#140ConfAgIowa

Last week I asked everyone "What they were doing on Friday, August 17th?" and invited everyone to the #140ConfAgIowa conference in Ames.  Today I'm excited to give a quick recap of my experience.

The #140ConfAgIowa conference was an agriculture social media conference whose attendees included farmers, ag business professionals, social media experts and others just interested in agriculture and social media.  One neat thing I thought about the event was that there were several people from the county I live in not only as attendees but as speakers at the event.  There were 16 speakers that spoke each for 10 minutes, which equaled to be three hours of quick hitting information on things like how to "speak consumer", to tips on how to share messages, to resources for facts and figures.  I spoke on how to start a blog from a beginner blogger's perspective.  I covered things to think through before beginning a blog and also shared a couple tips I have learned in my eight months of blogging.  Click here to check out my presentation video.

Me speaking at the #140ConfAgIowa conference

To give you a better idea of what the conference all covered, her are some of my favorite tweets from the conference:

• Use "consumer speak" not "science speak" #140ConfAgIowa @abbyjowhite @bestfoodfacts
• @katieolthoff emphasizes for ag folks to reach out beyond #ag! #140ConfAgIowa
• @FBLJ People outside of #ag want to meet the "right type" of #farmer.  How can we show that we are all "right" farmers? #140ConfAgIoa
• Whether #cotton or #bacon, @JPlovesCOTTON says you can find your niche on Twitter. "Agriculture" is a niche itself. #140ConfAgIowa
• @LathamSeeds How can we create virtual experiences that turn into reality. #140ConfAgIowa

Overall, I had a great time learning and networking.  The common threads from the day were to be yourself and to diversify your audience.  If you have a #140Conf in your area be sure to attend!

Here are a couple other takes from the #140ConfAgIowa conference that you might find of interest:

• USA Today
• Deb Brown

What are you doing this Friday?

What are you doing this Friday?  I am personally going to the Ag Iowa #140 Conference in Ames and I hope you join me!

The #140ConfAgIowa is Friday, August 17th from 2 to 5pm at the Scheman Building on the Iowa State Campus in Ames, Iowa.  This three hour event will consist of presentations discussing social media and agriculture in ten minute segments - with plenty of time for questions, cocktails and networking afterwards.


Here is a list of several speakers who I'm looking forward to listening to:

• Katie Olthoff from "On the Banks of Squaw Creek"
• Larry Sailer - a farmer from Geneva, Iowa
• Heather Lilienthal from Iowa Farm Bureau
• Janice Person from Monsanto
• Darcy Maulsby - a farmer and writer from Yetter, Iowa
• Jeff Caldwell from Successful Farming/Meredith Publishing
• Laura Nguyen from Dupont Pioneer
• April Hemmes - a farmer from Hampton, Iowa who recently did an agriculture mission to Uganda
• Shannon Latham from Latham Hi-Tech Seeds
• Emily Pritchard from the Fred Hoiboar campagin
• Deb Brown from Debworks

(I know you might think this would be the entire line-up, but it isn't!  There are even more a great speakers on the schedule.)

Besides being excited to hear from all the speakers, I'm also looking forward to being a presenter myself!  I am presenting on "Making the Time to Blog," where I'll talk about what you need to think about to start a blog from a beginner's perspective.

If you would like to learn more about the event, check out the event's website, as well as schedule, and then order your $10 ticket online.