Registration is now open for the 2014 Agri-Marketing Conference, April 9 – 11, in Jacksonville, Florida. Visit http://www.nama.org/amc/index.php for conference and registration details.

Gain a fresh perspective on your career and the big issues facing ag and agri-marketers today.  NAMA is putting you front and center with internationally known experts on:

• Brand positioning

• Cultures of Innovation

• Blending big picture ideas with strategic planning

• And more…

Featuring Keynoters for 2014:

Ryan Estis
Chief Experience Officer, Ryan Estis & Associates

The Brand Experience:  HOW You Do Business
is the Ultimate Competitive Advantage

Successful brands serve as a promise about an experience that creates expectations in the hearts and minds of customers and employees. The ability to influence culture will define and determine the impact of your brand experience. In this high energy, high-impact keynote, Ryan will examine how culture can be a catalyst for success.

Connie Podesta
Motivational Keynote Speaker, Sales and Leadership Keynote Speaker, Certified Counselor, Author, Human Behavior Expert

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD: How to Be #1 and Stay There!

Business as usual? No way! Status quo? Move over! Change? Get used to it! Bottom line: Your future success depends on your ability to outshine past performance…out-think old ideas… and outmaneuver anyone who says it can’t be done. You and your brand have to be so extraordinarily unique and vital that people will choose to do business with you instead of your competitor! Ready? Meet Human Relations expert Connie Podesta. Refreshingly candid and to the point, she’ll bring out your edgy, creative, competitive side as she takes you inside the minds of today’s savvy, but super-demanding global market. Connie will share some powerhouse strategies to help you increase sales, profits, good will and your customer base. Isn’t it time you accelerated past the competition and enjoyed the benefits of being #1? Let Connie show you how.

Dr. John Izzo
Corporate Advisor, Best-selling Author

Stepping Up Your Game in Work & Life

Why do some people keep growing and going to the next level in terms of business success and personal fulfillment? Stepping up means taking the personal initiative to set higher goals and seek feedback. Dr. Izzo will inspire you to make a bigger difference for your clients, connect more deeply with those you serve, and reveal the secrets to lifelong success.

Plus, checkout our fantastic breakout lineup:

• Next Level Leadership: Managing for Breakthrough Performance

• Measuring Social Media Marketing ROI

• Public Relations:  The Evolution Continues

• cre-a-tive (kre-a-tiv):  Relating to or involving the imagination or original ideas

• Food for Thought:  An In Depth Ag-Marketing Case Study

• How to Get What You Want…The Right Way The Power of  Persuasion and Purpose

• Branding from the Inside Out:  Engaged Associates Drive Your Brand

• Marketing to Multiple Generations at the Same Time, From the Same Budget:  Producer Panel

• The Power of Consumers to Shape a Business Model

Visit http://www.nama.org/amc/breakouts.php for Breakout details and schedule.

Looking for opportunities to place your company’s products and services before decision-makers in the ag marketplace?  NAMA’s Connection Point is for you.  Click here for details or contact Jan Cichello at 913-491-6500.

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

Register today to save money and get a jump on your 2014 calender!

There was a thunderous response to the call for Best of NAMA entries with over 1440 submitted for Regional Judging on November 12th & 13th.  This is the  highest amount we have seen since 1999!

Thank you to every agency and company that submitted their best work for consideration.  Every submission strengthens local NAMA chapters and showcases the talent and vitality of NAMA members.

A special thanks to our 40 plus wonderful judges who participated in the judging process that took place at the Sheraton Crown Center in Kansas City.   This program could not be successful without their help and expertise.

We hope to see you at a regional or chapter banquet in January to see the results of your hard work.  Check out  https://www.namablog.org/?page_id=16 for banquet dates and locations.  Be sure to check back often as details are still being finalized.

NAMA is pleased to announce IDEAg Group, LLC  as a new sustaining partner.

 IDEAg is dedicated to bringing interactive, content-rich, high-value events to the marketplace that connect producers to the providers of new and innovative solutions to agriculture through its established farm show events (Farmfest, Dakotafest, Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show, and Northern Illinois Farm Show) and innovative new summits and conferences.

