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 3^rd-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.