The 2007 Agri-Marketing Conference will stretch your imagination and open doors to innovative ideas. You’ll be better equipped to embrace change, growth, and new business opportunities. This year’s conference will challenge you to step out of the box, take new risks, help you achieve success – professionally and personally – and to revitalize your life!

Start Wednesday afternoon with a pre-conference workshop from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m., “Presenting Ideas with Power,” by Laurie Richards, Laurie Richards & Associates. You will learn how to make a more powerful presentation to clients, customers, and employees, regardless of your experience or level of development. Come early to take advantage of this bonus workshop. To reserve your spot for the pre-conference workshop visit http://www.nama.org/amc/reserveworkshop.htm.

You won’t want to miss Thursday morning’s Opening General Session from 9:00 – 10:30 a.m., featuring a magical, thought provoking key note address by the Wizard of Ads, Roy Williams. His presentation titled, “The Wizard of Ads Reveals the 12 Most Common Mistakes in Advertising – and the Secret Formula for Success!” will teach you the 12 things not to do when developing a marketing campaign. He will then show you how to capture the hearts and minds of your customers with creative communications tips and techniques.

Then on to the Second General Session from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., with keynote speaker, Scott Deming, presenting “The Brand who Cried Wolf – Deliver on your Company’s Promise and Create Customers for Life.” Once you’ve created the “brilliant” marketing communications strategies, how do you create the ultimate customer experience? How do you effectively build your brand and turn your customers into evangelists for your products?

Kick-off Thursday afternoon with one of four breakout sessions from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Menno Ellis, ABA Consulting will present, “Optimizing the Client/Agency Relationship.” He’ll cover the process of determining and communicating expectations, building the relationship from the start, and common reasons for conflict. Susan Lintonsmith, Horizon Organic/WhiteWave Foods, will speak on “Organics as a Marketing Strategy: The Growth of a Trend.” Lintonsmith will explore what exactly defines “organic,” and how will potential USDA action on defining organic impact the industry. Lyle Orwig, Charleston/Orwig, will lead a panel discussion on “Marketing WITHYour Customers-Part A.” Panel members include: Julian Aldridge, Ammo Marketing; Dave Rhylander, Monsanto and Stacy Norin, Elanco Animal Health. This panel of experts outside of, and within, agriculture will share their experiences in developing both business-to-consumer and business-to-business solutions. “Rural Lifestyle Producers: Understanding Who They Are and Why They Buy,” is the last breakout session from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. This session will feature the results of a study commissioned by the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) to define and gain an understanding of this important market. The study, conducted by AMR, involved more than 2,000 interviews in 48 contiguous states. In addition to these breakouts, there is a Senior Management Workshop, hosted by Second General Session speaker, Scott Deming. In this interactive workshop, targeting senior marketing management, you will learn solid, practical methods and processes to help separate your organization from your competitors. Only a few spots are left for the Senior Management Workshop, reserve your spot now at http://www.nama.org/amc/seniorworkshop.html.

After a refreshing break, the concurrent breakout sessions continue from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. with “Rural Lifestyle Marketing-Straight From the Horses Mouth.” Hear straight from the “horse’s mouth” from various segments of the rural lifestyle group the information they crave and how they decide to make purchases related to their “farm or land.” Jay Akridge and Joan Fulton of Purdue University will present, “Marketing WITH Your Customers – Part B.” Akridge and Fulton will unveil recent results from research of four independent Customer Experience Marketing Strategies to show how effective these approaches are in the market place with various audiences. Jan Johnson, Millennium Research will host “Agriculture 2020: What Will U.S. Agriculture Be In 15 Years.” This forward-looking session will examine the top trends affecting North American agriculture and provide a snapshot of what farmers and agribusinesses will be like in the year 2020. “Bioenergy 101” will be presented by Tom Slunecka, Ethanol Promotion & Information Council (EPIC). If you know what a DDG is or how to mix a B20, then this session is not for you (although you may learn a thing or two!) Bioenergy 101 is your chance to get in on the ground floor of understanding one of the biggest changes to hit agriculture since hybrid corn from industry experts including Tom Slunecka and Jake Stewart, Organic Fuels.

Start your Friday morning with concurrent breakout sessions from 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. Max Armstrong, WGN Radio will lead the panel discussion on “What’s Keeping Senior Managers Up At Night.” This discussion will give you a closer look at the challenges and opportunities they see ahead for American agriculture and the businesses that provide products and services to keep it competitive. Panel members include: Travis Dickinson, VP Marketing, Syngenta; Michael Layfield, Sr. Marketing Manager, Dairy Anti-Infectives, Pfizer Animal Health; and Larry Christenson, Branch Manager, John Deere. Learn “The In’s & Out’s Of Business Etiquette” with Diane Johnson, Livestock Publications Council. As business professionals, all of us have had to attend receptions and banquets. What are things to consider when greeting people, feasting on appetizers and drinking assorted beverages? These and other tips on business etiquette will be presented to help you make people comfortable around you and to leave the best possible impression. Jill Greene, Solutions, Inc., Janet McPherson, Frontier Farm Credit and a representative from Successful Farming/AgricultureOnline, will present “Marketing To Women in Agriculture.” You’ll learn how to modify your marketing approach in unique and engaging ways to reach this important decision maker. Charlie Arnot, CMA Consulting, will present “Best Food Nation-Using an Industry Coalition to Address Key Issues.” As Sir Winston Churchill once said, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” That’s the philosophy that caused a group of 18 national organizations who are dedicated to producing safe, abundant and affordable food, to come together to tell the real story of our food system. Learn how this effort, initiated and supported by an industry coalition, has stemmed the tide of criticism of our food industry, and is providing consumers the facts so they can form intelligent opinions.

Our closing keynote address on Friday from 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon, is something that you will not want to miss! Jenné Fromm will discuss, “Emotional Intelligence and the Power of You.” This inspirational, powerful presentation will help all of us apply the right emotion, at the right time, to allow healthy confrontation, stay motivated, and build trusting relationships.

To register for the 2007 Agri-Marketing Conference visit, http://www.nama.org/amc/register.html.

For more information on the conference visit, http://www.nama.org/amc.