Monday, May 3, 2010
1:00 - 5:00 pm	Effective Compensation Strategies for Your Organization (Optional pre-workshop)   This optional add-on to the 2010 Western North American Roundtable is a great way to evaluate and reassess an organization’s compensation policies and practices. The guest presenter will share a brief review of the overall trends in base compensation, incentive pay and benefits, and what has changed since the economic crisis. This brief workshop will also explore how to meet the needs of five generations in the workplace under a tight budget. The presenter will also provide suggested solutions to difficult compensation questions that employers might face within their organization.   Using the foundation of the AgCareers.com’s salary survey, the Compensation Benchmark Review and other reliable compensation resources, participants will review compensation solutions to stay competitive within the industry and retain key employees. Participants in the Compensation Benchmark Review may add this workshop on for $99, while those not participating in the Compensation Benchmark Review can add this workshop onto their Roundtable registration for $150. For those not attending the Roundtable, the cost is $250. * Please note: Minimum 15 participants   The AgCareers.com Compensation Benchmark Review is an online tool that generates reports on salary and benefits data for more than 100 positions within agriculture and food. To become a participant of the Compensation Benchmark Review email compensation@agcareers.com.
6:30 - 8:30 pm	Kick-Off Welcome Reception   Join AgCareers.com to kick-off the 2nd Western North American Ag and Food HR Roundtable. This casual reception allows participants the ability to get a jump start on valuable networking. The reception will begin with opening comments at 6:30 followed by appetizers and cocktails.  Please plan to join anytime throughout the reception and get to know the group of HR representatives and their respective companies that will be participating in the event.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010
7:45 - 8:45 am	Table Topics (Optional breakfast)   A fun networking opportunity! This optional breakfast will explore, discuss and borrow ideas from other participants on some of the key topics impacting recruitment and retention within the agribusiness industry. Choice of topic is first come, first serve. Choose from: Recruiting experienced professionals, Internship programs, Employer branding, HR Metrics, On-Boarding strategies, Generation Y in the workforce, Diversity in the workplace, Family business, Politics impact on recruitment and retention, and many more. *RSVP is required to participate.
9:00 - 9:30 am	Welcoming Comments
9:30 - 10:15 am	The Economy’s Impact on Recruitment and Retention within Agriculture and Food The economy is finally rebounding some, yet an increase in employment will not likely follow as quickly. So is there still a ‘war on talent’? During this session, a guest presenter will set the stage for the rest of the conference as the groups looks at the pros and cons the overall economy has had on recruitment and retention practices within agriculture and food. The session will review the pipeline of talent, how companies are adjusting, and what is being done in terms of recruitment and retention strategy.
10:15 - 10:40 am	Break
10:40 - 11:40 am	Workforce Planning for Success Knowing where a company is currently at in terms of talent and projected needs can be a critical component of creating longevity and success within an organization. Unfortunately, many companies do not invest enough time in strategically looking toward the future. During this session, participants will take away the overall purpose of workforce planning as well as the more critical component of how to sell the concept and needed investment to upper management. The guest presenter will review some of the necessary basics of a good performance management plan as well as some of the additional tools to help facilitate the process. With the number of family businesses and diverse workforces on the West Coast,  this session will take a look at these two components specifically when discussing workforce and succession planning.
11:40 am - 1:00 pm	Lunch
1:00 - 1:45 pm	Attracting Talent for a Plentiful Pipeline There will not be enough young people available to fill all of the current and expansion of jobs within all industries. Agriculture and food careers are often plagued with a negative stereotype and the number of traditional farm kids is dwindling. This session will explore what the industry can do to entice more young people to consider careers in agribusiness. This includes keeping the traditional farm kids interested in careers in agriculture, but also looking to young people without an agriculture background. How do we do this? Is it getting to this group at a younger age – middle school or high school? Can we convince management that we need to look for the overall skill set a candidate has and then teach them ‘ag’? What role do community colleges and universities play in this? All in all – how do we make agriculture known as a great place to work?
1:45 - 2:00 pm	Break
2:00 - 3:30 pm	Perspective Panel: What Students Want and What Employers and Universities Have to Offer This guided panel will spring board off of last year’s panel discussion to further explore what students are looking for in their careers. The facilitator will take time to ask some very specific questions from this group and then turn to the second set of panelists consisting of employers and university professionals. The second panel, through a set of guided questions, will explore what employers and university professionals think are realistic, where expectations are consistent and different, and comment on thoughts provided by the student panel. Finally, this session will allow time for the audience to ask questions and provide comments to both panels.
3:30 - 3:50 pm	Break
3:50 - 4:20 pm	Social Networking – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly This brief session will get participants up to speed on the latest and greatest technologies that some companies are or are not using to enhance their recruitment efforts. The presenter will share the good, the bad and ugly of using social media for recruiting and screening candidates and how long companies should expect for this type of technology to be around. Whether right or wrong, this session will inform participants of what can be done, give some advice on its effectiveness, and allow employers to make up their mind on its fit within their organizations!
4:20 - 4:30 pm	Closing Comments
6:00 - 6:30 pm	AgCareers.com Reception
6:30 - 8:30 pm	Networking Dinner

 

Wednesday, May 5, 2010
7:45 - 8:45 am	Exploration Through Case Study (Optional breakfast)   Networking and sharing of ideas is one of the greatest assets taken from the Roundtable conferences. This optional breakfast will allow participants to do just that. Through a series of pre-assigned case studies focusing on recruitment and retention issues, participants will develop thoughts on how to resolve the issue and then share their ideas with others over breakfast. This informal networking session will allow HR professionals to explore situations that they could encounter and get a jump-start on solving the issue at hand and gain insight from fellow peers on how to best do so. *RSVP is required to participate.
9:00 - 9:15 am	Opening Comments
9:15 - 10:15 am	The Use of Immigrant Labor as a Source of Talent Western North America employs a significant amount of immigrant talent for fulltime employment as well as seasonal labor. With a new political scheme and the economy in the state it is in, does this strategy make sense and will the pipeline of talent remain available? The guest presenter will look at attracting this pipeline, retaining this workforce, and the generational differences in a diverse population of employees. Once  a company has this workforce in place, how can they take retention efforts to a new level and who are companies that are already doing this well? The speaker will share insights into how this is being done through an appreciation for diversity and strategic efforts to integrate this group of employees into their corporate culture.
10:15 - 10:30 am	Break
10:30 - 11:30 am	Building a Sustainable Workforce from Within After exploring several ways to locate talent outside of their organization, this session will walk participants through how to develop a workforce from within. A focus on career mapping with employees, leadership training and development, and how companies can go about developing a strategy around this concept will all be discussed. This session will also expand on the differences within the plan when looking at promoting immigrant talent and how programs may need to be altered to fit a diverse workforce. The presenter will provide insight into resources to help build programs and train employees for career advancement as well as share examples of companies that have implemented a ‘build from within’ structure and done it well.
11:30 am - 12:00 pm	Closing Comments