Kathie Thomas, Director of Innovation, Fleishman-Hillard, was a panel participant for the breakout session, Tapping The Power of Innovation to Create Sizzling Solutions, at the 2009 Agri-Marketing Conference. If you missed that session at the conference, you’ll want to sign-up for this webinar!

Thursday, May 21, 2009 ~ 1:00 p.m. (CENTRAL TIME)
How To Spread Innovation Across A Willing-But-Distracted Organization

Surveys show that top managers of global corporations are convinced that innovation and creativity are critical to the future success of their companies. However, these same managers are sometimes slow to implement the training, tools, and process changes needed to support the spread of innovation throughout their organizations. While their intentions are good, the ever-present demands of customers, investors, and other stakeholders just keep getting in the way. What can you do to move innovation from your organization’s wish list to the top of its to-do list? Fleishman-Hillard Director of Innovation, Kathie Thomas, offers a lively, interactive session, packed with proven tips and strategies on how to inspire and promote innovation in a well-intentioned, but distracted, organization.

This practical workshop is designed to help you:

• Identify your company’s innovation hot button
• Enlist senior management support
• Successfully pollinate innovation throughout your organization
• Build awareness and inspire employee engagement
• Create easy-to-use tools
• Evaluate results

You’ll come away equipped to develop a practical roadmap for nurturing a climate of creativity that consistently converts fresh thinking to competitive advantage.

To register visit https://payment.nama.org/webinar.htm.

Mark your calendars for the 6th Annual NAMA Boot Camp that will take place August 18-20, at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City.

Enlist in the Boot Camp to learn more about agri-marketing! Did you attend last year? If so, we want you back! This year’s program is a perfect continuation of the previous programs. Topics will include:

Networking
A Day in the Life of a Crop Producer
A Day in the Life of a Cow/Calf Producer
A Day in the Life of a Specialty Producer
Social Marketing
The Big, Scary Communications Plan
Producer Panel
Pitching To Ag Media
How To Deal with a Client & How To Make the Agency Do What You Want
Retailer Panel
Jedi Marketing

Come in early and attend the optional MoKan Ag Tour! All Boot Camp attendees will receive a notebook packed with ag terminology and facts as well as case studies and speaker presentations.

To register for the NAMA Boot Camp and/or the MoKan Ag Tour, visit https://payment.nama.org/bootcamp09.htm.
If you are interested in sponsoring a session or event at the NAMA Boot Camp, please fill out the sponsorship confirmation form at www.nama.org/programs/bootcamp-spo.htm or contact Jenny Pickett at 913-491-6500 or via e-mail at jennyp@nama.org.

Special thanks to our current Boot Camp sponsors!

John Deere – Tuesday Evening Reception
Hoard’s Dairyman – Wednesday Continental Breakfast (co-sponsor)
High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal – Wednesday Continental Breakfast (co-sponsor)
Fastline Publications – Resource Notebook
Farm Industry News – Thursday Morning Break
Osborn & Barr Communications – Two Breakout Sessions
Broadhead + Co. – Promotional Materials

Mark your calendars to check out an upcoming chapter event for the spring/summer!

If you have any write-ups or photos from your previous events, please send the information to Kathi Conrad at kathic@nama.org to get it in the NAMA e-News.

May 19 ~ Midlands NAMA
Coaching Your Brand

Take an in-depth look into ways in which companies, large and small, use sports to activate brands and build long and rewarding relationships with their customers.

Award-winning broadcaster and sports marketing specialist, Jim Rose, will be addressing the topic of how to activate your brand to build long and rewarding relationships with your customers. He has created and executed winning strategies for such recognizable brands as Cabela’s, Mutual of Omaha, Dodge, BryanLGH Medical Center, Qwest, Bank of the West, The Nebraska Lottery and Dorothy Lynch Salad Dressing.

The event will take place from 3:00-5:00 p.m. on May 19 at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, NE.

May 26 ~ Carolinas/Virginia NAMA
Spring Tour

Join Carolinas/Virginia NAMA for their spring tour on Sustainable Agriculture & Healthy Food for You & Your Family. The group will take tours of Cane Creek Farm and Braeburn Farm. These farms share 500 acres of pasture, housing several hundred pigs of multiple breeds, grass-fed New Zealand Red Devon cattle, chickens, ducks, turkeys, donkeys, goats, and sheep.

The event will begin at 3:15 p.m. at the farms and will last about 2 hours. Following the tour, the group will meet at 6:00 p.m. at the Olive Garden Restaurant.

