By Mike Wilson, AAEA President

Valued AAEA Member,

Ag media is in a state of constant change. In 2016, the AAEA leadership conducted extensive surveys of its membership and embarked upon a strategic five-year plan to re-position the organization for the future. This is a plan to not only maintain AAEA’s relevance to member needs, but also to position our organization as a leader in professional development, engagement and the recognition of excellence in the ag media profession.

We have made tremendous progress on the plan this first half of 2017. Your AAEA Board and Committee Chairs have revised the Byline to become the Byline in Brief, hosted multiple webinars, and introduced Special Interest Group segments as new ways to connect within our membership.

We also dived deep into the personality of the AAEA brand and developed the elements below to define AAEA’s identity both now and as we move forward.
Vision: The AAEA long term vision is to demonstrate a commitment to professional growth of agricultural communicators.
Member profile: Our members are eager, ambitious professionals working across a wide spectrum of ag media jobs who want to up their game, make a positive impact within their field, and recognize the value of getting involved and giving back to the profession.
Point of Difference: Why AAEA? This organization offers a full-spectrum approach to professional development. It creates opportunities for members to connect, produce high quality content, and recognizes excellence within the ag communications profession.
Brand Promise: AAEA will provide an active and diverse community of professionals to continually welcome you, challenge you, and show you where and how to make a difference in agriculture.

With these brand elements in mind, we are adopting a new slogan and a new look – AAEA – The Agricultural Communicators Network.

Here are some other changes you’ll notice on the heels of this brand announcement:
-New and improved, member friendly website – launching at AMS 2017!
-Less use of the full “American Ag Editors Association” and more AAEA – The Ag Communicators Network.
-Re-designed membership directory
-Special Interest Groups where professionals can learn from each other in mini-peer groups

We welcome your feedback regarding this change to our organization. AAEA has a rich history of professional development and excellence. It will celebrate its 100 year anniversary in 2020. With this strategic change, we aim to continue this legacy with a new identity that is in tune with our talented and diverse membership.

The AAEA Board and our staff want to hear from you. You may contact us at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Mike Wilson, President, AAEA