Breakout Sessions
Measuring Social Media
Impact and ROI
Steve Hershberger, ComBlu
Thursday, April 18 ~ 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Repeated from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Most brands focus on short-term performance metrics such as number of fans, impressions, dwell time, unique visitors and number of campaign participants. As investments in social programs increase, economic-focused decision makers want to understand longer-term value and financial returns such as LTV, sales leads, number of conversions, decision journey impact and cost deflection.
Steve Hershberger will help you articulate the three distinct pillars of social engagement: feedback, advocacy and support. You’ll also learn why each one has its own associated set of metrics that come from multiple sources.
The industry is starting to “get this” and approach ROI in a way that matters. For example, knowing engagement levels is a metric, but is not necessarily an indication of ROI. When combined with five or six other metrics, however, a story begins to emerge that shows how engagement can lead to revenue growth or to adoption of a more efficient business process that leads to cost savings. You’ll leave with ideas and strategies to help you measure the effectiveness of your own social engagement programs.
Steve is Principal and Co-Founder of ComBlu. He has more than 15 years experience in advocate and influencer marketing programs for such companies as Apple, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Merck Pharmaceuticals, BMW Motorcycles, Intel, Dell and Carpet One.
Content Strategy:
The New Imperative
Kristina Halvorson, Brain Traffic
Thursday, April 18 ~ 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Repeated from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
How’s your website content? Great? Good? Not so much? When you’re constantly reacting to the ever-changing demands of industry and technological advances, it’s hard to slow down and think strategically about your online presence. What should you prioritize? Redesign your website? Go mobile? Get social? If you want to (finally) get control of your website, then you need to start with the one thing that really, really counts: your content.
Kristina Halvorson will introduce
you to the practice of content
strategy and how it can
transform your web presence
from the inside out, then share
quick tips about how to get
started right away.
Kristina runs Brain Traffic, a
content strategy consultancy. She is the author of Content
Strategy for the Web and the
founder of Confab: The Content
Strategy Conference.
Media Mix
Moderator: Angie
Skochdopole,
AdFarm
Panelists: Becki Rhodes, NAFB
Lisa Schneider, Penton Media
Holly Martin, High Plains Journal
Thursday, April 18 ~ 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
It’s a burning question. What is the right mix of media and communication tools to achieve the best ROI out of every touchpoint? Join us for an informative panel discussion of what is working today, what’s not and how to stay on top of our game. Bring your thinking hats, questions and ideas for this interactive session.
Angie Skochdopole is Senior Director, Media Services, at AdFarm, where she oversees media for all U.S. and Canadian clients. Angie has more than 27 years of experience in agriculture advertising/marketing. She has held media, account and marketing positions at leading ag ad agencies, companies and publishing entities.
Becki Rhoades is the Director of Marketing and Communications for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Prior to NAFB, Becki worked for more than ten years with the Kansas Department of Commerce coordinating marketing activities. She has also held positions with the National FFA Convention, the Kansas Livestock Association and the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, among others.
Holly Martin is the editor of High Plains Journal. She has been with the Journal for 19 years and
writes a weekly column, as well as steering the editorial direction of the publication. She is a
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past president of the American Agricultural Editor’s Association, a board member of the
Kansas Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, AAEA’s Professional Improvement Fund
and the Ford County Extension Executive Council. She has also served as president of the
Great
Plains NAMA chapter.
Unleashing Creativity—In Practice
Josh Linkner
Thursday, April 18 ~ 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
We now live in a
world of dizzying
speed, exponential
complexity, and
ruthless
competition. As most of the advantages of the past have
become commoditized, creativity
has become the currency of
success; in both business and
life. In this interactive talk,
Josh shows participants how to jump-start their creativity to
drive 
meaningful and immediate
results. Attendees will learn
specific techniques to unleash
their most valuable resources
– human creativity, imagination
and original thinking.
Global Economic Development—Impact on Agriculture
Dr. Jay Lehr, Heartland Institute
Thursday, April 18 ~ 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
World food supply
must grow to satisfy
increasing demand
from a growing
affluent population
and increasing world
population. Over a billion people
in the world are undernourished
and we must improve their diets.
Additionally we will add two
billion people to the planet
before population growth stops
in 
the middle of this century.
We can and will meet this growing demand for food. Throughout the world, since 1990, family income has increased by 67% and meat consumption by 57%. China’s middle class alone is estimated to grow by 234 million people by 2020 with India growing by 60 million during this time period. This bodes well for the acquisition of our food products for decades to come.
