Published on Oct. 28, 2024
The SASSO Conference, a memorable event
We are happy to share the success of our very first SASSO customer event, the Uniting Colored Chicken Conference! From October 9th to 11th, 2024, we gathered 125 customers, partners, speakers and colleagues in San Sebastian, Spain.
The goal of this event was to create a memorable event to share insights, our latest improvements and provide a place of networking for our customers and the industry, and of course have some fun while doing this. As for any event like this, a program was laid out for the three days. However, unexpected tough weather conditions on the first day, largely delaying the arrival of attendees, forced us on first evening to completely review the next morning’s agenda.
We moved the presentations to the afternoon, allowing everyone to be there on time, as it was the most important part of the program. As we couldn’t switch the group activity planned on the afternoon to the morning, we created a new program: workshops to get to know each other, discuss their pains and gains, play a rock-paper-scissor contest and share their best memories with SASSO. We are grateful for the agility and consideration of participants, and the SASSO team, in adapting to these changes, and enjoying it!
On Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, the presentations were a mix of internal speakers presenting our successful projects, like in Africa or Taiwan, our genetic progress and product performance, as well as the vision of SASSO. We also invited external key speakers from the industry and sponsors, like Ceva, Petersime, Vencomatic, MG2MIX and more, to share valuable insights on the current industry and technical tips. Customers like Silverlands from Tanzania or Pindos from Greece also shared their success stories. Our CEO Richard Maatman gave the closing remarks of the conference.
It was also the opportunity to reward our customers with an awards ceremony. We presented a trophy for each region of the world, Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe, on three categories: number of hatching eggs per hen housed on our SA31A female, our SA51A female, and for the longest collaboration. Customers were grateful to receive this sign of appreciation.
Some fun social moments were also part of the program. We went to a traditional basque cider house where we shared a typical meal and drank cider taken from the barrel itself. Participants also created great memories taking pictures at our photobooth with some fun accessories.
A warm thank you to our customers and partners who demonstrated their passion for colored chickens and engagement to create a sustainable industry to feed the world during this conference.
Also a special thank you to our sponsors, Ceva, CIDAPE, Petersime, NTD France, MG2MIX, Sud-Ouest Aliment, Elevage Service, MAS Seeds, Vencomatic, and partners Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and World Poultry Foundation, who participated in making this an enriching moment for everyone.
