ZimmComm – New Media, LLC

It was very nice seeing all our Missouri Beef Industry Council friends this week during their board meeting. This is the time when they get together to review proposals for consumer and producer education and promotion. We once again proposed doing project work in the coming year.

The Missouri Beef Industry Council was our first client back in 2004 so we’ve been working with them for over six years. Projects have included creating the first beef industry podcast which is now Checkoff Chat and the first beef industry blog, Missouri Beef Buzz. We also provide assistance with the production and distribution of press releases, especially ones with supporting media files like images and audio.

Soon after we started working with the MBIC we also started working with the Cattlemen’s Beef Board on what is now called MyBeefCheckoffMeeting.com, a blog about the activities of the Beef Board at their two annual meetings. I will be the Beef Board Blogger once again in just 2 weeks at the Cattle Industry Summer Convention along with many members of the MBIC.

Congratulations to Cali Yost. Her website/blog Work+Life Fit made the Forbes Top 100 Websites For Women. Cali has been a ZimmComm client for years and had this to say when she let us know about the distinction:

I thought I would share this with you because my blog was just named one of the Top 100 Websites for Women by Forbes!! And I couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you both.

See the complete list on the Forbes website.

To determine which sites and blogs made the cut we looked for compelling and decidedly female-oriented content, outstanding design, an active community and frequent updates. In short, sheer clickyness.

ZimmComm will be out and about next week. Here’s a heads up of where you’ll find us.

To start with, Cindy will be attending a BASF Sustainability Summit in Chicago. From there she’ll join Joanna Schroeder and John Davis at World Pork Expo working with sponsors Boehringer Ingelheim and Novus International. It’s going to be a busy week for the @FarmPodcaster.

Next week Chuck will also be on the agriblogging highway starting with the Corn Utilization & Technology Conference in Atlanta working with the National Corn Growers Association. From there he’ll head to the Carolinas to ride and drive new Gator Utility Vehicles with John Deere. Make sure you follow @AgriBlogger and AgWired to keep up with all the action.

Have you got us on your event’s schedule? We’d be happy to live blog your event while providing professional photography services!

Here’s Cindy doing live blogging in the Illinois Corn Marketing Board suite at the Corn Crib during the first game in the new stadium. The baseball park is the home of the Normal CornBelters. Cindy and I were brought in by the ICMB to live blog the event on AgWired. We took almost 400 photos and conducted 6 interviews. Our posts are not only being used on AgWired but also on the Illinois Corn Growers blog, Corn Corps as well as the National Corn Growers Association blog, Corn Commentary.

You can find our event photos in our Flickr set: Normal CornBelters Home Opener

ZimmComm is looking forward to the first ever AG CONNECT Expo and is a supporting online sponsor.

Additionally, ZimmComm will be live blogging the show in Orlando, FL on AgWired.com while also assisting AEM with social networking services. It’s a good example of how we can help a company or organization that needs to outsource some or all of their new/social media communications efforts.

One of our recent projects has been the development of the IFAJ Congress 2009 website. Yes, it’s a WordPress blog and as we get closer to the event in July the content is being posted more frequently. I dare say this is way better than a static web page that doesn’t ever change.

Registration is now open for the event by the way. This is a “must-attend” event for anyone in agricultural communications. I don’t care if you’re a farm broadcaster, podcaster, editor, publisher, blogger or agriblogger. You need to be there.

It’s not just that there will be good professional development sessions although that’s reason enough. It’s also because this is your chance to interact with some great people from around the world who will be attending. Many of them will be coming to the United States for the first time. Let’s give them a fantastic welcome.

It’s the first time that the IFAJ Congress has been combined with an event like the Agricultural Media Summit and I think it’s going to go down as the best ever. There are a lot of people working to make it so. Maybe our new administration in DC will find a way to participate.

AgNite in Minneapolis was a hugely successful event, attracting over 3,000 people to The Depot.

ZimmComm was on the scene, publishing content on both AgWired and the AgNite Blog.

This is one of the over 300 pictures Cindy and I shot during the event. You can see 200 of them in our online photo album. We also conducted 12 interviews and produced 1 YouTube video. So far we’ve produced 15 stories from the event and counting.

That’s what you get when you bring in the agriblogging and farm podcasting experts from ZimmComm.

Gulf coast weather permitting, Cindy and I will be be live blogging AgNite during the Republican National Convention. This is going to be very cool and a lot of fun. There’s an impressive list of companies and organizations already supporting this opportunity to showcase American agriculture to a national audience.

You can count on seeing some live video via AgWired Live TV and lots of photos and interviews. My coverage will be sponsored by the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council and AgStar Financial Services.

We do a lot of different kinds of projects here at ZimmComm New Media like this one with Moe Russell, Russell Consulting Group. I’ve helped produce and host a series of video presentations for Farm Industry News and sponsored by Asgrow. It’s called the Business Skills Series. Here we are in our last recording session.

In this monthly episode Moe talks about risk management. The production has been done locally here and I’ve also worked with Joel Jaeger, YourFarm/Commodity Update on the project. You can watch the latest episode here:

We’ll be taping two more episodes later this morning.

One of the things I like best about doing event blogging is the photography. As a photographer wannabe for many years the web has allowed me to indulge a personal interest with work.

This week I’ve been blogging at the World Championship Appaloosa Show in Ft. Worth, TX. Pictures like this are to be found everywhere and I’ve got lots in the online photo album for the event.

I’ve never seen the American flag displayed in action on horseback while our National Anthem is being sung. It was very moving (no pun intended).