17 Reasons Why You Should Attend State of Now: Ag Iowa August 17

“There’s a lot of interest in how food is produced right now, and we want to make sure people are looking to farmers for the answers.  The technology of now is a great way to do that.”  Katie Olthoff

The State of Now: AgIowa is designed to bring attention to the intersection of agriculture and technology.  August 17 from 2 to 5 pm at Scheman Building on the Iowa State Campus in Ames is where you can come and participate in a conversation about Ag.  $10 gets you in the door, an open mind and a willingness to be a part of the conversation can change your life.  Visit http://140conf.com/AgIowa for all the details and to register today.

Reasons Why Everyone Should Attend the State of Now: Ag Iowa 

It’s a valuable experience for anyone – not just Ag.  You eat right?  What can you learn about your food that don’t already know?  How are these producers using this new technology to create the best possible foods?  Best Foods Facts Abby White brings to the table common sense information and a voice of reason.

Students and industry professionals alike will benefit from being a part of this discussion.  Stacy Noe from the ISU Ag Entrepreneurship Initiative will share how they create programs for both students and professional and how they use social media to do just that.

New bloggers and those thinking about starting a blog will see what Val Plagge has done.  Val is a farmers wife and very active in various organizations related to farming.  She will show how she got started and why everyone will want to consider blogging.

Have you learned how to use your blog to build trust and relationships?  Katie Olthoff, On The Banks of Squaw Creek, will bring light to this subject.  She doesn’t just talk about Ag either – her blog is a tool in her social media arsenal.

Learn real reasons Return on Investment (ROI) matters.  Micheal Libbie, Insight Advertising, has worked in the rural arena for many years, and he knows how to track results and make a difference for clients.

Your mobile devices are more powerful than you realize.  Katy Flint, CellTech Inc., will talk about different ways farmers are using mobile apps, and ways they could be using them more.

How to make a difference, on the farm and off the farm – Larry Sailer has learned a few lessons in the past couple of years.  He’ll share a few of them, and talk about how social media broadened his horizons.

Social Media can be a team building experience.  Heather Lilienthal will share how Team Farm Bureau is using social media to connect, converse and clarify.

Break out of the niche mode.  Janice Person loves cotton.  She’s also pretty crazy about Ag in general.  Janice will show you how conversations about Ag (nice market) can be extended and reach to many people, not just farmers.

Find the common ground.  The day is about Ag – but it’s also about finding common ground for all of us.  Darcy Maulsby will show you how to do that.

It’s not all talk.  There’s a lot of ‘yadda yadda yadda’ in social media.  Jeff Caldwell from Meredith will show you how farmers are building their bottom line and holding real conversations.

Tie in the talk with real time observations.  Laura Nguyen of Dupont Pioneer will show you what they are doing to train their people in movement building – Talking and using real time to track what’s happening out in the fields.

Anyone can do this.  April Hemmes is a woman who farms in a county of 10,000 people.  Hear how social media has made it possible for her to travel  and share farming techniques with women around the world.

Using social media as part of your entire marketing mix.  Shannon Latham of Latham Hi-Tech seeds knows a few things about marketing.  She really believes that every day can be an event, it’s all in the marketing.  Social media is just a part of her marketing plan, learn how she went from recipes on a Friday to thousands of viewers.

It’s all about the bacon.  If you don’t know who Fred Hoiboar is, you’re missing out.  Emily Pritchard will enlighten you on they took a winning coach, a winning boar and created a winning campaign.

You don’t need to be a farmer to be here.  Find out how simply making a decision to be involved, to create a difference for someone, changed Deb Brown’s life.  It’s easier than you think.

Ask the questions you’ve always wanted to ask.  The day of presentations end with a panel of all the speakers answering your questions.  Now is the time!