Mark will tapped into his 25 years of experience working with agencies and marketers—and working in agencies and as a marketer—to discuss why marketer-agency relationships fail. He shared survey data gathered by his firm to explain what marketers (and agencies) can do to best insure that relationships succeed.

Steve Hughes is the founder and President of Hit Your Stride, LLC, and his mission is to help people look and sound smart when they talk. He told the NAMA Fall Conference audience about the tools they need to be a more dynamic and effective presenter.

Does email marketing still work in a social media world? Jessica Best says it does. She is a Digital Marketing Evangelist with emfluence who spoke at the NAMA Fall Conference in Chicago. She explained what works well in a social media world from the email side of things and what the future holds.

Midterm elections will prove to be very exciting this fall as several key seats are up for re-election nationwide. Jay Truitt is the CEO of Policy Solutions a Washington, D.C. based consulting firm. He spoke at the NAMA 2014 Fall Conference in Chicago, and shared some insights about how to communicate with policy makers and an insiders view of issues and implications of the midterm elections as the results could impact livestock and food industry policy.

We are just two weeks away from the 2014 NAMA Fall Conference! It looks like there will be a full house this year at The Hotel Chicago, so don’t miss out on great opportunities; including networking!

This year’s breakout sessions will focus on what’s going on in agribusiness in today’s changing world. Sessions will include: updates on trends in agriculture, how to anticipate a PR crisis, how drones could play a part in the future of agriculture and much more. Plus you will have a great opportunity to meet the right people at the Networking Reception, sponsored by Brighton Agency. Unwind after the first day of Fall Conference in the amazing Crimson Lounge of The Hotel Chicago.

See you in the Windy City on September 16^th & 17^th for the best Fall Conference yet!

Get a sneak peek of who will be there on the Fall Conference website: Fall Conference Registration List 

For a full schedule, registration details, hotel information and anything else you need to know, visit the Fall Conference 2014 website. NOTE: The Hotel Chicago is SOLD OUT for the 16^th – please see website for a list of nearby hotels.

The tour is almost full and it’s not hard to see why! The location for the Chicago Ag Tour this year is amazing; you do not want to miss it!

The tour takes place the day before the NAMA Fall Conference. We will be departing from The Hotel Chicago on Monday, September 15^th at 12:00 p.m. Lunch will be served on the bus while we are on the way to Fair Oaks Farms where we will be spending the day.

During the tour, you will get the opportunity to see Fair Oaks Farms’ 30,000 cow dairy operation. You will learn how the cows are cared for and visit the rotary milking parlor to learn about this unique milking technology. Then, you will head over to the Pig Adventure to see the interactive displays and observe the gestation and farrowing operations.

The last stop is at the new Farmhouse Restaurant, Bakery and Farmers Market at Fair Oaks Farms where you will get the opportunity to tour the kitchen and interact with the chefs. These chefs will then serve dinner with food produced on-site that is prepared in its completely viewable kitchen.

For a more detailed schedule and to register, visit the NAMA Fall Conference website.

The Call for Entries is up on the web site. Time to enter your best work to compete for top honors.  Visit http://nama.org/amc/bon/index.htm to view the categories or print off a pdf.  Note the deadline for Best of NAMA is October 10. Thanks to AdFarm for donating the creative on the Call for Entries.