Cost for the event is $15 for members and their guests. For questions or to register, please contact tour arranger Jim Haskins at phone 919-933-2327 or email abcgroup@bellsouth.net

May 28 ~ Badger/Chicago/Cornbelt NAMA
Annual Golf Outing

You’re just moments away from being registered for the golf outing with a cast of characters like none other. The NAMA Golf Outing is a tremendous opportunity to kick back and enjoy a day in the sun with other industry professionals, all while teeing it up on a world-class 18-hole championship course.

The golf outing will take place at Hawk’s View Golf Club in Lake Geneva, WI. Tee-off is at 11:00 a.m. and a cookout and golf awards will follow the outing at 4:00 p.m. Cost is $95 for golf and dinner, $80 for just golf, or $20 for just the dinner. To register visit, http://www.badgernamagolf.com/.

June 5 ~ Desert Southwest
Lunch & Learn

Join the Desert Southwest Chapter of NAMA for our monthly Lunch & Learn meeting. Meetings are held the 1st Friday of each month at different locations across the state. Remember…if you are a member and bring a non-member as a guest, your meal is always FREE!!! The topic for this month’s Lunch & Learn is Current Trends – Management Vs. Labor. Cost for the event is $10 – members/students/non-members.

For more information contact Paige Gilligan at (480) 620-5257 or at Paige@AgresticSolutions.com.

June 12 ~ Eastern NAMA
Student FFA Banquet

Please save the date JUNE 12 on your calendars. You are invited to attend the Student FFA Banquet on June 12 where NAMA East will present scholarships to two Class of 2009 graduates of the John Bowne High School Ag Education Program. This year’s winners are outstanding achievers in the fields of plant and animal sciences. The event will begin at 6:00 p.m.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Catherine Wang, Gibbs & Soell, at 212-697-2600 ext. 1202 or at cwang@gibbs-soell.com.

June 18 ~ North Central
Golf Outing

The North Central Golf Outing is planned for Thursday, June 18. Keep checking the NAMA Calendar for the latest information on this golf outing.

June 18 ~ Ohio NAMA
Buckeye Tour

It’s been a while since we just got together and had a fun day of networking and catching up on what everyone’s up to. We’ve been discussing this fun day for a while and we finally have some details to share with you.

1. Private morning tour of the Buckeye’s (“The Horseshoe”) football stadium (approx 9:30 am -11:00 am)
2. Afternoon business day special Columbus Clippers Baseball Game (12:00 pm)

We’ll have the tour in the morning followed by some drinks and food at the ballpark. We hope to see you all for this fun-filled day!!

The RSVP’s for tickets and other details will be coming soon. Students, you’re also more than welcome to join us. Keep checking the NAMA Calendar for more information.

June 25 ~ MoKan NAMA
MoKan Golf Classic

Join MoKan NAMA for their annual Golf Classic at Falcon Lakes Golf Course in Basehor, KS. Registration for the golf outing will begin at Noon and tee off will be at 1:00 p.m. Dinner and an awards ceremony will follow the outing.
This annual fund-raiser event helps provide additional financial support for both of our student chapters; Kansas State and Northwest Missouri State. To register visit, https://payment.nama.org/mokan.html.

Make the most of your membership by taking a committee role at the chapter level or national level. Gain hands-on leadership experience that will benefit you in your professional and personal life.

Chapter and national leaders are currently recruiting committee members. If you are interested in becoming a member of a chapter or national committee fill out the online form at http://www.nama.org/leader/leaderform.htm or contact your chapter president. A list of chapter president’s can be found at http://www.nama.org/chapters/chapterlist.htm.

Note: Chapter Presidents, if you have your leaders already selected for the upcoming 2009-2010 program year, please submit them to Linda Schaefer at the NAMA office at lindas@nama.org.

NAMA named the organization’s national leadership award recipients during the Second General Session of the 2009 Agri-Marketing Conference on April 16.

The President’s Award was given to Jenny Pickett, National NAMA; Patty Travis, 5MetaCom, received the R.C. Ferguson Award; The Workhorse of the Year Award was given to Bob Wilhelm, AdFarm; Sally Behringer, Nicholson Kovac, received the Outstanding Chair Award; Kenna Rathai, Kenna B. Rathai Communications, took home the Dilworth Award for Innovation.

In addition, there were six recipients of the Horizon Award. Horizon Awards recognize achievements by up-and-coming members of the organization on local, regional and national levels. Formerly titled the Meritorious Achievement Awards, they honor the efforts of emerging NAMA leaders. The six recipients of the Horizon Awards are: Lori Strum, Strategic America; Marvin Kokes, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association; Matt Coniglio, Fastline Publications; Greg Ehm, Two Rivers Marketing Group; Catherine Wang, Gibbs & Soell Public Relations; and Krista Wolf, GROWMARK.

