Celebrating in wild abandon at the student NAMA awards was Paul Redhage, FMC Agricultural Products. He “de-throned” two time Hard Ass award winner, Mike Gustafson. Now there’s reason for a party!

I’m not exactly sure how this award is determined. You’ll have to ask the judges. I’m just thinking that I’m glad that trophy will be hanging on Paul’s wall! This award is given to a student competition judge who is very “hard” on the competitors.

Make sure you congratulate him when you see him.

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Gator NAMA showed that it’s not just the football and basketball teams that can win multiple national championships. The University of Florida student NAMA chapter won the marketing competition for the second year in a row!

Congratulations to all the finalists for making it to that elite round.

Watch Gator NAMA excitement:

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It’s always nice to hear why a company gets involved with NAMA and in this case we can hear it from a past NAMA president. Stephanie Gable, pictured here with Jeremy Lutgen, both with Novus International, is no stranger to NAMA, having served as 2007 national president. She joined the Novus International team in September and was excited to tell us all about the company and what else they do. “Novus is new working with NAMA but they already have a great commitment level to other associations and activities,” Steph says. That includes a commitment to sustainability and supporting future leaders in the industry.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Stephanie here: Stephanie Gable Interview (mp3)

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On Friday morning we had a truly awesome session on social media at the NAMA convention. Here’s the panel. Yes, we’re shooting video with a Flip, taking a photo with an iPhone, tweeting via iPhone and pounding on a Mac. I like this picture. Some may ask, “What’s wrong with this picture?” I say nothing. We’re just socializing, interacting and engaging. Included in photo are me on the right and panelists: David Coustan, Vice President, Digital, Edelman Digital, Kyle Flaherty, Director of Marketing and Social Media, BreakingPoint Systems, David Brazeal, General Manager, Learfield Data.

During the session we showed a live feed of all #NAMA tweets via Twitter and there were a bunch. Thanks to everyone who participated. I’m not sure if I have the right number but I think there were at least 165 Twitter posts during the hour of our session this morning using the #NAMA hashtag! Pretty awesome. I’m going to go back through them and do some responding later. We had over 100 people in the session and it’s very possible we had that many more “watching” and participating online. It was a great live example of the impact and how you can use these new tools, especially when promoted ahead of time. I’ve been promoting it along with our panelists and others that I’ve noticed in the online discussion.

Thank you to Brownfield for providing our internet access and to Dave Patterson, John Deere Credit, and the whole planning committee and other session sponsors for helping put this together. I hope we get to do it again.

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The opening general session keynote speaker at the NAMA convention was Scott McKain, pictured here in front of the flames of ???? (you supply the description). The flames actually made for a very cool stage background and conversation topic throughout the event.

Scott is Vice Chairman, Obsidian Enterprises, author of What Customers REALLY Want and a new book: The Collapse of Distinction. I spoke to him just prior to his session and he says that the most important thing today for any business, including agribusiness, is to “distinguish yourself from the competition.” His talk focused on ways to do this.

For one thing, he says, social media provides a good opportunity to do it. He says you “have to do social media in today’s world. The only other option is failure.” He says we need to be in the lead on social media. He also says that creativity is vital and just pick one point or way you can stand out from your competitors and focus on it.

You can listen to my interview with Scott here: Scott McKain Interview (mp3)

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Highlights of this morning’s general session at NAMA 2009 included the presentation of the annual Agribusiness Leader and Marketer of the Year awards.

CHS Energy Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Leon Westbrock was named the 2009 NAMA Agribusiness Leader of the Year. Leon is responsible for refineries, pipelines, refined fuels sales, marketing and distribution, lubricants and propane. He joined the cooperative system in 1976 and managed three local cooperatives before joining the regional system. Westbrock was born and raised on his family’s 640-acre small grain and dairy farm near Browns Valley, Minn.

Jon Anderson, President of OPEN ROADS, received the 2009 NAMA Marketer of the Year award. Jon and two of his colleagues created the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, business growth and development services firm, in 2002. Last year, Anderson and his team at OPEN ROADS celebrated their six-year anniversary of the firm. Starting their business with no clients and no business, Anderson has helped grow OPEN ROADS into a highly successful business growth and development firm. Their business now includes 12 clients and a half dozen consulting associates.

Thanks again to Denny Eilers for the photos. We just haven’t been able to be everywhere today – but we are working on getting that cloning done!

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Hello from the Imperial Room at the Marquis Marriott in Atlanta. We’re live in the student finals room and ready to see the competition. I hope you enjoy it.

Post Update: We had approximately 170 people watch the live stream from the competition today. I think we’ll do it again next year! We’ll plan ahead this time and have a better video feed. Thanks for joining in.

NAMA Photo Album