The President of the American Feed Industry Association is Joel Newman. AFIA is holding their International Feed Expo here in Atlanta co-located with the International Poultry Expo for the first time
I talked with Joel about why the two organizations have come together and how it’s working. It sounds very positive.
Listen to my interview with Joel:
poultry-expo-newman.mp3As usual you can find all my pictures in Flickr from the International Poultry and Feed Expos. I’ll be adding to the sets as I get pictures these next couple days.
You can find the photos in the Zimmages section of the website right now or use this link: International Poultry/Feed Expo Photos
I haven’t seen any of the regulars that you normally see at a farm show, especially one of this size. However the new media reporters are on hand. Besides myself there’s Ned Arthur, Truffle Media Networks, who’s here doing work for not only his PoultryCast but other “animal casts” as well.
Ned is set up in the Elanco Animal health booth conducting interviews which will be used in his regular podcast programs. He’s also here recording technical sessions and presentations for online availability after the conference. You see we’re very multi-talented and multi-functional kinds of guys.
To help promote PoultryCast, Truffle offered producers and attendees free cappucino in the Elanco booth. All you have to do is fill out a card with a little demographic information and you can get your caffeine fix.
The cards were direct mailed prior to the conference to poultry producers. One of the cool things about podcasts like PoultryCast is that they’re only trying to reach the decision making producers. So sponsors like Elanco can very narrowly target their marketing dollars to a very specific audience. New category specific sponsors are being sought for PoultryCast by the way.
It doesn’t matter where you go you’ve got to have internet access.
These internet islands are becoming a standard feature of any show regardless of industry.
One of the nice things here at this show is open wireless in the exhibition area. At least that’s what I’ve been told.
I’m hooked up by ethernet cable in the press room and it’s very high speed which is great for uploading audio, pics and video.
These eggs aren’t good for an omelet but they sure look pretty. Mike Ryan’s company, Clay Concepts, specializes in making ceramic eggs and this is his first time at the International Poultry Expo. He says that they started out selling them to hobbyists and as decorations but found they make great nest eggs for poultry producers and great promotional items.
That’s the part that caught my eye. I interviewed Mike about what he’s doing. He describes how they make them and some of the ways people are using them.
Listen to my interview with Mike:
poultry-expo-ryan.mp3
Shining shoes is a full time career for Ashley Skaggs who’s working out of the IC Poultry Bus booth here at the International Poultry Expo. Ashley works for Classic Shoe Shine Company which is based out of Atlanta. They do this at shows all over the world.
After watching Ashley at work it was my turn to have my shoes done and I interviewed here while she worked. As Ashley says in our interview this is a great way to pull traffic into your trade show booth and you’ll usually find a line behind her.
Listen to my interview with Ashley:
poultry-expo-skaggs.mp3
The Expos here in Atlanta are best described as co-located with a number of exhibitors who are here for both. I’m guessing they’re happy to only have to set up one time. That’s got to save money.
Here’s an example of one of the many exhibits on display here. This one is from Diamond Systems and it handles eggs.
I took a moment to shoot a video clip of it in operation and of course loaded it to YouTube.
Like the Green Week last week in Berlin, this is a huge show. I wandered around for a couple hours and only covered about 3 aisles in one building and there’s more than one building here. Is it possible to have a show that’s too big?
The action is going hot and heavy here at the Poultry and Feed Expos. I’ve never attended this event and am just about ready to take cameras and recorders out for a stroll to see what I can find.
The event runs through the next couple days and I’m planning on being here each day.
See you soon.
Hello from Atlanta and the International Poultry and Feed Expos. It took a while but I finally got in. I have to say I’ve never had a more unpleasant welcome than trying to get my badge here. When I got to the media room they didn’t have me on a list and wondered how I got in past security (they never asked me for a badge). I explained that I had spoken with the communication director in charge personally by phone a couple weeks ago and that I had emailed in my media registration form two times at her request since I guess they didn’t receive it the first time. They called her on the radio and she denied ever having spoken with me and to send me out to exhibitor registration where I should be able to find a press badge. I went all the way out there and since I wasn’t on a list I was told to either register as a general attendee or leave.
Now I presented my IFAJ international press card and other forms of identification. However, that made no difference. So I had to stand in line and pay my way in with a badge. It’s certainly not the $50 that’s an issue. However, this has cost me over an hour since I walked in the door. For a media blogger that’s cutting into my posting time.
I’m sure the staff is overwhelmed but when you’ve got a legitimate reporter on your doorstep who wants to provide you with online coverage should you turn him away just because you can’t “find him in the computer?” Oh well, no big deal but I thought this presented a lesson in how not to treat the media. I’m still going to cover this event like I planned and I hope you’ll find it interesting.
I would offer the staff here a suggestion though about having some more table space with electric outlets and wireless internet access would be nice. If they’d like to learn how to really set up a media room they should contact Joe Schuele and Grace Webb at NCBA!
The reports are coming in regularly now from Paul McKellips, Global Outreach Officer, US Embassy Baghdad, The Green Room – Public Affairs GO Team. In fact I’m a little behind getting them posted. This one is about sheep dip tanks and from the looks of this picture they dip goats too.
The U.S. military is having an enormous impact on Iraq’s sheep population. A massive effort has been underway to build permanent and portable sheep dip tanks so that the country’s 12 to 16 million sheep can be cleaned of parasites such as ticks and lice. The impact in remote villages has resulted in a powerful economic boost to farmers. Dipping has increased wool production by 30% or more.
Full Report (Word doc)
Listen to his report:
sheep-dip-tanks.mp3