By Gil Gullickson, 2019-2021 AAEA/Ag Communicators Network president
There was a fellow from my hometown whose father had been hospitalized for a few days. A local resident asked him how his father was doing.
“Well,” said the son who had a way of covering all bases, “he’ll either get worse, better or stay the same.”
I’ve often felt like this in trying to make sense of dealing with COVID-19’s impact on AAEA/Ag Communicators Network. When we shifted the Ag Media Summit (AMS) from July into mid-November, I felt like we were in the “better” camp.
When we were agonizing whether to cancel the in-person mid-November AMS and shift to a virtual one, I entered the “worse” mode, hoping we could somehow move up to the “stay the same” option.
I think, though, that are going to end up in a better space. We’re faring better than I thought we would earlier this year. Your board of directors met virtually earlier this month. Highlights include the following:
- From a financial standpoint, we’re projected to end the year in the black. The exact amount will hinge on revenues garnered by the virtual AMS. As it stands now, our net income for the year will be a bit over $1,500.
- This is a tremendous achievement. The credit goes to the folks who came before me, folks like past-presidents Julie Deering and Christy Lee Couch and our great AAEA/Ag Communicators staff of Samantha Kilgore and Mary Kendall Dixon. They got us on firm financial footing before COVID-19 arrived.
- AAEA 100 celebration plans will proceed at our in-person AMS next year from July 31-August 4. This celebration—initially planned for this year—will be a great one. As part of this, members will be receiving a book compiled by Jim Patrico and Donovan Harris that details our history through photography. You’ll want to keep this one on your coffee tables.
- Our awards program proceeded virtually on November 2 without a hitch. Overall, entries were down in marcomm, social media, design, and writing categories. In photography, though entries were up.
- I don’t view this as a long-term trend, although it’s one we would like to reverse and garner more entries. The caliber remains stunning, with winning entries that top those of any other media contest.
We also had a great awards ceremony at our virtual AMS meeting this week. Kudos to Gene Johnston and Larry Dreiling for being honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Mary Dell-Chilton, a legendary plant scientist, was honored with our Distinguished Service Award. Katie Knapp won the Andy Markwart Horizons Award, an honor that annually goes to an AAEA member who embodies the youthful vigor, energy, passion, dedication, and creativity shown by Andy in his volunteer work for AAEA for many years.
Membership decreased.
The numbers aren’t alarming, but total paid members did decrease from 374 last year to this year’s 332. Still, we would like to turn around this trend, and outgoing committee co-chairs Mike Wilson and Amy Roady provided some good ideas to do so.
Our commitment to future ag communicators is moving forward.
Laurie Bedord, who heads the Future Ag Communicators Committee, reported that host company applications are out for 2021 internships. Like this year, it will allow for virtual internships. We also are offering four scholarships for 2021. An AMS virtual career fair was held on October 16, with 10 employers and 100 students participating.
The current board of directors will remain through next year’s AMS.
There’s a provision in our constitution that the election of officers must be made in-person. We were going to do that this month, but since AMS was not held in-person, the current team will remain in place until in-person elections occur at the 2021 AMS.
Challenges Remain
We aren’t out of the woods yet. AMS had to dip into its reserves to give us our share of AMS income that helps fuel our budget. This shows the value of having reserves for black-swan events like COVID-19.
On the plus side, the virtual AMS generated 240 participants, which is a great showing. It shows the commitment of members and media groups. Sessions and interaction were terrific.
Long-term, though, virtual events are no substitute for face-to-face meetings. AMS is a powerful recruitment tool for prospective members. Face-to-face meetings are a valuable networking tool. They’re also just plain fun!
I’ve thankful we have been able to maintain programs and fiscal stability in 2020 while respecting the health of our members. Moving forward, there seems to be long-term optimism regarding COVID-19 with the development of vaccines. Still, I’d keep your hand sanitizer and face masks handy.
I’m optimistic, though, that we will be able to hold AMS and the 100th anniversary celebration in-person in Kansas City from July 31-August 4 2021. I’ll guarantee you it will be better than better!