Educational Sessions at Potato Expo 2023

  Steve Lerch is a former Google executive, a consultant, and an award-winning international speaker. He spent nearly a decade at Google designing the digital strategies and marketing campaigns for well known brands like GoPro, federal government agencies like the US Census, and respected non-profits like the YMCA. While at Google, Steve also served as a cultural evangelist and "Noogler Leader," teaching thousands of new employees about innovation and the cultural principles and strategies that are necessary to drive new ideas. Over the last 7 years, Steve has specialized in the food and agriculture industry, working with everyone from Avocados From Mexico to John Deer to National Beef. After leaving Google in 2019, Steve founded Story Arc Consulting where he serves as a keynote speaker, a workshop facilitator, and a consultant on subjects like strategic planning, marketing, and digital strategy.

2:00-2:30pm Wednesday, Jan. 4 

Potato Talk on the Expo Stage 

No one can predict the future. No one knows exactly what tomorrow's consumers will want, what will make tomorrow's businesses successful, or what new technologies will give birth to which new ideas and processes. Given the inherent unpredictability of our modern world, businesses can no longer rely on that one great idea, product, or strategy. You can't rely on one great innovation. You must develop a culture of innovation built on open mindedness, flexibility, collaboration, and creativity.  Even at companies like Google, with billion dollar budgets and armies of the world's brightest engineers, the greatest breakthroughs and inventions don't start with algorithms and codes. They start with cultural principles. Principles that any individual, team, or company can use to drive new ideas.

9:15-10:00am Thursday, Jan. 5 

Breakout Session 

 As the world becomes more technologically advanced and more digitally dependent by the day, consumer behavior is changing faster than at any point in human history. This creates new challenges in understanding consumers, but it also creates new opportunities to connect, to convince, and to sell, Whether you're the CEO of a global brand or work on a small family farm with nothing but a Facebook page, everyone in the food and agriculture industry needs to understand these evolving consumer behaviors. We all need to embrace new tools, rethink how we tell our stories, and find ways to care about the things our customers care about. Fortunately for us, as business leaders, all of the above is as easy as being open minded, paying attention, and knowing where to look.