Daily Schedule & Solutions Showcase
Saturday, March 4
5pm - 9pm - Conversation & Cocktails - Exhibitor & Attendee Networking Welcome Event - Mother's Cantina 78th Street on Coastal Hwy.
Sunday, March 5
11am - 5pm - Exhibit Halls Open - click for Floor Plan
11am - 5pm - Check out Latte Art in the Eastern Shore Coffee & Water Booth 245-248
11am - 5pm - Southern Glazer's Showcase & MD Beverage Showcase - Ongoing mixology demos throughout the day in the Dockside Hall
11am - 5pm - The Art of Hospitality - led by T.C. Studios, this area offers a paint and sip atmosphere where you can create a hospitality masterpiece! Located in Dockside Hall.
11:30am - 12:00pm SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE: Questions to Ask — and Answer — Before Signing Your Restaurant Lease. Perhaps the document that will have the greatest impact on the success of your restaurant will be your lease. It will also be the document that will determine the extent of your downside if you don’t succeed. Sean Morris of The Morris Law Firm will discuss some of the questions you must ask – and have answered clearly in your mind – before you sign any restaurant lease.
12pm - 4pm - RAMs Culinary Showcase Stage - BATTLE OF THE BRIDGE - MD World Food Championship Qualifier competitions - brought to you by the Restaurant Association of Maryland & MD Dept of Agriculture, Baywater Farms and The Bay Mushrooms
12:30pm - 1:00pm - SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE: Why Digital Marketing is CRUCIAL in 2023 - Digital provides a way to showcase offerings to potential customers, build brand awareness & increase bookings and reservations. With the rise of online travel planning and booking, a strong digital marketing strategy can help businesses reach and engage with their target audience, drive website traffic, and ultimately increase revenue.Digital allows you to collect valuable data on your customer preferences and behaviors - informing future marketing efforts and improving the overall customer experience. Presented by D3
2:30pm - 3:00pm - SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE - Maximize Your Direct Bookings: The Guide to Mastering Hotel Metasearch - Even if your hotel is already using PPC and SEO campaigns to reduce dependence on OTAs and boost direct bookings, that's no longer enough for independent hoteliers to succeed online in today's digital landscape. Metasearch platforms like Google Hotel Ads, Bing, TripAdvisor and Kayak now command a significant share of traveler attention. Could a metasearch marketing strategy be the key to your property's success in 2023? Join Pete DiMaio from TravelBoom to learn exactly what metasearch is, why it impacts your hotel marketing plan, and how you can leverage metasearch to achieve maximum direct bookings with an amazing ROAS.
3:30pm - 4:00pm - SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE: YouTube Marketing - Learn how to create, organize and promote your video content to grow your brand on YouTube. Develop best practices for creating sharable content - Sandy Dubay, Platinum PR
5pm - after Expo Gathering at Fager's Island 60th St. on the bay - brought to you by the Restaurant Association of MD.
Monday, March 6
9:30am - SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE: KEYNOTE: Communication Across Generations: The world is changing fast and millennials are the faces of the future. And technology seems to be changing faster than we can keep up with it. Rather than fighting change, the key is to adapt to it — and learn how to work with these changes versus against them. In this talk, you’ll learn how to bridge communication across generations so that we’re working together with the future generations both in-house and in the marketplace. This session includes tips for ALL generations to communicate more effectively. Presented by Sandy Dubay, Platinum PR
11:30am - 12pm -SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE: How to Snap Incredible Smartphone Photos! John Dove from KRR Creative Strategies will show you how to take phenomenal photos with your smartphone. This quick session will help you discover tips that will take your snapshot game from amateur to Ansel Adams.
11am - 3pm - Southern Glazer's Showcase & MD Beverage Showcase - Ongoing mixology demos throughout the day in the Dockside Hall
11am - 3pm - Check out Latte Art in the Eastern Shore Coffee & Water Booth 245-248
11am - 4pm - Exhibit Halls Open - click for Floor Plan
11am - 4pm - The Art of Hospitality - led by T.C. Studios, this area offers a paint and sip atmosphere where you can create a hospitality masterpiece! Located in Dockside Hall.
12pm - 4pm - RAMs Culinary Showcase Stage - BATTLE OF THE BRIDGE - MD World Food Championship Qualifier competitions - brought to you by the Restaurant Association of Maryland & MD Dept of Agriculture, Baywater Farms and The Bay Mushrooms
12pm - 12:30pm -SOLUTIONS SHOWCASE: Learn about the Employee Retention Credit (ERC): Hear from a Maryland CPA firm about the ERC and obtain a free estimate of your ERC. With the ERC, the federal government is paying eligible employers up to $26,000 per employee to basically reimburse part of the wages paid out during Covid-19. The ERC is not a loan and PPP forgiveness does not disqualify an employer from the ERC Presented by Pauline Stavrou, Licenced CPA, Strategic Tax Planning
4:30pm - after Expo Gathering at Buxy's Salty Dog/Dry Dock 28 on 28th Street - an annual tradition!
Arrive early and check out the Ocean City Film Festival - March 2-5!