What’s the best party at the Agri-Marketing Conference? The Brownfield Party! I know, I’m biased. I was the host for a number of years once upon a time and Brownfield Ag News is my sponsor this week here at the event.
Well, last night we had a big time at PBR Big Sky. There are a lot of photos in the photo album and I think you’ll enjoy them. This is the Brownfield team. They worked hard last night but that was just helping make sure everyone was having fun. We had a great band and there was some bull riding too.
And ZimmComm Google Juice was enjoyed by all. It was one of the best NAMA Connection Point shows ever. At least in my opinion. Thanks to all of you who stopped by to say hi and visit a while. We’ll be doing it again next year.
We held a drawing for two 32GB iPod touches and the winners are:
Professional: Linda Bartling, Creative Director, Innova Ideas & Services
Student: Frank Baird, Richards, TX, Sam Houston State University
Their iPods will be sent to them pre-loaded with the AgWired App!
It was a loud and exciting time during the NAMA student awards at the Agri-Marketing Conference. There are just too many to keep track and list them all here.
So I’ll just make note of the fact that the Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo chapter won the Student Marketing Competition.
To get an idea of how they felt about it check out the video reaction:
The 2011 Best of NAMA Awards were awarded during the Agri-Marketing Conference. You can find a full listing by AgriMarketing Magazine.
Winning Best of Show were:
Advertising: Winfield Solutions; agency: Colle+McVoy (pictured at the top)
The Best of session was standing room only.
Public Relations: RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment); agency: Fleishman-Hillard
I want to thank Denny Eilers, Iowa Photo Farm, for once again helping us out with photos. He not only took these but also supplied others you’ll find in our photo album.
Here are some summary notes compiled by AgriMarketing Magazine:
A total of 62 awards were presented.
The 2011 NAMA Marketer of the Year was awarded to Roger Reierson, AdFarm. Roger was very surprised to receive the award and says it does not mean it’s “the end.” There’s lots more to come from this man.
I spoke with Roger afterward. He says he feels humbled and honored. He’s says the ag industry is a big family and he owes the award to a lot of people. He says NAMA has connected him to a lot of good people. Listen to our conversation: Roger Reierson Interview
Elanco President Jeff Simmons wants people in agriculture to speak up and make it personal when it comes to safe, abundant, affordable food.
The NAMA Agribusiness Leader of the Year says it all boils down to those four words. “I do think that we need to get our of our bubbles, get off of our farms and speak up because we are center stage right now,” he said. “It is our time and it’s a hot issue.”
Jeff told the opening general session of the National Agri-Marketing Conference that Elanco has just unveiled a website focusing on food production, world hunger and sustainability called “Plenty To Think About”. The site includes a white paper that focuses on three rights – food, a human right; choice, a consumer right; and sustainability, environmentally right.
Listen to or download an enlightening conversation with Jeff here: Jeff Simmons Interview
The president of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) is thrilled with this year’s conference attendance and the current state of the organization.
“It’s always good to be the queen when things are good,” said Vicki Henrickson of BCS Communications. “We have 1700 members this year, we haven’t had that many since the year 2000. We’ve got 1200 registrations for conference this year, we’ve not had that many since 2001. We had 155 plus first timers at the conference this year – amazing. Everything is good!”
The first educational session at this year’s Agri-Marketing Conference focused on “Becoming and 800-pound Gorilla: How To Dominate Your Market.” Our presenter was Bill Guertin, Chief Enthusiasm Officer, The 800-Pound Gorilla. Well I guess he should know how to do it then!
I talked with Bill before his presentation. He says that the 800-pound gorilla is “the dominate player in any marketplace whose tactics and techniques result in an unfair share of the available business.” So he was here to help us discover how to achieve this. He uses an anecdote from the sports industry to make a point of how you can do this. Listen in: Bill Guertin Interview
It has been a great opening day to the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference. ZimmComm has continued to make Google Juice and actually shared a little with our fans and clients in the Connection Point trade show. So cheers from Kansas City, MO.
Cindy and I will be collecting stories and interviews throughout the meeting and probably won’t get them all posted until after the conference since we’re both going on to other locations before getting back to ZimmComm World Headquarters. However, photos are being updated and we’ll have a lot more coverage here as we work our way through the next couple days. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say hello this evening and we will see you from the show floor again tomorrow.
What would a NAMA Student Marketing Competition be without judges? Here are some judges hard at it this morning during the preliminary presentations. I spoke to one of them, Kelly Loganbill (center). She’s just another example of NAMA member volunteer in action.
