Discover how social networking can positively affect your business and how to draw on the power of community with Barry Libert on Thursday, April 17. Libert co-authored the book, We Are Smarter Than Me: How to Unleash the Power of Crowds in Your Business, that shares exactly how to use social networking and community in your business, driving better decision making and greater profitability. It’s the first book to show anyone in business how to profit from the wisdom of crowds.

Libert will show you how to build the power of community into decision making and business processes with powerful insights and new case studies from product development, manufacturing, marketing, customer service, finance, management and beyond.

Explore why community approaches work or don’t work when it comes to marketing, business development, distribution and more. Plus, you’ll learn what it takes to incorporate social networking and community successfully into your company.

Libert is the founder and CEO of one of Mzinga’s predecessor companies, Shared Insights. Libert was one of the first in the industry to recognize and promote the value of communities and Web 2.0 technologies in enabling enterprises to communicate and collaborate to make better decisions based on the experience of peers, experts, and leading industry vendors.

As the co-author of the critically acclaimed book “We Are Smarter Than Me,” Barry and his co-authors used the power of Web 2.0 technologies and the Wiki-based contributions of more than 4,000 people to illustrate how businesses could profit from the wisdom of crowds.

Special thanks to John Deere and Syngenta for sponsoring this session.

To register for the Agri-Marketing Conference visit http://nama.org/amc/register.html.

With so many roles to fill at once – spouse, parent, working professional, mentor – how do you create boundaries? How do you stop juggling, delegating and endlessly prioritizing? How do you go from overwhelmed to overjoyed? Mary LoVerde will answer these questions at the Closing Session of the 2008 Agri-Marketing Conference on April 18.

With a client base that ranges from the American Trucking Association to the Mayo Clinic, it’s an understatement to say that Mary’s strategies for a less stressful life can work for everyone. Her belief that life is a balancing act has led her to delight audiences around the world with her step-by-step processes for creating harmony and satisfaction in every area of their lives.

Mary LoVerde is dedicated to helping people find innovative ways to blend a successful career with a happy and healthy family life. She draws from both professional and personal experiences to connect with her audiences from around the world.

She has appeared three times on The Oprah Winfrey Show and her life-balance ideas were featured on an ABC World News Tonight special. The Wall Street Journal recommended Stop Screaming at the Microwave! as one of the top ten “must reads” in life-balance books.

Embraced by men and women alike, Mary’s strategies help bring lives back into balance, resulting in greater productivity for businesses, as well as more harmony and personal success for individuals.

To register for the Agri-Marketing Conference visit http://nama.org/amc/register.html.

National Best of NAMA judging is set for February 21 in Kansas City. At that time, all entries that advanced from the regional competitions will be judged. An e-mail has been sent to those who are eligible to advance their entries. Be sure to do so by February 15 at http://www.nama.org/amc/advance.htm.

This year, national Best of NAMA judges will be treated to a dinner on the evening of February 20 at Kansas City’s City Tavern. In addition, Dan Taylor, Writing Specialist for Hallmark will speak to the group on fostering a creative environment and brainstorming.

To view the first and merit winners of the regional competition visit http://nama.org/amc/regional.htm.

The NAMA Trade Show – the Connection Point – will be held in conjunction with the Agri-Marketing Conference, April 16-18, 2008, in Kansas City, MO, at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center.

Each year, this highly anticipated gathering of leading edge agri-business companies draws over 1,200 agri-marketing professionals and students who want to learn more about new products and services entering the market.

Key players and with real buying power and influence within the companies they represent will be on hand to meet and interact with the over 35 exhibiting companies on the trade show floor. Marketing executives, ad agency professionals, public relations executives, media representatives and commodity and trade association professionals representing a wide spectrum of industry interests comprise the largest groups of attendees at the Connection Point.

