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.

The MoKan NAMA Chapter held its latest monthly meeting May 6 at Jack’s Stack in the Freight District of Kansas City, Mo. Approximately 50 members heard the feature presenter, Dr. Jennifer K. Martin, Hall Family Foundation Professor.

Dr. Martin’s presentation discussed non-verbal messages that you may be sending an audience that could distract from your message. Martin says people receive information through 1) kinetic and physical means, 2) emotional and facial expressions and 3) hearing and verbal communication, in that order. Martin also suggested videotaping yourself giving a presentation, to best evaluate your non-verbal communication.

Following the lunch meeting and presentation, the MoKan chapter drew a $50 cash door prize, which was won by Heather Koehler of AdFarm.

Future MoKan NAMA events include the MoKan NAMA Golf Classic on June 25 at Falcon Lakes Golf Course in Basehor, Kan., with check-in starting at noon. The July MoKan NAMA meeting will be on July 8, and feature Jason Stark, CEO of Sway Online discussing the Return on Investment of Social Media Marketing.

Thursday, May 21, 2009 ~ 1:00 p.m.
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 please visit https://payment.nama.org/webinar.htm. Cost for the Webinar is $35.

Audio presentations from the 2009 Agri-Marketing Conference will be available by May 11. Attendees of the conference will receive a code, when the presentations are ready, to download sessions at no cost.

We’re received many great comments about the speakers including Scott McKain, Andy Cohen, and David Okerlund. The Agricultural Speakers Network is taking their commitment to NAMA one step further….for every speaker they provide for NAMA member companies, they’ll issue a credit to NAMA usable on future speakers for NAMA events. And to top that…if the person booking the speaker mentions “NAMA” they’ll be given a $20 gift certificate for Starbucks Coffee on their first booking.

If you attended the conference and have not yet filled out the Agri-Marketing Conference Survey, please take part in the survey at www.nama.org/amc/survey.htm.

Lessons from a small town entrepreneur

Building on his early experiences in Crothersville, Indiana, keynote speaker Scott McKain offered up the premise that ‘nothing has to be a commodity.’ Even when a Supermarket came to his town, his parents’ grocery store continued to compete, although offering less selection and, in some cases, higher prices. The reason? Scott discovered the distinction of personal service offered by the Mom and Pop store.

After citing more examples of ‘commodity products’ being successfully marketed (water, coffee, money), Scott suggested three powerful and synergistic destroyers of distinction: copycat competition, more and better competitors, and too much familiarity.  He mentioned that familiarity does not so much breed contempt as it does complacency. Customers begin to take you for granted.  And if all three distinction destroyers exist for a company, brand or product, that company, brand, or product will only be able to compete on price. Creating distinction is the key to surviving and thriving.

The Progression toward Distinction, says McKain, is the movement from sameness to differentiation to distinction. He stated that clarity, creativity, communications, and a customer experience focus – in that order – are the four cornerstones of distinction. Using examples from movie entertainment, major corporate brands, and personal experience, Scott had the audience’s full attention and participation.

Wrapping up on a personal and emotional note, Scott told the audience to ‘Make every day count,’ and ‘Don’t miss the good stuff.’ It was a very touching finish to an informative, engaging, enthusiastic, and thoroughly enjoyable presentation.

Many thanks to the American Business Media, Agri Council for sponsoring the Opening General Session!

When you think differently, magic happens

Magic is entrancing, entertaining, and delightful. After a magic trick, everyone asks, “How did he do that?” Magician, marketing guru, and sought-after speaker, Andy Cohen demonstrated his sleight-of-hand abilities to help audience members challenge assumptions and perform their own magic.

“We need to look at our assumptions and challenge them,” says Cohen. We often think that our assumptions are truths. However, if we consider that assumptions are only beliefs, we gain new insights that can lead us to more actionable choices. For example, it’s assumed that advertising drives the brand. The challenge: customer experience drives the brand. This, then, provides more opportunities for improvement.

Cohen was an immediate hit with the audience, as he used illusions, plus personal and professional experiences, to illustrate how long-held notions about customers and marketing models may not be what they seem. He even taught a simple trick, the French Drop, where a coin seemed to have disappeared. However, if you watch the other hand, instead of the misdirection, you would see that the coin simply dropped. Of course, it never really disappeared. This is why Cohen suggests we ‘Follow the Other Hand.’ It’s also the title of his most-recent, best-selling business book.

Summing up, Cohen told the audience about the World’s Greatest Secret. And that secret is you! It’s your knowledge and how you use that knowledge. He urged people to incorporate their passions, leverage their strengths and apply their values. This is when the real magic happens.

Special thanks to Syngenta and John Deere for helping bring the marketing magic of Andy Cohen to NAMA members.