Kelly says these students represent “the fantastic future of agriculture.” She got involved to give back to the organization and see the ideas these students come up with. Listen in to our conversation: Kelly Loganbill Interview
It takes a lot of volunteers work to put on an Agri-Marketing Conference and a student marketing competition. Nancy Barcus, Agriculture Future of America, Director of Leader Development Programs is one. She’s the hall monitor during the early round of student presentations. She has to keep the hallway clear during presentations to prevent distractions. This is important stuff here!
Nancy is a new member of the NAMA Careers Committee. I spoke with Nancy about her job: Nancy Barcus Interview
What is the one thing you like best about NAMA and the Agri-Marketing Conference? For me it’s the opportunities for networking and fellowship with clients and friends. That’s what I got to do at the Vance Publishing reception at The Cashew last night. While there I met Tim Tobeck, VP/Publishing Director. Tim is relatively new to Vance so with my trusty iPhone in hand we did a short interview so we could get to know him and learn what’s new.
Tim says he’s excited about coming to Vance since he’s been in business publishing for nearly 40 years. He grew up on a ranch and has been breeding livestock in Colorado. He says he came back to the business “because I saw Vance as a company that used old media and new media together to really build a sense of community” That’s speaking my language Tim!
I’m just saying that when it comes to Google Juice you just don’t need to look further than ZimmComm New Media. So plan to stop by booth 412 and let us introduce you to Google Juice ZimmComm style.
Let the NAMA games begin. Actually they have starting with today’s ABEF Golf Tournament. It was a beautiful day for it.
Registration has been busy, especially with all the student competitors arriving for their afternoon competition orientation. As you might expect, there are photos online and Cindy and I will be adding to them throughout the next several days: 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album
The National Agri-Marketing Association is thrilled to announce its all-new app, just in time for the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference. The app is available for iPhone, iPod, iPad or Android smartphone and Blackberry is coming soon.
Welcome to Agri-Marketing Conference Week. It is one of our favorite times of the year because it was seven years ago that Cindy and I attended and introduced people to ZimmComm New Media. We hope to see you in Kansas City in person or online. You can find us in our booth at this year’s Connection Point trade show. I will once again be the NAMA Blogger so I’ll be doing some cross posting here and there and you can count on lots of photos.
To get a preview of this year’s conference I spoke with Matt Coniglio, Fastline Publications. Matt is Vice Chair of the conference this year. In the ZimmCast he’ll share some highlights and says it’s looking like this will be the highest attendance for a conference since 2000! Get a preview of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference in this week’s program: 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference Preview
I’d also like to thank Brownfield Ag News for sponsoring our coverage of the conference! Look forward to a party on Thursday night.
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, Growmark, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.
The program ends this week with a song from Music Alley called “The Harvesting Angel” by Jeremy Alan Hepp.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page
You are probably picturing your hand holding that iPod touch. Aren’t you? Well it is a possibility if you are selected in our drawing next week at the conclusion of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference Connection Point. You have to stop by booth #412 and get your entry in but don’t have to be present to win when we pull names. We’ll be awarding one to a professional member and one to a student member. These are 32GB models so there’s lots of room to store your music and apps.
Speaking of apps, these iPod will be pre-loaded with the AgWired App. That’s just to make it easier for you to have one of the first and coolest ag apps on your device. Of course it’s not hard to get and it is free anyway. If you’ve got an iPhone/iPad/touch all you have to do is click on this link or got to the iTunes Store to search for it. Once you have the app on your device you’ll find that you can select any of our ZimmComm News Network websites to read the latest news and of course that includes AgWired. There’s more there too. Feel free to stop by our booth if you need help or have questions. And for you Android folks, don’t worry. The Android Market should have a new app in it by next week!
We’ll have some other cool items at our booth besides these beauties. Please stop and visit the ZimmComm Team and learn about Google Juice.
Here’s your first look at the layout of the Connection Point at the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference. I just wanted to make sure you knew where to find us. It’s not hard. We’re booth number 412.
So what’s your incentive to stop by and say hi? Well, first of all we’re going to be giving away two iPod Touches, one to a professional NAMA member and one to a student NAMA member. They’ll be 32GB units pre-loaded with the AgWired App of course. We thought a lot about what to give away and think these are very useful tools in today’s socially networked world. With the Skype app you can even make phone calls!
That’s not all that you’ll find at the ZimmComm booth though. There will be the friendly ZimmComm team to answer your questions. Feel free to ask me anything you want to know about gadgets or social media. All questions are important and I’ll do my best to provide or find an answer. Sure hope to see you there!
