FNCE 2025 Nashville Recap

FNCE 2025 Nashville Sessions

Hi Friends! I never got a chance to share a bit about FNCE 2025 in Nashville! For those who don’t know, FNCE (the Food and Nutrition Conference & Expo) is the official conference for Registered Dietitians. It’s such an honor to attend with a media/press pass through Hungry Hobby. When I first started the blog, I only dreamed of qualifying one day — and now this marks my third year attending as media. I’m so grateful for this opportunity!

If you're not a Dietitian or student Dietitian, you may want to skip this post! However, I know a decent amount of my subscribers are RDs/RD students so I wanted to share!

It was so much fun to see so many of my friends speaking or moderating sessions, or running learning lounges throughout the conference. Below are my top three sessions but it is no where comprehensive — the CEUs were robust: attendees could claim up to 19.5 CPEUs for live sessions, plus up to about 85 CPEUs via the on-demand recordings!

As a website owner and blogger, I found this session incredibly eye-opening. It really drove home how fast AI is reshaping the way people discover content online. My longtime blogger friend, Chrissy, did such a great job breaking down what this means not only for bloggers like me but also for local business owners — including RDs with private practices who rely on being found online.

What stood out most was how search itself is changing. Between AI-generated summaries, evolving algorithms, and younger audiences turning to social platforms instead of Google, it’s clear that traditional SEO alone isn’t enough anymore. The speakers shared practical ways to stay visible — from adapting content for AI overviews to making sure your social media presence supports your website traffic.

It was one of those sessions that left me thinking about how I’ll need to evolve my own strategy going forward, especially as AI becomes more integrated into search and content discovery.

Another great presentation on AI was a panel of faculty from Arizona (my boss at the community college, UofA, and ASU) and the use of AI to help design and enhance course material. They never sent me the picture of them though! But, it was a great session!

This session was such a highlight for me because the speakers — Mandy Enright, Abbie Gellman, and Drew Hemler — are all good friends of mine, and it was an absolute joy to watch them present. Moderated by Dr. Joan Salge Blake, the panel spoke to a room full of mostly new RDs about how their careers can evolve and change in ways they might never have imagined.

As someone who’s taken a nontraditional path in dietetics, I found myself nodding along the entire time. They did such an incredible job showing that there isn’t just one way to be a dietitian — your career can grow, pivot, and shift alongside your passions, purpose, and life season.

It was inspiring to see them share their stories with so much honesty and encouragement. I left feeling reenergized and proud to be part of a profession that offers so many creative, meaningful directions for growth.

I loved being in the room for Balancing Science, Access, and Ethics in the Age of Personalized Nutrition at FNCE 2025 because one of the speakers — my longtime friend Ginger Hultin — took the stage alongside her colleague Mary Rozga.

Seeing Ginger (another great friend!) present on such an important topic — how we as dietitians balance cutting-edge personalized nutrition with access and ethics — was incredibly meaningful. She really hit home on so many points that resonated deeply with me.

I truly believe that RDs, creators, bloggers, and clinic owners should be actively involved in the future of personalized nutrition and testing — but we also have a responsibility to lead in this space, ensuring the science stays strong and the work remains ethical and accessible to all.

FNCE 2025 Nashville Expo

Per usual the expo is not only a place of fun, but also a place of community. Many RDs work booths with companies helping to explain new product launches and represent the health benefits of clients so I saw a lot of friends that way. I also got to catch up with so many friends by just running into them in the Expo. And of course I got to reconnect with brands and boards that I've worked with in the past through Hungry Hobby. Like my friends at the Foundation for Fresh Produce.

Events & DPGs

Tomato Wellness & Pacific Coast Producers Line Dancing Event

By far my favorite event of any FNCE I've ever attended was line dancing with the Tomato Wellness Board.

Melissa Dobbins, host of the Sound Bites podcast is one of my favorite people. She has dedicated her career to being a wealth of knowledge for all RDs and is always willing to help or listen to anyone. She conducted several learning lounges at FNCE, if you ever get a chance to see her speak make sure you attend!

Banza Pasta Bowling Event

This was such a cool spot! It was bowling and a bar in the same place. The drink below was a mezcal drink with a wine floater, so fun!

Healthy Family Project Trivia Night

Now Supplements Krill On Party

Other events attended:

Food Minds
Eat Well Global
Master the Media
Ketchum Breakfast
Arizona Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Exploring Nashville - downtown

I got about a half of a day to go exploring. My main goal was to see downtown and centennial park, since that's in one of the kids books and I wanted to see it ha ha. I got to see that and the cumberland river, so that was really fun! That's one thing I love about going to FNCE, it's kind of a chance to explore different states. It's definitely helping me achieve my goal of going to all 50 states (airport stops do not count, for layovers etc.)