Nearly 30 Badger NAMA members and guests converged on the Midwest Foodservice Expo in Milwaukee on March 10 to take part in a unique trade show experience. Members were first briefed on the history of the show by Susan Quam, VP of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, before exploring the show floor. Members were challenged to see through the eyes of an attendee as if they’ve never been to a trade show before. For many, it was their first trade show where they didn’t have direct responsibility for a booth.

The group reconvened later to discuss what they saw and what ideas they’d like to “steal” for their own clients or companies.

One of the Midsouth chapter goals this year was to do more to celebrate National Ag Day to support one of their key pillars – Advocacy. They joined the Agricenter International of Tennessee and the Shelby County University of Tennessee Extension Institute of Agriculture in their celebration.

Each year the Agricenter Board and the UT Extension office hold an Ag Day poster contest for area schools, grades 3 through 8.  This year’s theme was “Agriculture: Fielding Our Dreams.” The Midsouth chapter sponsored the poster contest by covering the costs of the framing and helping to judge the entries.  The winners were recognized at a luncheon, held on Ag Day at the Agricenter.  Over 20 Midsouth chapter members attended, along with winners’ parents and teachers.  In addition to this, Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell, Shelby County Commissioner David Reaves and Ed Harlan, of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, were on hand to deliver certificates of recognition.  Chapter President Lesley Landry was able to address the attendees to say a few words about NAMA, the organization and its purpose.  To frame this for the students she explained: “We like farmers.  We like to sell them things.  And then we like to get together and talk about selling them things.”

The event went really well and the Agricenter Board expressed sincere appreciation for our sponsorship.  The Midsouth chapter was honored to be recognized in front of key city officials as well as the students and teachers.  They look forward to doing this again next year!

John Charles Wilson, president of Agricenter International congratulating 3^rd place winner of 7^th-8^th grade division.

Lesley Landry congratulates 1^st place winner of 3^rd-4^th grade division

Winning family and teacher with crowd

The 2015 Ag Day is this week! The Agriculture Council of America is excited about all the events they are putting on this year in Washington D.C.! If you can’t make it to the Nation’s Capital to celebrate, we hope you can celebrate in your community or local NAMA Chapter!

For more information on Ag Day and to find local events, visit www.agday.org.

Happy Ag Day!

Only 4 days left to save!

The early bird registration cut-off is this Thursday, March 19! Make sure to register before then for the 2015 Agri-Marketing Conference on April 15-17, in Kansas City, MO.

If you haven’t booked your room yet, make sure you do so before March 19th as well! That is also the cut-off date for the hotel – if you don’t reserve a room by that date, you will not be able to save money on the NAMA room rate! The Sheraton hotel is currently sold out so please make reservations at the Westin Crown Center instead. The Sheraton Crown Center is easily accessible from the Westin via a sky walkway.

ABEF Golf Outing:

The Agri-Business Educational Foundation (ABEF) will be hosting a Golf Outing, Tuesday, April 14. Gather your foursome and enjoy a relaxing day of golf in beautiful Kansas City before the 2015 Agri-Marketing Conference begins.

The ABEF Golf Outing will take place at the Duece at the National Golf Course. A chartered bus will leave the hotel at 11:30 a.m. to take everyone to the golf course and a boxed lunch and beverages will be provided. Tee time begins at 1:00 p.m. An awards ceremony and reception will cap your day on the greens. Cost for the outing is $195 per golfer.

Register today and check out the website for more details!

ABEF Silent Auction:

Contribute items to the Silent Auction and help support the future of agribusiness! With different categories like wearables, professional services and entertainment, there are many options for you to choose from. Click here to make a pledge! 

Sponsorship:

Looking for other ways to get noticed? Get in touch with Jenny Pickett for sponsorship opportunities.

Visit the AMC homepage for conference, hotel and registration details.

Use #NAMA15 for all your tweets about this year’s conference!

Email Marketing:  Beefing Up The Basics

What if each $1 you spent on email marketing earned you $28? Email marketing still rocks the highest return on investment of any marketing medium. That is, if you do it right. Are you getting your $28 ROI? Jessica Best will speak to email’s place in a fast-moving, social media-ruled world, including making email work when and where your customers need it. She’ll talk about what works in 2015 and beyond and what the next new trends will likely be.

Jessica is one part massive email, social media and online marketing nerd and one part permission-marketing evangelist. She acts as a strategic consultant and subject matter expert for brands, corporations and nonprofits nationwide. She’s led trainings and spoken in front of audiences from a dozen to over 300 from Wichita to New York City to SXSW Interactive in Austin. Jessica’s primary role is as Digital Marketing Evangelist and Content Marketing Manager for emfluence, implementing the best practices she preaches for emfluence’s own marketing strategy.

Join us on Wednesday, March 25, at 1:00 pm central time to hear Jessica. The webinar cost is $50. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

Recruit someone you know to become a NAMA member and be entered into a drawing for an iPad Mini!

The “Member-Get-A-Member” campaign runs from March 1
through April 1, 2015. The drawing will take place in the Silent Auction Area in the Connection Point of NAMA’s Annual Conference on Thursday, April 16.

Simply tell your recruit to join online at https://nama.org/NAMA.OrchardWeb/MemberRegistration/Register and add your name and company in the box titled “Referred By.”  They can also call the NAMA office at (913) 491-6500 to join - just remind them to say they were referred by you.

The more members you recruit, the more your name will be entered into the drawing!

Help NAMA Alleviate Hunger. Register to Run Today.

Food insecurity is a challenge that affects an incredible amount of Iowans. In 2014, WesleyLife Meals on Wheels delivered 220,607 meals to 1,636 people. Join Iowa NAMA to stand against hunger by participating in the Cold Run for Warm Meals – a 2.5 mile run/walk benefiting
WesleyLife Meals on Wheels.

When: March 21, 2015
Start Time: 9:30 a.m.

Where: GRAY’S LAKE
SW Entrance, 2100 Fleur Drive
Des Moines, IA 50321

REGISTER HERE!

Runners and supporters are invited to the race after-party at Confluence Brewing. Your race fee will provide entry into the race, snacks, a t-shirt and one beer at Confluence during the after-party. All registration proceeds benefit WesleyLife Meals on Wheels.