We’ve got a couple of deadlines coming up this Friday. The first one is for entries for the IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award. Since each country member of IFAJ can nominate a member (that’s AAEA in the USA) you need to get your application in if you would like to be considered.
The award recognizes the leadership potential of young members (35 and younger), and supports their participation at the IFAJ congress through this $1,000 EUR award, designed to help offset travel and registration to Canada, in this case.
Apply by emailing Future Ag Communicators Committee Chair Mindy Williamson (mwilliamson@iowacorn.org) the following:
Name, company, email, phone number (applicants must be no older than 35 as of Dec. 31, 2010)
Three samples of your work
An explanation of why you have leadership potential in agricultural journalism and communications
Another deadline this Friday is early registration for the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference. So get ready to harvest some ideas in Kansas City, MO in April!
New Breakout Sessions on Sustainability, Animal Welfare and Management
Internationally Known Keynote Speakers to challenge you and share information you can use right away
Outstanding Networking with industry leaders and decision-makers
If you’re responsible for brand identity and market development – and if you want to rub elbows with the movers and shakers in the industry – make plans to join NAMA this April in Kansas City.
You’ll discover how to:
* use proven tactics to affect the behavior of your target audience
* attract and hold on to customers from younger markets with big buying power
* unlock the “seven triggers of fascination” that add a strategic marketing approach to the art of influence
The 2011 NAMA Agri-Marketing Conference is going to take your know-how to the next level.
The National Agri-Marketing Association has announced award winners.
2011 Agribusiness Leader of the Year
NAMA has named Jeff Simmons, President, Elanco Animal Health, as the 2011 Agribusiness Leader of the Year. This award, which is NAMA’s highest honor, will be presented at the Opening General Session of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Harvesting Ideas,” April 14, 2011, in Kansas City, Missouri. The award honors outstanding leaders in agribusiness, education, government service or other agribusiness related areas who exemplify excellence in agribusiness by their significant contributions to the industry.
Jeff Simmons is a dynamic, young, visionary leader that has positioned Elanco for significant innovation and growth. Located in Greenfield, Indiana, the global company is comprised of 2,300 employees with offices in more than 40 countries.
2011 NAMA Marketer of the Year
Roger Reierson, President and Chairman, AdFarm, has been named the 2011 NAMA Marketer of the Year. The NAMA Marketer award will be presented during the Second General Session of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Harvesting Ideas” on Thursday, April 14 at 11:00 a.m. in Kansas City, Missouri and is sponsored by Agri Marketing magazine.
NAMA recognizes its active members with senior management of marketing and/or sales responsibilities with the NAMA Marketer of the Year award. This award is NAMA’s most prestigious honor awarded to active members of the association and honors outstanding accomplishments in the field of agri-marketing.
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
Chuck and Mike often wind up at the same events all over the country so it seemed like a good idea to do a little AgriTalking about the changes they've seen in the ag media landscape.
What’s the best party at the Agri-Marketing Conference? The Brownfield Party! I know, I’m biased. I was the host for a number of years once upon a time and Brownfield Ag News is my sponsor this week here at the event.
And ZimmComm Google Juice was enjoyed by all. It was one of the best NAMA Connection Point shows ever. At least in my opinion. Thanks to all of you who stopped by to say hi and visit a while. We’ll be doing it again next year.
It was a loud and exciting time during the NAMA student awards at the Agri-Marketing Conference. There are just too many to keep track and list them all here.
The 2011 Best of NAMA Awards were awarded during the Agri-Marketing Conference. You can find a full listing by 
Public Relations: RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment); agency: Fleishman-Hillard
The 2011 NAMA Marketer of the Year was awarded to Roger Reierson, AdFarm. Roger was very surprised to receive the award and says it does not mean it’s “the end.” There’s lots more to come from this man.
Elanco President Jeff Simmons wants people in agriculture to speak up and make it personal when it comes to safe, abundant, affordable food.
The president of the 
This app just in … the NAMA App!
Welcome to Agri-Marketing Conference Week. It is one of our favorite times of the year because it was seven years ago that Cindy and I attended and introduced people to ZimmComm New Media. We hope to see you in Kansas City in person or online. You can find us in our booth at this year’s Connection Point trade show. I will once again be the 
We’ve got a couple of deadlines coming up this Friday. The first one is for entries for the 
Another deadline this Friday is early registration for the 
The National Agri-Marketing Association has announced award winners.
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
