You could say that 2020 was a pivotal year for ZimmComm. Sorry about using the “P” word. But as crazy as the year was and all the challenges that have been presented, we’ve come through it by virtually using all the tools we have been using for years and some new ones. Sorry about using the “V” word.

Let’s summarize a year of work that we are very grateful for receiving and proud to have completed. Let’s start with what we first called live blogging an event, which morphed into full-blown coverage of events that include photography, broadcast quality audio interviews, videos on YouTube and Facebook all for the use of the media. It also made for good content for our blog – AgWired. So, here’s a list of events from last year that we attended live or virtually. For the virtual events we just “pivoted” to phone/Zoom/Skype/Meetings interviews and screenshots for images.

In-person events

BASF APT Summit
Southeast Fruit & Vegetable Conference
Heart of America Agricultural Hemp Classic
National Biodiesel Conference
Cattlemen Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show
National Ethanol Conference
Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau Annual Meeting
Commodity Classic
Farm Journal Field Days

Virtual events

Alltech ONE Virtual Experience
Cattle Industry Summer Conference
Agri-Marketing Conference
Agri-Pulse – Food & Ag Policy Summit West
ACE Annual Meeting
Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit
Ag Media Summit
NAFB Convention
Ag Retailers Conference
ASTA CSS & Seed Expo

Next on the list is an increase in podcast production. We’ve continued our long running podcast, ZimmCast, the official podcast of AgWired and the ZimmComm Golden Mic Audio podcast which features all the audio content we produce. We expanded client podcasts that currently include RFA’s The Ethanol Report and new in 2020 the Daugherty Water for Food Podcast and Field Notes From Koch Agronomic Services. We’ve produced many other podcasts over the years too.

We saw a significant increase in the distribution of news releases via our AgNewsWire service and implemented a simple form for companies to submit their release and make payment.

Lastly, we worked on a number of internal content production projects for companies that include managing videos to being techs helping run virtual webinars.

When we say it was a pivotal year there are several specific factors that have come into play which include: COVID19 restrictions, significant decrease in marketing budgets or at least spending put on hold and continued changes in company personnel. Some of this actually started before 2020 but really ramped up last year.

As we open up 2021, we’re already busy with the first event on our calendar and that’s the Beltwide Cotton Conferences. We will continue to provide services that are helping companies and organizations with their marketing efforts and media outreach.

Thank you to all our wonderful friends and clients in the industry. Here’s to a great year.