ABEF GOLF OUTING
The ABEF hosted its annual Golf Outing during the 2009 Agri-Marketing Conference to help raise money for the Student NAMA Careers Program. The ABEF Golf Outing took place on Tuesday, April 14, at Stone Mountain Golf Club in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Golfers endured the water soaked ground for what turned out to be a beautiful day of golf. Taking third place in the golf outing was Matt Herman, DTN/The Progressive Farmer; Matt Bradford, DTN/The Progressive Farmer; and Dave Patterson, John Deere Credit. Second place went to Sandra Cashman, Epic Creative; Dave Fedderson, Cabela’s; Dave McSparron, Red River Farm Network; and Tim Oliver, Morgan&Myers. First place winners were Bob Bunker, J.L. Farmakis, Kelly Schwalbe, BCS Communications, Dennis Duncan, Ag Alert and Brian Kroshus, Lee Agri-Media.

Special thanks also to the sponsors of the ABEF Golf Outing: Farm Journal, Penton Media, Bock & Associates, Charleston/Orwig, Iowa Farmer Today/Missouri Farmer Today, and Successful Farming. We look forward to another successful Golf Outing next year in Kansas City!

ABEF CENTURY CLUB
The ABEF Century Club, which was launched at the 2004 Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City, raised $2,100 at the 2009 Agri-Marketing Conference. Investing in the club provides the opportunity to step forward and help advance the future of agribusiness. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders and the Century Club support is totally dedicated for investing in scholarships for tomorrow’s leaders.

The Century Club’s goal is to have today’s agribusiness leaders contribute $100 for today’s youth. You can be a part of this select group of individuals committed to enhancing the opportunity for tomorrow’s leaders. The list below contains professionals who joined the Century Club by the end of the 2009 conference. Don’t be left out, sign yourself up now! Visit http://www.payment.nama.org/centuryclub.htm.

John Riley
Ron Claussen
Jan Ford
H&P Company, Inc.
Mick Sibbel
Leigh Ann Cleaver
Vicki Henrickson
Beth Burgy
Lyle Orwig
Leon Westbrock
Mike Gustafson
Bill Howard
Tom Taylor
Gary Vorpahl
Russ Parker
Tom Davis
Marvin Kokes
Marjory Walker
Allen Barkve
Tim Price
Cliff Becker

ABEF AUCTIONS
The ABEF Silent Auction and Online Media Auction raised over $46,000 for the Student Careers Program. This is almost double from last year! Items in the auctions ranged from wine to media packages to iPods. Special thanks to all who donated and bid on items in the Auctions this year!

ABEF STUDENT RAFFLE
Attendees had a chance to win a Dell 50″ High Def Plasma TV courtesy of Penton Media at the 2009 Agri-Marketing Conference. NAMA Student chapters sold tickets in advance as well as at the conference for a chance to win the TV. The winning raffle ticket was sold by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who sold the ticket to Russ Parker, J.L. Farmakis. Congratulations on the new TV!

Over $4,600 was raised from the Student Raffle and schools received $5.00 for each ticket sold, meaning $2,300 of that money will be returned to the student chapters to help cover expenses to next year’s conference. The school that sold the most raffle tickets received $100 and the second place school received $50. In addition, the student who sold the most tickets received an additional cash prize of $100. This year’s top selling school was Virginia Tech and second place honors go to Delaware Valley College. The student selling the most raffle tickets was Becky Ashton, Virginia Tech.

With help from the agri-marketing community, Rhea + Kaiser Marketing Communications raised $1,800 for the Agri-Business Educational Foundation during the 2009 National Agri-Marketing Association conference.

Working in partnership with NAMA leadership, R+K unveiled a new sponsored promotion at this year’s NAMA convention, which took place April 15-17 in Atlanta. The promotion, called “R+K Q+A,” consisted of a series of questions that conference attendees were encouraged to answer via text message. With each text message received, R+K donated 50 cents to ABEF, which provides training, internships and scholarships to agri-business students. R+K donated all proceeds of its text message promotion to ABEF.

“We are very grateful for Rhea + Kaiser’s support of ABEF,” said Mick Sibbel, chair of the ABEF board of trustees. “Over the past 18 years, ABEF has been successful due to the strong support within the agri-business community from organizations like R+K. Providing encouragement to college students to pursue agri-marketing careers is one of our main functions, and R+K has added to that legacy with their clever use of new media and by helping us improve the visibility of the foundation’s mission.”

“Rhea + Kaiser sponsors this important industry conference every year. This year, we wanted to do something special to underscore our commitment to the agriculture industry and to the students who are its future,” said Steve Rhea, president and CEO of Rhea + Kaiser. “ABEF is a great organization that deserves our support.”

Commodity Update^SM, a technology service that delivers commodity market data to mobile phones or handheld devices, provided in kind technology support for the promotion.