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My Ag Media Summit Experience: Megan Vollstedt

by | Sep 5, 2019 | Ag Media Summit, Professional Development, The ByLine, What I Learned, Writing

By Megan Vollstedt, Agronomy and Technology Editor, Meredith Agrimedia and 2019 Cultivating Young Ag Journalist by Alltech Recipient

It is over a month past the Ag Media Summit and yet the ideas, people, and lessons have been running through my mind like a catchy tune (a pleasant one!).

As a new member of AAEA, this was my first AMS, and I was able to attend through the Cultivating Young Ag Journalists Program.

I was eager for the opportunity to expand my network, learn from peers, and employ tactics to improve my writing skills – all takeaways that colleagues recounted from summits past.

Below are five highlights from five sessions that I hope to echo throughout my ag media career:

“Think Outside the Pyramid” with Ann Wylie

  • Use your five senses, metaphors, anecdotes, and human-interest stories
  • Avoid abstraction, announcements, and fact pacts
  • Turn programs, policies, and procedures into people
  • Wear your business casual clothes when writing
  • Write about people doing things. Write about action

 “Talking About my Generation” with Gail Calhoun

  • Switch your thinking from a focus on the group to a focus on the individual
  • Flip the perceived negative characteristics to strengths
  • Provide coaching or feedback with clearly articulated goals
    • Lead with a strength, be specific, then offer a solution
  • Maintain diversity in the workplace
  • If you feel you can bring your whole self to work, you’re more ethical

“Make Magic with Metaphor” with Ann Wylie

  • Metaphors are persuasive, support learning, and are attractive to readers
  • Metaphors enhance credibility because people believe stories more than they believe statistics
  • Replace clichés in your writing. If you can’t do it literally anymore, don’t do it literarily
  • Metaphors help to explain big numbers. They re-engage the audience and make that number tangible
  • To get a good metaphor, ask your source to explain the topic like they would to a 3rd-grader

“In Need of a Lifeline: Today’s Farmer Emotional Health Issues”

Ted Matthews, Dr. Josie Rudolphi, Brenda Rudolph, Holly Spangler

  • Farmers are more receptive to mental health information in newspapers, magazines, or in one-on-one conversations
  • Isolation is a big contributor to farmer suicides
  • Community sheriff’s departments are allies in crisis situations
  • We should know whom to call in a crisis
  • We can all be healthier than we are; therefore, put the focus on mental health

“Rock on Writing” with Steve Werblow

  • First-person storytelling sounds more real and delivers a more accurate story
  • Follow a subject for a day-in-the-life or string together a sequence (like Christmas lights)
  • Puns, references, and internal rhyme make a connection with your reader
  • Write with a structure that pulls people through the story
  • Look around the place of an interview for detail to inspire more questions or include in the story

I didn’t (quite) break out in song, but I left the summit fulfilled and confident that I could contribute to and continue learning from this community.