IDEAg connects directly with farmers, growers and ranchers.  Their goal of bringing the industry together aligns with NAMA’s efforts to cultivate connections within agribusiness.

As a Sustaining Partner, IDEAg will receive additional exposure at upcoming NAMA events and on the association’s website, Pickett explained. Most importantly, IDEAg joins other Sustaining Partners committed to the future success of NAMA.

“IDEAg is very pleased to support NAMA and the important work it is doing in support of agribusiness professionals and the industry,” said Samantha Kaplan, marketing manager of IDEAg.

About IDEAg

IDEAg Group, LLC delivers an optimal experience to attendees, exhibitors and industry thought leaders in the agriculture market. Through its established farm show events and Feed & Grain Magazine, the IDEAg Group is dedicated to bringing interactive, content-rich, high-value events to the marketplace, connecting top-level producers to providers across the country. The IDEAg Group offers events, publications, and media products that are produced “For Agriculture. By Agriculture.”

For more information visit www.ideaggroup.com.

Entry Deadline is October 11.

NAMA members are encouraged to enter their company’s communications materials produced for first use in 2013.  Entries are open to any ag-related products.

For complete details visit http://www.nama.org/amc/bon/index.htm.

Regional awards ceremonies take place in January.  National Best of NAMA winners will be recognized during the 2014 Agri-Marketing Conference in Jacksonville, Fla.  Please make plans to join NAMA as we congratulate the best of the best from across the country.

Best of NAMA Calendar

October 11
Best of NAMA Entry Deadline

November 12-13
Regional Best of NAMA Judging – Kansas City, MO

January
Region II Best of NAMA Awards Ceremony
Region III Best of NAMA Awards Ceremony
Region IV Best of NAMA Awards Ceremony
Southeastern Best of NAMA Awards Ceremony
Carolinas/Virginia Best of NAMA Awards Ceremony
Midsouth Best of NAMA Awards Ceremony

February
Region I Best of NAMA Awards Ceremony

February 12
National Best of NAMA Judging – Kansas City, MO

April 9
National Best of NAMA Ceremony – Jacksonville, FL

If you were unable to attend the Agri-Marketing Conference, or would like a copy of the presentations,  you can watch the video of the General Sessions and the student marketing competition top 6 finalists on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ExploreNAMA.

Once again NAMA is pleased to report that we exceeded last year’s attendance numbers and brought even more agri-marketers to Kansas City for the 2013 national conference with a total of  1,248 professionals and students from across the country.  This is the highest attended conference since 2000!

Anders Sorman-Nilsson kicked off the conference with a discussion of  his concept of “digilogue.”  Simply stated it’s taking the measurability of digital communications and combining it with emotion and accountability of more analog style outreach.  Analog is needed for transformation, digital for information.  He urged conference attendees to take advantage of new media tools to embrace the transparency being demanded by customers and use them to tell the real story of American agriculture.

Josh Linkner explained the virtues of creativity calling it the “currency of success.”  He noted creativity is 85% learned and shared simple ways to nurture creativity in the workplace.

Throughout the rest of the conference, agri-marketers enjoyed time to meet face-to-face with clients, attend breakout sessions on diverse topics like developing web content and monetizing social media and walk through the Connection Point Trade Show.  Attendees were encouraged to visit each of the 65 exhibitors to enter to win great prizes.  Congrats to Teresa Roof, Rosemary Schimek, Cait Schneckloth and Justina Frost, who each won an iPad Mini.

The Closing Brunch speaker, Damian Mason, had the audience laughing out loud with his special brand of humor.  Each attendee received a special departing gift from Mason – a bumper sticker carrying the words, “Agriculture: Because Starvation Sucks.”

During the conference, NAMA presented two distinguished awards. Thad Simons, President and CEO, Novus, accepted the 2013 Agribusiness Leader of the Year.  Steve Vandeberg, Director, Edectocide Marketing, Merial Limited, was named 2013 NAMA Marketer of the Year.

Congrats to  Best of Show Winner – Advertising, Beck’s Hybrids; and Best of Show Winner – PR, Minnesota Pork Board and Minnesota Pork Producers Association! Click here for a complete list of winners.

Visit NAMA on Flickr to see the full Agri-Marketing Conference album.