By Mike Wilson, AAEA President
Next week the AAEA board will meet for its annual spring get-together, and we’ve got a full plate of topics to discuss. It’s a chance for the association’s leaders to catch their breath, look at what we’ve done so far, and plot out next moves on behalf of the organization.
The Strategic Plan we adopted last year has some pretty ambitious goals. The overarching aim is for AAEA to be recognized as the leader in professional development, engagement and recognition of excellence.
When you break that down in to tangible steps, what does it mean? A leader will attract new members. As we continue focusing on excellent service to our membership, we hope to grow our numbers and become more diverse and inclusive. To that end we are rebranding the organization and adopting a new slogan, “The Agricultural Communicators Network,” which you will eventually see on more and more of our communications.
In the strategic plan, this network is a growing, diverse membership for professionals who communicate about, to and for agriculture. It’s not just for editors anymore.
The strategic plan also directs AAEA to provide more and better ways to engage with young professionals. Our Young Professionals Task Force, led by vice president Julie Deering ([email protected]) has already held two professional development webinars, with more coming in the pipeline. You can access past webinars, such as this one. We aim to create a mentor program as well as Special Interest Groups, for those who want to get involved in a mini-peer group.
Our monthly Byline newsletter is now the weekly Byline in Brief, with short, snappy stories, most of them written by our own members. “I actually read the Byline now,” one member told me last week. Kudos to past president Holly Spangler ([email protected]) for coordinating the new Byline effort. The secret sauce is audience participation. If you can help with a story, let our executive director Samantha Kilgore ([email protected]) or Holly know.
The AAEA website is getting a makeover, thanks to some wonderful volunteer help from our talented members, led by Jamie Cole ([email protected]). Sometime in the next few months we hope to roll out Agcommnetwork.com, which will include professional development stories, AAEA information, event alerts, and a new resource center for freelancers, among other things. We also want to ramp up our social media presence.
An important component of our discussion next week will revolve around revenue. It takes money to provide services for our members, so we will be discussing revenue development opportunities, even as many agribusiness companies are cutting budgets in light of the ag economy and consolidation. We raised contest fees this year, and will be looking to expand sponsorships and apply for government grants in an effort to keep AAEA financially strong.
Meanwhile there are important events we need to discuss. Our IFAJ representative Kurt Lawton ([email protected]) just returned from the IFAJ Congress in South Africa, where he surveyed attendees on their interests for our own congress, set for the summer of 2019. I heard a rumor that craft beer will be on the agenda; hopefully that’s not “fake news!”
As we learned when we hosted IFAJ in 2009, it’s never too early to start planning for this international event. I’m thankful so many people have turned up to volunteer to help with the 2019 congress. We’ll need everyone rowing in the same direction on this one, so if you’re interested in volunteering, let Kurt know.
The Strategic Plan also focuses our organization on a very special upcoming anniversary. AAEA will celebrate 100 years in 2020, and so committee chair Holly Martin ([email protected]) has been asking for ideas on the best ways we can honor our past while looking to the future.
All of these items will be discussed next week after the AAEA/LPC regional workshop, in Ames, Iowa. If you want more information about any of the topics, email the person I noted in this article. And, as always, if you have an idea or opinion about AAEA’s future, please send me a note: [email protected].