“Our exhibitors are always thrilled with the customers and prospects they meet at the trade show,” shared Jenny Pickett, Executive Vice President/CEO of NAMA. “Again this year we have receptions, drawings and a luncheon right on the floor that give exhibiting companies more opportunities to meet and interact with attendees – it’s going to be a great show!”

In addition to exhibiting in the trade show, high profile sponsorships are also available … and NAMA is willing to experiment in 2008.“We have sponsorship opportunities available, but we’re happy to work creatively with companies who want to come to us with their own ideas,” said Pickett. “Our goal is to make this a profitable and worthwhile experience for our exhibitors.”

To learn more about getting your company involved in the Connection Point, visit www.nama.org/amc or email Judy Knoll at JudyK@agrimarketing.com.

To sign up for a Trade Show booth now visit, http://www.nama.org/amc/ts/signup.htm.

To register for the 2008 Agri-Marketing Conference visit http://nama.org/amc/register.html.

Special thanks goes to all of our sponsors who signed up for an Agri-Marketing Conference sponsorship this year. We are happy to boast more sponsors than we have ever had at the Agri-Marketing Conference. There are many new sponsors in addition to those sponsors who have generously supported the conference over the years.

Please take a moment to view the list of sponsors at http://nama.org/amc/sponsor/sponsors.htm.

If you haven’t yet signed up to be a sponsor, remember, companies with marketing budgets of all sizes can participate. The higher your support, the more benefits you’ll receive….Platinum Plus, Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze. In addition, you can get more company visibility by claiming one or more of the sponsorship opportunities. These opportunities are available on a first come, first serve basis, with first right given to last year’s sponsor.

If you are interested in a sponsorship for the 2008 Agri-Marketing Conference, please contact Jenny Pickett at jennyp@nama.org or at 913-491-6500.

The Region IV Best of NAMA Ceremony took place January 17 at The Abby Resort in Fontana, Wisconsin. Agriculture marketing communication agency’s and clients brought home top honors for their well-deserved marketing efforts.

The event honored the best work of the Badger, Chicago, Mid-America, and Heartland Chapters. The region had 160 entries.

Taking home the Best of Show at the Region IV Ceremony were:

Best of Show – Advertising
Bayer CropScience LP and Rhea & Kaiser Marketing Communications for the Aeris Campaign

Best of Show – Public Relations
Childhood Agricultural Safety Network and The Gunter Agency for It’s Easier To Bury A Tradition

Best of Show – Specialty
CareCredit and Stephens & Associates Advertising for the CareCredit Rhyme Campaign

For a list of all regional Best of NAMA winners, visit http://nama.org/amc/regional.htm.

It is going to be another great year for the Midsouth NAMA chapter!

Recently the chapter gathered to celebrate the great work coming from our Midsouth members in 2007. The Midsouth Best of NAMA event took place January 17 at the Equestria Restaurant in Germantown, TN.

With more than 30 award winners across 25 categories and 58 entries, the Midsouth chapter will have a very strong showing at the National Competition in April.

Some highlights from the event:

• 30 Midsouth NAMA entries will advance to the National Competition. National competitors from our chapter will include: D&PL, Brighton, PIC, Harvest PR & Marketing, Inc., National Cottonseed Producers Association, Valent USA, archer>malmo, Tennessee Farmers Co-op, and National Cotton Council.
• Valent USA and archer>malmo took home Best in Show across the Advertising, Public Relations and Specialty categories.
• Advertising: ReTain PGR Direct Mail
• Public Relations: Pirates of the Soy-ibbean Domark Launch Event
• Specialty: Safari Newsletter

Want to see the great work? We have posted both the Best in Show presentation and the Full Category Winners presentation online for your reference in an FTP site. We also have included links to some of the winning audio/video entries. Please download the files you want to access to your desktop to view them.

ftp://ftp.archermalmo.com/

Username: NAMA
Password: midsouth

Please note: these are both case sensitive.

To view all regional Best of NAMA winners visit http://nama.org/amc/regional.htm.