The second panel of the day for ARC, which is still in progress, in on “Ethics in Public Relations.” Pictured (l-r) are Gary Myers, Morgan & Myers, Bruce Herz, Bader-Rutter, Dr. Karen Salttery (moderator), Marquette University, Deron Johnson, Rhea & Kaiser and Lisa Hull, Charleston/Orwig.
ARC Panel On Bioenergy
The first part of the Ag Relations Council program was a panel on “The Bioenergy Issue.” Very timely with the passage of energy legislation this week! Pictured (l-r) are ARC President, Jeri Omernik, panel moderator Dr. Lynn Hamilton, Michigan State University, Susan Crane, WE Energy and Bob Oleson, Wisconsin Corn Growers.
ARC Board Meets
The board of the Agricultural Relations Council just concluded meeting a little while ago. Joining them was their scholarship winner, Katie Knapp, from Magnolia, IL, who’s attending the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She’s in the middle of Carroll Merry (left) and Jeri Omernik (right).
The board discussed several issues as they continue to guide ARC through a re-organization process. Topics included increasing membership and increasing awareness of the ARC, holding the Golden ARC Awards, public relations accreditation, and meetings next year.
I’m late to our afternoon program so I’ve gotta go.
ARC & AMS At The Hilton Milwaukee
It’s a beautiful morning in Milwaukee. The Hilton is where all the action will be, starting with the Agricultural Relations Council meetings today, then the kickoff of the Agricultural Media Summit tomorrow.
I got up early and ran down to the lake. It was nice and peaceful with the seagulls echoing off the buildings downtown before getting to the waterfront. I hope I can be motivated enought to do that every morning! We’ll see what happens.
Look for lots of posts and pictures over the next several days.
Special ZimmCast With Diane Johnson, ED For LPC
I’m here in Milwaukee now. Nice breeze coming in off the lake. Downtown is busy because it’s Germanfest. I thought it was Germanfest here every weekend. Actually I think it is for some people.
For those of you who aren’t coming I think you should listen to my interview with Diane Johnson, Executive Director for the Livestock Publications Council. Diane is one of the main coordinators for this event and she’s probably very stressed out right now since it kicks off the day after tomorrow. Maybe she’s not stressed out. I don’t know. I’m not. I’m enjoying a Leinenkugel Honey Weiss while typing on the keyboard!
You can listen to my interview with Diane here 
(6.2MB)
Podcasting At The University of Florida
I haven’t had a chance to plug my alma mater yet but just got a chance. The University of Florida is podcasting University News! Very cool I think. Just a demonstration of how you can use this tool. If a college can do it so can you. You can subscribe to their podcast using this link.
Complete ABM Agri Council Study To Be Released At AMS
This is going to be my last post until I’m in Milwaukee. That’s because I’m driving and will be most of tomorrow. So I thought I’d get in one last post about the Ag Media Summit. One of the 3 main organizing groups, the American Business Media Agri Council, will be presenting the complete results of their media usage study next Tuesday. We pointed you to it recently and the webcast just touched on the highlights. I’ll try to get more details to provide you next week.
Until then, I hope you enjoy some of the interviews we’ve recently posted relating to the AMS & ARC meetings:
Special ZimmCast With IFAJ President From Ireland
I hope you like an Irish accent because you’ll get one in this special edition ZimmCast. The president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists is David Markey. He’s CEO of IFP Media in Dublin, Ireland and he’s my guest in this interview program. He’s also presenting at the Agricultural Media Summit that gets underway this weekend. I caught up with him in his office and I think you’ll enjoy hearing him talk about IFAJ and why it’s good for us to get together and trade information from around the world.
You can listen to my interview with David here (5.9MB)
AgWired reports on IFAJ Congress 2005 are sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred.
AMS Final Schedule Available
The steering and planning committe of the Agricultural Media Summit just released the final schedule and related information about the conference. You can download the PDF file here: Schedule
See you in Milwaukee!
New Dupont Advisory Board Member
When you’re an international company you should have an international advisory board shouldn’t you?
DuPont Announces New Biotechnology Advisory Panel Member
WILMINGTON, Del., July 28 – DuPont today announced the addition of Mr. Chebet Maikut to its external Biotechnology Advisory Panel. Mr. Maikut is the president of the Uganda National Farmers Federation (UNFFE), one of the largest farmer organizations in Uganda. He joins the ranks of seven other distinguished panel members who bring important and diverse viewpoints to the broad area of biotechnology and its application in agriculture, food and bio-based materials.
“Chebet Maikut’s knowledge of African agriculture will provide valuable insight into biotechnology policy and acceptance from the perspective of a developing country and market,” said DuPont Chairman and CEO Charles O. Holliday, Jr. “He brings a strong voice that represents both African opinions on biotechnology as well as prospective customer segments in this emerging market.”
For more information contact Desiree Fletcher-Hayes for DuPont, +1-515-334-6768.