As the banner says, we’re welcome in Texas. Thank you Texas agriculture.
Things are mostly set up here in the hotel and the trade show area is coming together nicely too.
I’m currently in an AMS/IFAJ 2009 Congress meeting, which is one of many that take place since so many of us are in town at the same time.
Here’s NAMA President, Stephanie Gable, running the NAMA Executive Committee meeting that’s taking place this morning here at the convention.
The NAMA leaders take care of business early starting with this morning’s meeting.
Besides the NAMA Executive Committee meeting, other organizations hold their meetings here too like AAEA and NAMA. I’ll have some pictures from them for you too.
This will be Eldon White’s last meeting as the staff director. I’m going to try to find a few minutes with him today to talk about that and post it later.
We’ve finally got the comment feature of AgWired turned back on and working. Starting today, I’m going to leave comments open on all new posts I write. So feel free to join in conversation with me as we look at agricultural marketing together.
The posts that I wrote during the time comments were turned off don’t have comments allowed although I can go back and turn them on individually if need be. I’m just going to leave them the way they are though. This all came about from the end of last year spam comment attack we had. We still get them, lots of them but the filtering system we’ve installed seems to be taking care of them quite nicely.
We haven’t had this much fun since last year.
There are some early arrivals here in Dallas. If you’re the first person to leave a comment on this post and correctly identify the people in the picture I’ll send you a set of ZimmComm retractable ear buds for your iPod.
Today has started off a little wet outside from the looks of it. I haven’t even checked the forecast but I hope it doesn’t affect the golf tournament later today.
I’m going to wander around and see what else I can find as there are some activities taking place like the Executive Committee meeting.
Here’s what Monduel’s, the Hyatt Atrium Bar, looks like from my floor. Keeping in mind that we’re going to have an AgWired Meetup tomorrow evening from 5-7pm here, just take the escalator up to the 2nd level and you’re there.
Yes, I’m here in Dallas and ready for the games to begin. I’ve already started a photo album for you which you can find here: 2007 NAMA Convention Photo Album
I’ll be adding to the photo album periodically over the next several days so feel free to check back often.
This week ZimmComm New Media introduces a new logo and a new look for ZimmComm.biz. We’re celebrating 3 years in business and over 2 years helping agribusiness companies and agencies navigate the new media world.
Thank you to all the various companies and organizations we’ve had the honor to work with. It wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
I look forward to seeing a lot of friends and clients this week in Dallas at the NAMA convention.
It’s NAMA Convention week here on AgWired. I’ll be blogging from Dallas, TX starting on Tuesday. You can hear all about the activities the guys at Truffle Media Networks and I have prepared in this week’s program.
For example, we’re going to be giving away an iPhone at our booth at the convention trade show. You’ve got to register at our booth but you don’t have to be present to win when we do the drawing at the end of the trade show Thursday evening.
Ned Arthur, Aaron Gilbertie and I will have entry cards and they’ll be in all the registration bags too. You can also stop by our AgWired Meetup at Monduel’s (Hyatt Atrium Bar) from 5-7pm on Tuesday evening to get your entry card as well.
This week on the ZimmCast I have a feature interview with Bob Giblin, Senior PR Counsel, Director of Research, Insight & Measurment, Morgan & Myers. Bob attended the recent Agricultural Relations Council spring meeting and gives us a report on what they did and the status of the organization. Bob says they’re working through a new strategic plan that includes bringing back the Golden ARC awards this year. He says there’s never been a better time for an organization like ARC. Here’s the group at an Aquarium visit during the spring meeting.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: 
ZimmCast 114 (15 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
zimmcast114-4-8-07.mp3The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes.
Bart Johnson and Dale Minyo have been hard at work creating a new agricultural media outlet in Ohio called the Ohio AgNet. Programming is scheduled to start tomorrow, April 9 on about 20 radio stations according to the pair when I interviewed them late last week. It sounds like some changes at Clear Channel Communications have led to new opportunities for people like these guys. It looks like another state with two farm radio networks.
Bart also publishes Ohio’s Country Journal. He says it’s an exciting time and he’s happy to add radio to the mix of what he can offer to his advertisers. Dale Minyo will be the voice of the network. In my interview he gives a pretty thorough description of the programming they’ll be offering to radio stations after soliciting what they want and need.
Interesting to me is the fact that they’ve got a daily email you can subscribe to which will contain an MP3 file attachment of Dale’s morning report. The idea Bart says is for a farmer to open his email, click on the audio file attachment and listen to Dale while they go through their other emails with a cup of coffee. I told them this sounds like podcasting and I don’t know of anyone else doing exactly what they’re describing. One this is certain, they believe most farmers have broadband access, or at least have it available to them in the state. I think they should just make it a podcast so farmers can subscribe and get the report even if they don’t open their email. They they can listen on their computer or in the truck on the way out to the field! You can learn more about the Ohio AgNet in my interview with Bart and Dale.
Here’s my interview with Bart & Dale:
ohio-agnet-interview.mp3
Happy Easter from ZimmComm New Media. I was looking for a nice image to use for this post and thought of an Easter basket standard – the Cadbury Creme (or caramel) Egg.
So, while you’re enjoying one of these you might want to shoot a little YouTube action and upload and enter it for a chance to win some money. Actually it’s called Goo Tube.
Besides that you’ve got some games like Goo Earth and Stop the Goo. It’s chocolaty creme gooiness in all its glory.
Dixie Gray has been appointed to be the Executive Director of the Commercial LifeKnowledge team at the National FFA Organization.
As Executive Director, she is responsible for licensing and customizing FFA’s LifeKnowledge and collateral materials for other national youth organizations. “Dixie joins FFA from Indianapolis based @Work Solutions, a consulting firm providing human resources and information technology solutions to the career development industry,” said Tom Kapostasy, senior director of business operations.
“Her experience in adapting existing software to meet both local and Department of Labor needs for workforce development systems fits well with both the content of the LifeKnowledge lessons and our strategy of mass customization.” “I am pleased to accept this new responsibility and to join FFA to positively change the lives of students,” she said.
