The National Beer Wholesalers Association will hold its 69th Annual Convention Sept. 17-20 at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Fla. Anheuser-Busch President August A. Busch IV, Stuart Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will address the convention.

The event will feature two panel discussions on issues facing the beer industry, including the continued growth of the craft beer category, and a panel titled “Competition and Regulation: A Delicate Balancing Act.” The meeting also will include 24 educational breakout seminars. Sessions include:

Image Matters: Rebranding Beer
Distributors: Highlighting the modern efficiencies of the beer distribution system and how it benefits the industry and public.

Importing Value: The Continued Growth of Imported Beers in the U.S. Marketplace: What the popularity of imports means for the future.

Building a Winning Sales Team: How
Good Managers Become Great Leaders: How to build a winning sales.

Building the Family Business: One Block at a Time Estate and business succession “building blocks.”

Can Embracing Technology Improve Your Bottom Line? You Betcha! Insights on how to use information technology to improve business performance.

Establishing Your Key Account Department to Win Ensure your Key Account Department is set up to win.

Financial Myths: A Discussion of Fair Market Value and Other Financial Myths Valuing your distribution rights in this era of consolidation and re-alignment.

How to Maximize Value of Brand Transactions in a Climate of Ongoing Supplier Consolidation Assessing the impact of supplier consolidations/ strategic partnerships and brand introductions.

Human Resource Management System (HRMS) Technology Overview Addressing issues such as finding and keeping the best employees, online recruiting, managing payroll, training and curtailing benefits costs.

Comprehensive Planning Structures: Is Your Future Protected? Core estate planning, asset protection, estate tax minimization, income tax minimization and more.

Liquor Regulation and the Role of Beer Distributors: History, Policy and the Future The history of liquor regulation and current challenges to those regulations.

The Perfect Storm – The Pending Credit Crisis in the Beer Distributor Sector Are you positioned to sink, swim or prosper?

Wow! Can It Get Any Better? A discussion of the three trends affecting the future of distributors.

Beer Industry Benchmarks and Rules of Thumb: Common Problems and How to Avoid Them Performance benchmarks and valuation rules of thumb.

Case Picking for Today’s Beverage Warehouse… and Tomorrow’s! Addres-sing the progression from conventional case picking to fully automated solutions.

Employee Theft: How Vulnerable is Your Company? The “Seven Deadly Sins of Security” and techniques to protect the bottom line.

Passing Your Business to the Next Generation Learn about structuring the human side of your transition.

Professional Negotiation Skills Negotiation planning ideas and concession management techniques.

U.S. Retailing – Past, Present and Future Trends in consumer packaged goods retailing.

Uncommon Solutions to Strengthen the Balance Sheet Hedging fuel costs, interest rate risk and insurance services, and other opportunities.

Tapping into real estate value for profitable acquisitions.

Integrating Craft Brands into Your Business A panel discussion on integrating high-margin craft brands into a portfolio.

Six Inevitable Problems in a Family Business and How to Successfully Eradicate Them Six problems that can generate conflict in family businesses.

The Future of Beer Wholesaling How the middle-tier can remain relevant to the beer industry supply chain.

For more information on the NBWA Convention, visit www.nbwa.org.