By Diane Johnson, Livestock Publications Council

I’m taking the pen again as a guest columnist and, when thinking about what I can share, I decided that I would discuss how the Ag Media Summit (AMS) sites are chosen. I will try and simplify but this is a rather complex subject. 

This year will mark the 20th year of AMS which is very exciting. The event has been held in 18 different cities and only returned to one city twice (Tampa) and will return to the Scottsdale area again this summer. Other than the Northeast and far East coast, we have pretty much covered almost every corner of the country and many places in between.  A task in my position as executive director is managing the daily phone calls and multiple emails from Convention and Visitor Bureaus (CVB) and hotels trying to convince us to consider their city. Since we have smaller workshops averaging 50 in attendance to the 600+ attendance at AMS, we are a prime target for almost every city in the U.S. 

Who makes the decision based on what? 

The AMS Steering Committee makes the final decision based on summaries from a narrowed down list of cities. Hotel room rates are critically looked at first, followed by hotel costs of food and  beverage and then airport accessibility and airfares. Hotel room rates: Yes going to Buffalo in the winter can be compared to going to Phoenix in July. Since the hotel rate is important to our attendees it kind of prevents us from going to beautiful cool-in-the-summer cities like Colorado Springs, Seattle, or Portland, Maine. In the summer these are examples of prime cities that definitely make you pay to play. But the opposite is true too when you go to a warmer location in the summer. The hotel rate this summer is $149. In January that same room is more than $400.  Yep. Yet the temperature is not always the factor for our decisions as I remember when we were in New Orleans and there were some disgruntled attendees until they got there. All week it was 85 degrees and it was 100+ degrees in most of the states north of the Mason-Dixon line. Keep in mind that 90 percent of our activities are also indoors so that “72 and fluorescent” weather report holds pretty steady no matter where we are. The food costs at the hotel are another major cost and we have stopped feeding you every time you turn around. I remember when we would have a breakfast at 7 a.m., followed by cookies and coffee at 9 a.m., heavy lunch with dessert followed by a popcorn and cookie break at 3 p.m. and then on into the evening with heavy appetizers and dinner. That’s a thing of the past for many reasons. Keep in mind when you are enjoying that cup of coffee, the price of ONE gallon of coffee is usually close to $80.00. That diet Dr. Pepper could be as much as $6.00. Per can. 

Why are we going west again since we were just in Utah 2017?

A few years ago we were approached by the organization, Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Life and Human Sciences, to consider a joint conference. This year it has become a reality and we will welcome them to AMS in Scottsdale. In the negotiations their request
was to go to a western location. So AMS obliged and their concession was to change their dates from June to our summer (August) dates. This made it a win-win for both groups. Since we try
and book about three years out the Salt Lake City location had already been contracted and with the International Federation of Ag Journalists (IFAJ) Congress joining us in 2019 it was the
only way to make it work for everyone. 

Why do we move around and why can’t it just stay in the “middle of the country”?

While most of our members are located in the “middle of the country”, it can be argued both ways of whether to branch out to a East or West coast city or stay within the confines of the Midwest. It was amazing how many people had never been to Utah last year which didn’t deter very many from not coming. And an exciting part of the AMS experience is getting to go to places outside of the usual locations. Plus think about how our eyes are opened up to  earning about agriculture in unique locations. So this is it in a nutshell. Kind of. I hope it helps to explain a few things about site selection and why we do what we do. Feel free to contact me if I’ve made this clear as mud and you still have questions. See you in AZ!