Workshops and Excursions @FNCE!

Get a jumpstart on your learning through hands-on experience with the experts at workshops and excursions offered at FNCE in Houston.

All pre-FNCE workshops and excursions are only available via advance registration by September 6 (no late or onsite registration allowed).

Register for a workshop or excursion today »

Pre-FNCE Workshops

Maximize Your NCP/IDNT Skills for Positive Outcomes

With an understanding of successful approaches and problem-solving strategies for implementation of the NCP and standardized terminology (IDNT), RDs will be able to more fully implement NCP and IDNT in their practice. Improved implementation can help dietitians demonstrate positive outcomes and contributions to quality healthcare. Problem-solving case studies will be used in breakouts sessions to address common barriers and challenges that are unique to each practice setting. Registration includes a copy of the IDNT Pocket Guide.

Planned with the Nutrition Care Process and Standardized Language Committee

Understanding Lean Six Sigma

Hospitals, schools, public health agencies and other business entities are all faced with the challenge of delivering high quality customer services in an era of increasingly scarce resources. The leaders who will be the most successful in this environment are those who continually build their own capacity to lead improvement initiatives and manage change. This workshop will illustrate how two improvement methodologies, Lean and Six Sigma, can be applied to any setting, including clinical, food management, and even personal life. Six Sigma, with its unique focus on understanding customer needs, uses facts, data and statistical analysis to manage, improve and reinvent processes in many industries. Lean is a set of tools to reduce the waste associated with the flow of materials and information in a process from beginning to end. Though they are unique methodologies, the synergy that develops when they are used together makes them powerful tools for change.

Planned with the Management in Food and Nutrition Systems Dietetic Practice Group

Bringing Food into Focus: A Bloggers' Guide to Food Photography and Styling

Specifically designed for the beginning photographer, this hands-on workshop will provide in-depth instruction from experienced food photographers and bloggers. The workshop is structured for food and nutrition bloggers, nutrition educators and others who are interested in creating and sharing photos of delicious and nutritious food. Participants should bring their own camera to participate. The workshop will focus on natural light, basic composition guidelines and styling techniques. (Limited to 80 participants)

Pig Pens and Shooting Stars: Dig Deep to Reach Your Leadership Potential

This interactive and fun workshop will guide participants in reaching their leadership potential to accomplish personal and professional goals. Since everyone is a leader in life regardless of whether it is on the job, in the community, or at home, this workshop will appeal to everyone who embraces personal growth and success. Through a series of facilitated discussions and exercises, participants will “dig deep” in self discovery and personal reflection to identify behaviors and characteristics that are central to personal and professional leader development and will explore the fundamental skills necessary for reaching life goals and peak leadership potential.

From Breast to Baby: Feeding an Infant from Premie to Full Term

With all of the new technologies available, the best nutrition for an infant continues to be breast milk. This interactive workshop, taking place at the Texas Children’s Hospital, will include discussions surrounding the set up of a infant feeding preparation room with a focus on the use of human milk/donor milk, the basics of a "baby friendly" designation and when and what to use when formula is the only option. Technologies for the use of human milk will be demonstrated during a tour of the milk bank and formula room. Infant formulas decisions will also be discussed and a "calculations skill session" will be included. (Limited to 54 participants; light refreshments provided.)

FNCE Excursions

Where the Chefs Eat: Houston Culinary Tours

The city’s top chefs—who are just as interested in showcasing Houston’s mom and pop restaurants as their own—continue their mission to introduce locals and visitors alike to Houston’s culinary diversity by showing them where they eat on their days off. Launched just four years ago, this chef-driven program gives participants intimate knowledge about the city and its chefs: unexplored neighborhoods, undiscovered restaurants; and markets that contribute to the locally-driven menus of each chef. (Limited to 20 participants per tour. Tasting provided at every location.)

Attendees will choose one of the following themed events:

• Brewery
  From grain to glass, guests will get an inside glimpse at the beer-making process at four of Houston's most ground-breaking breweries. To round out the experience, a handful of the city's top food trucks will be on site to serve up savory street fare with a modern twist. Discover everything from a mobile pizza biz and Vietnamese vendor to a sassy sandwich maker and comfort food truck.
• Day of the Dead
  Enjoy an afternoon filled with cuisine and culture. Stop by a local gallery that celebrates art, music and the practices of Mexico during a series of Día de los Muertos events. Later, the group will dig into savory snapper a la plancha at a Mexican mainstay, take a guided tour of Airline Market and swing by a Heights bakery for pan de los muertos.
• Taste of Asia
  Explore the hidden gems of Houston's new Chinatown and beyond--the places you might never find without a translator and plenty of insider knowledge. Sample delicious Thai food, some of the best Indian food in the city and a massive Vietnamese grocery.

From Behind the Calculator: A Hands-on Approach to Enteral Tube Feedings Utilizing Simulations

The Texas Children's Hospital Simulation Center uses simulation education and research to save lives and improve patient care and safety. Simulation is the clinical teaching wave of the future. A simulated clinical environment, including high tech mannequins and standardized patients to play the roles of patients and families, create the most realistic practice environment possible for training healthcare teams without ever putting a patient at risk! This hands on skills fair will focus on all aspects of enteral nutrition including tube placement, checking residuals, using pumps, and much more. (Limited to 20 participants. Box lunch provided.)

Human Space Flight: Nutrition, Dietetics, Food Science Research and Operations

How about a visit to NASA? Participants will be see how food science, food preparation and nutrition research are performed on the international space station. This includes a tour of the International Space Station mock-ups, mission control, food laboratory, and discussions with nutrition researcher, dietitian, and food scientist about their research and development efforts. (Limited to 54 participants. Box lunch provided.)