Founder & Chairman of the Wine Industry Sales Education (WISE) Academy – See full bio

The Customer Experience

Creating an unsurpassed customer experience starts with understanding your customer and having a clear vision of how to plan the experience accordingly. It includes how to manage visitors during critical interaction points, ensuring satisfaction, all the way through to after the experience.

This session will give you a strategic and practical approach to managing the customer experience.

Panel discussion with Don Rickard (Owner, Platypus Tours), Jim Treadway (General Manager, Bardessono Hotel and Spa), and Joseph Foss (Senior Hospitality Manager, Rutherford Hill Winery) – See full bios

Google Tools for Hospitality

With Google as the top internet browser, it’s critical to consider Google Tools for driving online visitors and sales. This session covers  all of the tools to market your hospitality business, including advertising, analytics, search, alerts, trends, reviews, and much more.

With Claudette Shatto, Instructor of Business & Entrepreneurship at Napa Valley College – See full bio