Registration for the 2012 Agri-Marketing Conference is now open. Make plans to join NAMA, April 18-20, 2012, for the Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City. Register for the conference by December 31 to be entered to win a $200 Apple Gift Certificate. To register for the conference, visit http://www.nama.org/ConferenceRegistration/Default.aspx?confid=38. Check out the keynote speakers for the conference below.

How do you turn good ideas into action that influences customer behavior and accelerates the buying process? How do you grab market share and stay relevant to your clients and customers for years to come? What are the simple tools you need to rebound from setbacks stronger than ever? Join NAMA for the 2012 Agri-Marketing Conference and get the answers to these pressing questions and more!

Do some mental spring cleaning with us in April. Recharge and return to the office with the innovations that will set you and your company apart in the year ahead.

This year’s keynote speakers are going to flip your thinking and challenge you to ask yourself the tough questions that will set you apart from the pack. Learn to identify and amplify your unique strengths to focus, stay on track and deliver remarkable results.

The 2012 Conference is just the right mix of marketing leadership and development … and tactical, strategic breakouts to arm you with action plans you can use immediately.

Opening General Session
Making It Happen: How to Turn Good Ideas Into Great Results
Peter Sheahan

If the only way to get to Carnegie Hall is to practice, practice, practice … then the only way to make it happen is to execute, execute, execute. The world isn’t short of new ideas. It’s short of people with the ability to turn these good ideas into reality. “Making it Happen” will bring it back and outline the five competencies you must master to execute new ideas and create change.

Breakthroughs in neuroscience have shed new light and given us a much greater insight into how people buy and what drives their behavior. And these very drives are changing right before our eyes. As a result, the way we sell our services and position the value we bring must change too.

The five competencies, which also formed the basis for the ground-breaking new book Making it Happen, will completely change the way you approach the marketing of your services, the implementation of your change agenda and even the way you position yourself. Drawing on the latest research in human behavior and the most powerful insights we can draw from consumer branding, making it happen will show you how to:

• Package your idea as a saleable commercial offer.
• Align your offer to a compelling market need.
• Influence a buyer to not only want what you have, but want it from you.
• Quickly accelerate your progress through leverage, scale and platform.
• Re-invent yourself and open up whole new areas of opportunity for you and your business.

Peter’s outstanding achievements were first officially recognized in 2003 when he was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year in his home state. Seen as a global thought leader, Peter’s insights into business trends and the changing needs of customers and staff make him a regular presenter on Fox Business, as well as appearing on ABC and the BBC. In 2008 Peter was a featured expert in a five-part global series on Innovation on CNBC, and he’s been written up in the Washington Post and Fast Company.

Second General Session
Are You Still Relevant?
Ross Shafer

We all saw globally recognized brands shrink or die during the recession. Conversely, we witnessed young, nimble companies swoop in to dominate market share.

Could that happen to you? Ross dissects the reasons for the staggering success stories—and he pinpoints the warning signs that were ignored by those who failed.

Remaining relevant (to your customers and team members) is the ONLY way to substantially grow your organization during a recovery. If you’re relevant, you can take market share away from your competition. But it won’t be easy. You will have to accelerate your “A” game to earn that market share. And, you will have to re-double your efforts to retain the base you already have.

Ross unveils inspiring case studies that span a wide range of industries. He’ll describe what it will take for your organization to reap incredible rewards during “The Recovery.”

Take-Aways from “Are You Still Relevant?”

• Ross will coach you on how to make sure you continue to be important to the people who are paying to keep you alive.
• Learn to be consistently aware, empathetic, and urgent so you can retain your current customer base…while you are wrangling customers away from your competitors.
• Get an exclusive peek inside the thriving organizations that consider innovation (and change) their reason for living.

Closing General Session
No One Can Stop You, but YOU
Walter Bond

You’ll walk away from this seminar ready to use the talents you already have, to dig a little deeper, to honestly evaluate yourself—and then to achieve everything you want and more! Tap into the energy you need to knock down any obstacles that have been standing in your way.

Throughout grade school and high school, Walter aimed at nothing less than being the best student-athlete he could be. He studied hard and practiced day in and day out on the basketball court in his backyard.

With the guidance of his father and his high school coach, Walter Bond won a coveted spot on the Illinois All-State team in his senior year. He earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Minnesota.

Because his new teammates were bigger, stronger and more competitive, he had to reach inside and work even harder in order to advance his skills to the next level. His strong will, his ability to motivate his teammates (while keeping them laughing) and his can-do attitude helped him become a nationally recognized college player. By the beginning of his senior year Walter was known as the top sixth man in the NCAA.

Even though he suffered a broken foot not once but twice during his senior year, Walter Bond refused to give up on his dreams. After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a BA in Communications, he worked tirelessly at his game and landed a position on the Wichita Falls Texans, a team in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), the developmental league for the NBA. He made a remarkable comeback and finished the year stronger, quicker and more determined than ever.

After Walter made the all-rookie CBA team, his reputation as a talented and exceptionally hard-working guard spread like wildfire throughout the NBA. He was invited to a number of free agent camps and was signed to play with the Mavericks.

Walter, the young man who never, ever gave up on his dreams, went on to have an eight-year professional basketball career, playing alongside such NBA greats as Karl Malone and John Stockton as a guard for the Utah Jazz and the Detroit Pistons.

Walter Bond became the first rookie free agent ever to start opening night. He’ll show you how to harness the power of accountability to become an agri-marketing rock star.

For more information on the 2012 Agri-Marketing Conference, visit www.nama.org/amc.