THE SOMMER CAMP

TEXSOM Sommer Camp:    JOIN THE 2023 TEAM HERE!

Sommer Camp is the premier volunteer experience at the TEXSOM Conference. We appreciate your interest in helping to stage the conference and hope that you enjoy your time volunteering. You will have exclusive educational opportunities that are not available to other conference participants to include: educational tastings, skills training, networking with peers and mentors, Sommer Camp Lounges and Polishing Events, and contending for multiple scholarships.

Pre-Conference Education
New to the schedule this year, we will offer a series of Sommer Camp Chat seminars, workshops, and tastings to our pre-conference schedule that are exclusive to confirmed Sommer Camp participants.

Sponsors include: Abruzzo, Bordeaux CIVB, Champagne Taittinger, E&J Gallo and Renato Ratti, E&J Gallo and Pinot Noir from SLH, Fetzer Vineyards and Mendocino County, Hamel Family Wines, Hirsch Vineyards, Kistler Vineyards, Moet Hennessy, North Berkley Imports, Santa Margherita USA, Sicilia DOC, Southern Glazer’s Distributors of Texas, TEXSOM Awards, The German Wine Collection, Virginia Wine, Wine Australia, Wines of Argentina, and Wines of South Africa.

Sommer Camp Chat Topics and Speakers (more in the works):
Working with Generic Bodies with Mark Davidson
So, You Want to Start Your Own Business? Opportunities and Challenges with Cara Patricia
Sustainability with Elaine Chukan Brown and Nicholas Paris MW
Wine Trips with Elaine Chukan Brown
Ethics in the Wine Industry with Elaine Chukan Brown
Skills Training with Jessica Waugh

Once we move to the main conference days, you’ll have opportunities to continue education alongside conference attendees while also enjoying exclusive to you opportunities in lounges, polishing events, dinners with conference speakers, and more!

Scholarship Opportunities
The Merendino Foundation and Ethics Suite have graciously renewed scholarship opportunities again this year for a series of awards totaling over $5,000. Scholarship details are shared at the conference and awards distributed at the Sommer Camp Appreciation Event on Tuesday, August 29th.

Sommer Camp Benefits
Volunteers have access to mentored education, the chance to connect with professionals from all over the world, the experience of learning side by side with industry leaders, and the opportunity to gain relevant skills for all beverage professionals. Exposure to world class, and sometimes rare, beverages of all types affords those who join the team to see, taste, and carefully prepare and serve things you may have only read about. Mentors celebrate the knowledge you bring to the event and make every effort to send you home with new ways of executing tasks or new thought processes for solving challenges to real life scenarios in hospitality. Everyone who serves on this team learns the importance of community, camaraderie, and the value of teamwork.

Due to the large number of volunteers each year, TEXSOM is not able to provide air travel, accommodations or local transportation to and from the conference, but we do negotiate with hotels for discounted rates. Accommodations and TEXSOM group rates at various hotels will be announced upon opening of TEXSOM conference registration at rates between $139 and $189 plus tax and fees per night. Double occupancy rooms are limited and available. In addition, there are other options for accommodations near the conference venue, Irving Convention Center, that can be booked outside the TEXSOM room blocks.

TEXSOM provides breakfast, lunch, and dinner for days you are scheduled, and most meals include additional tastings and education exclusive to Sommer Campers.

TEXSOM SOMMER CAMP ELIGIBILITY
We encourage all interested beverage trade professionals to submit an expression of interest form for Sommer Camp. Participants must be 21 years of age or older and employed in the beverage trade industry.

Please be advised your completed form is not a registration to the TEXSOM Conference and does not guarantee a Sommer Camp position. As time slots fill, we will remove options from the form and advise all interested to submit a form as early as possible to secure your preferred schedule. Forms will be reviewed for compliance (age and trade segment) and participation will be confirmed utilizing the following distribution schedule:

Forms submitted by July 17th will be confirmed by Friday, July 21st.
Forms submitted after July 17th will be confirmed on August 4th.
Forms submitted after August 4th will be confirmed as soon as possible

Confirmed participants may help execute the conference beginning with load-in and set-up on Wednesday, August 23, 2023, continuing through the week, weekend, and concluding with load-out on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. The form gives you the option to customize your availabilty for the specific days you would like to volunteer.

If you know anyone who may benefit and want to participate, please forward the email to them with our permission.

All participants at the TEXSOM Conference must be 21 years of age or older and are required to sign the TEXSOM Participant Code of Conduct and Ethics agreement. The TEXSOM Conference is a professional educational event for wine, food & beverage service, and hospitality professionals.

 

 

 

 

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Sommer Camp is the volunteer team experience designed and executed as an exclusive opportunity to network and learn from peers and mentors.

Sommer Campers have access to mentored education, the chance to connect with professionals from all over the world, the experience of working side by side with industry leaders, and the opportunity to learn relevant skills for all beverage professionals. Exposure to world class, and sometimes rare, beverages of all types affords those who join the team to see, taste, and carefully prepare and serve things you may have only read about. Mentors celebrate the knowledge you bring to the event and make every effort to send you home with new ways of executing tasks or new thought processes for solving challenges to real life scenarios in hospitality. Everyone who serves on this team learns the importance of community, camaraderie, and the value of teamwork.