The Cattle Indusry Convention Trade Show is still in the setup stage. The big rigs and carpet rollers are working hard to get it all ready.
The trade show kicks off this evening at 5pm with the Wild Wild West Welcome Reception. The guys at the Alltech booth said to stop by for a beer. I think I will.
As the action starts to heat up here at the Cattle Industry Convention the media is rolling in. It was a little lonely here in the media room yesterday but a lot of reporters have arrived and some of them are even working!
This afternoon the trade show will kick start things and we’ll have a lot of press conferences going on the next 2 days, including one with Sec. of Agriculture Johanns.
One of the main organizers of the Cattlemen’s College here at the Cattle Industry Convention is Tom Woodward, a cattleman from Texas. I interviewed Tom during a break in the session today. He talks about why they chose this venue this year and the importance of the program which is focusing on the low stress handling of cattle.
You can listen to my interview with Tom here: 
Tom Woodward Interview (1.7MB MP3 File)
Today at the Cattle Industry Convention it was time for the Cattlemen’s College. This year it was held (still going on actually) at the National Western Events Center. They decided to have some live demonstrations about cattle handling. I watched the “Use of Stock Doges in a Low-Stress Manner” session. These are some well trained dogs.
You can watch a short video clip of these dogs in action here: 
Stock Dogs Video (2.4MB WMV File)
The clip is about 2 minutes long.
Let’s take a break for a moment from the Cattle Industry Convention and talk about podcasting. Since I know many of our readers are considering this great new way to communicate there are certainly some considerations. A nice little list of “The 7 Deadly Sins of Commercial Podcasting” can be found on Media Savvy 2.0. They’re really focusing on people who want to commercialize their podcast efforts but I think that a lot of what they say applies to any company that is considering it. They refer to podcasting as “nanocasting.” Here’s just one of the list:
3. Podcasting Like a Broadcaster – Broadcasting is what old school “mass media” networks do. It’s communicating to the largest possible audience while hoping to reach a subset of people who are interested in the content and offerings. Nanocasting is the polar opposite of broadcasting. It’s hyper-targeted media content, aimed at an audience that is narrower, tremendously smaller, but collectively very interested in the programming and the offerings . From Mommycast, to Autoblog, some of the most promising commercial applications of podcasting we’re seeing on the landscape are using the “Nanocasting” model. The first commandment of Nanocasting is to clearly define your audience. Commandment number two is to “hyper-target” them.
I think the key phrase here as it applies to reaching farmers and using farm podcasts is, “hyper-targeted media content, aimed at an audience that is narrower, tremendously smaller, but collectively very interested in the programming and the offerings.” Your creation of online content that a farmer wants and needs and that he/she can take with them wherever they go will not only inform but generate a lot of good will for your company. The amount of farm information delivered by tradtional media outlets continues to decline. Even if you don’t want to create your own podcasts you may want to consider your financial support of those of us who have programs available for sponsorship!
Cattlemen’s Beef Board COO, Monte Reese talks about why they decided to blog the convention in an interview I conducted with him this afternoon. He starts out providing an overview of the convention as it relates to the Beef Checkoff.
You can listen to my interview with Monte here: Monte Reese Interview (3MB MP3 file)
I interviewed Jay Truitt, NCBA Vice President of Government Affiars, (pictured on left) about the issues affecting cattlemen.
Jay talks about issues like the environment, foreign trade and offers his ideas on the resolutions we may see passed here by the end of the meeting.
You can listen to my interview with Jay here: Jay Truitt Interview (3MB MP3 File)
As I was wandering around I ran into the National Beef Ambassador Team. The overall winner and the 2006 National Beef Ambassador is Amanda Nolz from Mitchell, SD. I interviewed Amanda about the program. She describes the competition and what she and the team of ambassadors will be doing throughout the year. She has her own cattle and discusses how the work she’s doing will benefit all cattlemen. The program is sponsored by the Beef Checkoff.
You can listen to my interview with Amada here: Amanda Nolz Interview (2MB MP3 file)
Although it is early in the week, there are meetings already in progress for the early birds. This is the NCBA Allied Industry Council and New Product Council getting together to hear the latest. These meetings are all very open.
While they’re here I guess they get a look ahead at next year and get the opportunity to sign up for the trade show.
Next year’s convention will be in Nashville.
Registration is light this afternoon as cattle producers begin showing up and checking in.
I’m sure these folks will be out eating a good steak this evening. I had to check on the restaurant I ate at last night. It’s Sullivan’s Steakhouse. I highly recommend it. They’re located at 1754 Wazee St. but call for reservations – 303-295-2664.
