By Mike Wilson, Membership Committee Co-Chair
This is a crucial time for the AAEA-Ag Communicators Network. Amy Roady and I co-chair the membership committee – a great group of enthusiastic, dedicated professionals, tracking down new member leads. But,we’re on a quest to boost membership before the end of the year, and we need your help.
Our two-fold strategy is to reach out to first-year members and encourage them to renew membership; and second, seek out other ag communications professionals who may not know about the many benefits of membership. With the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists annual world congress coming to Minnesota in July 2019 as part of AMS, we have even more reasons to share the value of membership.
Here’s how you can help:
- Time to renew. Make sure you renew your membership before the end of the year, before rates go up. Annual membership rises from $235 to $260 per year starting in 2019. Freelancers still get special discounts.
- Share the love. Contact other ag communicators you know and share the value! Tell them that the Ag Communicators Network is a national organization of writers, photographers, public relations specialists, organizational communicators, freelancers, bloggers, designers and editors who strive for excellence on all platforms of agricultural communications. We focus on professional development, award-winning work recognition and industry networking for anyone engaged in agricultural communications and journalism. For sample recruitment letters get in touch with Amy, myself, or our AAEA staff.
- Get social. Share your love for AAEA-Ag Communicators Network on social media posts. Share our home page. Be sure to add #agcommproud to all your posts.
- Look outside our comfort zone. If you’ve seen our heat map you know most members come from the Midwest. That means there are lots of ag communicators in other regions who may not know about our association. If you know friends and colleagues in the south, east or west, reach out to them and let them know how you find value in membership.
- We have samples. If you need some sample recruitment emails that spell out key membership benefits, reach out to Ellie, Sam, myself or Amy. If you’d rather one of us reach out, that’s fine, just share contact info with one of our team. We’ll do the rest.
- Friends, here are some benefits. One of the best ways to recruit new members is to be in contact with people whom you already network with in our industry. Reach out to people in shared-vision regional associations, like Heartland NAMA, or national associations, such as North American Agricultural Journalists.
Remember, the Ag Communicators Network can benefit anyone involved in the food, agriculture and agribusiness communications profession. In the past, some folks might not see ‘AAEA’ as a good fit, but the AgCommunicators Network now has a broader focus on professional development and networking – for all. There are a ton of reasons to be part of our organization.
Good luck and thanks for your help!