Dr. Jay Lehr will discuss the global forces that are shaping the future of the agriculture industry. Dr. Lehr is Science Director of the Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank supported by contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations. The author of 29 books, he has testified before Congress on more than three dozen occasions and consulted with nearly every agency of the federal government as well as many foreign countries.
Agriculture: Trends,
Topics and Tomorrow
Damian Mason
Friday, April 19 ~ 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
Kick your day off right with a hearty discussion about topics facing agriculture today, served up with a side of laughter. This former dairy farmer and professional comedian will entertain you with his insights, stories and personal experiences that are sure to put a smile on your face and get you thinking about what we can do to keep the future of agriculture bright!
Damian will discuss diverse ag issues such as land values, money in ag, future regulation and laws, and what tomorrow’s ag professional will look like.
The Evolution of PR
Moderator: Deron Johnson, Pfizer
Panelists: Ann Camden, Gibbs + Soell
Heidi Nelson, Harvest PR
Friday, April 19 ~ 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
In Public Relations, we’re seeing dynamic changes as PR evolves from its traditional media-to-customer facing model to more direct-tocustomer communications. PR is much more integrated across everything we do than it was 15 years ago, particularly as our customers become more connected and embrace new technologies. Join panelists from leading PR agencies who will speak to what we’re seeing in the business and to their experiences in and out of agriculture.
Deron Johnson is Director of Communications and Marketing Operations for Pfizer Animal Health’s U.S. Companion Animal business. He leads a team of 10 in creating communication strategies and executions that drive awareness, belief and reputation for the brands and the business overall. Prior to joining Pfizer in 2011, Deron served for 15 years in public relations leadership roles for agencies including Fleishman-Hillard, Gibbs & Soell, Brighton and Rhea + Kaiser. Before entering the PR profession, Deron was a business journalist for nearly 10 years. He has a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Kansas State University.
Ann Camden has 20 years of communications management and public relations experience, most of it in agriculture. As one of the owners of Gibbs & Soell, Ann has recently launched the Gibbs & Soell Employee Engagement Practice, working with clients such as LORD Corporation, Dow, Syngenta and Ply Gem. Ann is currently a member of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Agriculture Leadership Program through North Carolina State University.
Heidi Nelson is
owner of Harvest PR & Marketing, Inc., a
strategic
communications
firm specializing in building
brands and reputations in food
and farm industries. Heidi
represents clients along the
entire food supply chain,
including ag input and feed
ingredients manufacturers,
specialty crop commodity
organizations, value-add food
manufacturers and distributors,
specialty grocers and premium
food and beverage brands. She
directs strategic communications
for many commodity
organizations, including Cotton
Incorporated, U.S. Apple
Association and National
Watermelon Promotion Board. Heidi has also advised some of
the world’s foremost farm and
food/beverage companies,
including Ste. Michelle Wine
Estates and ag retailer Wilbur-Ellis Company.
She is an active member of the NC Agribusiness Council, Wake Country Agribusiness Council and a leader in the local NAMA Chapter. Originally from a grain farm, Ann has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural communications from Purdue University, College of Agriculture.
Using Big Data to
Increase Affinity
Diana Rehnberg and Kim Garretson, Ovative/Group
Friday, April 19 ~ 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
Data, whether structured (profiles, email lists, customer database) or unstructured (web, mobile, social media), often remains siloed in unique databases with each managed by a separate department.
When companies are able to achieve an omni-channel sales approach using this data, they offer customers a personalized experience across all channels.
Diana Rehnberg and Kim
Garretson from Ovative/Group
are going to walk you through
case histories, including
examples from large CPG’s, to
demonstrate how companies
are able to achieve one-to-one
personalization via a pragmatic
approach to data. You’ll also
see a preview of what the
market may see in the future
with regards to expanding and evolving technology.
Diana leads Ovative’s new
practice area in customer
measurement and insight. She
also manages omnichannel strategy engagements, focusing
on ecommerce, business
intelligence and information
strategy. Before joining the group, she was Target’s SAP
Program Director where she
led enterprise information
management and one-to-one
marketing technology delivery.
Kim is a founding partner of Ovative/Group and leads the Emerging Innovation practice area. Garretson connects venture capital firms and their portfolio companies with enterprise customers. He also works with major corporations on their strategy and innovation initiatives for the future of digital and mobile business to provide roadmaps for "realizing innovation” in the realtime evolving markets and sources of digital innovation.
