thanks …

If you haven’t downloaded yet for your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch then you can find it in the iTunes Store.

ARC President Deron Johnson, Rhea & Kaiser and Golden ARC Awards Contest Manager, Amy Keith McDonald, McDonald Marketing Communications, presented the awards. ZimmComm New Media won two awards in the Tactics Division. Working with BCS Communications for John Deere we won for the blog, DriveGreenTractors.com. Working with the Renewable Fuels Association we won for the podcast, The Ethanol Report. These are the first Golden ARC Awards we’ve ever won and Cindy and I are very excited about it.

The app is now available for iPhone users to download, free of charge, in the Apple iTunes store. You can find the AgWired App in the iTunes Store with this link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/agwired/id382820712?mt=8

Apps just make on-line access from an iPhone quicker and easier. We wanted to be the first to develop an iPhone application to show that it can be done and that there is a demand for this new technology tool in the agricultural world. And of course, the AgWired iPhone App is open for sponsorship. Who wants to be the first?

We’re looking for feedback on our first app. Let us know what you like, don’t like and wish it would do and we’ll try to incorporate your suggestions in a future update. Thanks.

As a sustaining sponsor you can count on even more information about NAMA activities and news about the industry we all know and love. If your company would like to provide more long term support for NAMA then just give Jenny a call at the NAMA office.

Under Jenny’s leadership NAMA has continued to grow and evolve to serve its members. If you ask most members they’ll tell you that the annual convention and other activities are extremely important to them professionally and personally. We echo that. Just the opportunity to network with friends and clients alone makes it worth the investment.

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.

I took several hundred photos and conducted many interviews with presenters and participants from a variety of countries. These are posted to the website and Alltech receives a copy of the photography and interviews. It’s a great deal and the most recent example of our unique brand of on location event coverage.

Dairy Solutions Symposium 2010 Photo Album

So I took over 1,500 photos, conducted 14 interviews and posted them along with a couple of video clips to our websites and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board Facebook page. They got copies for their own use too. That’s a hallmark of our event coverage! It’s kind of like an old fashioned live radio remote on the internet and you get high quality production at the same time!

You can listen to audio from the start of the race here: Iowa Indy Corn 250 Start

Here’s where you can find my photos: Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

Meanwhile, Cindy and Joanna will covering the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in St. Louis. They will be there Monday through Wednesday. So we’ll have a lot more photos and interviews to share this week via the ZimmComm News Network.

Chuck gets to close out the week working with the Iowa Corn Promotion Board for activities leading up to and including the 2010 Iowa Corn Indy 250 race in Newton, IA. This will be his third year of covering the event.

You can find photos from the various events we covered in our Flickr Sets. Here are links to this week’s photo albums:

Corn Utilization and Technology Conference – Chuck covered in Atlanta
BASF Media Summit – Cindy covered in Chicago
John Deere XUV Product Launch – Chuck covered in Carolinas
World Pork Expo – Cindy, Joanna and John covered in Des Moines

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!

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

If you’d like to learn more about gadgets and how they can be used to make you more productive on the job then consider scheduling me for a presentation. I’ll be doing just this in coming weeks for the Cooperative Communicators Association Institute, Association for Communicating Excellence Annual Mtg. and American Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Conference. I can conduct a show and tell while providing live examples of how these gadgets can be used to enhance your communications efforts. I think I’ll call it Gadget Goodness.

So, let’s look at a new gadget that was just announced by Samson. It’s the Zoom H1 digital audio recorder which should be available next month. I’m betting this one goes over very well. The retail price is expected to be $99!

Features:

* Stereo X/Y mic configuration captures perfect stereo images
* Same frequency and SPL handling as popular Zoom H2
* Records Broadcast WAV (BWF) at 96kHz/48kHz/44.1kHz at 16-bit or 24-bit
* Records MP3 from 48 to 320kbps for maximum recording time
* Hi-Speed USB 2.0 port
* Built-in reference speaker
* Includes 2GB microSD card and one AA battery
* One AA size battery allows 10 hours operation
* Accommodates up to 32GB microSDHC memory cards
* Track marker function
* Low cut filter
* Built-in tripod mount
* 1/8″ external mic input
* Stereo 1/8″ line output
* Auto record level
* Optional accessory package (APH-1) includes windscreen, AC adapter (USB type), USB cable, adjustable tripod stand, padded-shell case and mic clip adapter

Follow Samson on Twitter.

Registration is now open for this year’s BlogWorld and New Media Expo. I attended last year and am hoping to do so again this year schedule permitting. If you really want to hone your new media and social networking skills then this is the place to do it. It would be cool to have other ag folks there!

Join us at the World’s Largest New Media event and learn about Content Creation, Distribution and Monetization strategies, step-by-step techniques and bleeding-edge tools from the most successful Bloggers, Podcasters, Social Media Pro’s, Internet TV and Radio Broadcasters, and Podcasters! From the premier educational sessions at the Social Media Business Summit and BlogWorld Conference, to the resource-rich New Media Expo, to Amazing Networking events…it’s One economical trip, One weekend, One Big Show you can’t afford to miss!

Top Ten Reasons to have ZimmComm cover your next event:

10. We “Tweet” u right – in so many ways. We have multiple established Twitter accounts with thousands of followers on several different topics and can help tweet your event to tweeps all over.

9. Flickr Photos up in a Flash – get your photos uploaded and out for media to use and everyone to see faster.

8. Google Loves Us – Search engines pick up posts from ZimmComm blogs fast and furious, both news and web searches.

7. We Flip for YouTube – short, web quality video clips give your event a YouTube presence.

6. Audio on Demand –interviews with key presenters and speeches can be available on-line to listen or download.

5. First Class Photography – we take high-res photos of everything so you don’t have to.

4. Targeted Exposure – We can post on your blog and one or more of our own – with audiences that include agribusiness, renewable energy, dairy, and precision farming. We can even design and build a blog for your specific event.

3. Event Blogging Trail Blazers – ZimmComm was one of the first pioneers of event blogging, starting with the National Biodiesel Conference in February 2006.

2. Multi-tasking is our Middle Name – We often do audio, video, photos, tweets, blogging and more at the same time – while chewing gum and balancing a book on our heads. Ok, we made the last part up.

1. Historical Preservation – Your event is archived for history on the web and we provide a digital copy of all photos, video and audio sent to you for the sake of posterity after the event.

AgWired:

Are you and advertising or public relations agency with ag clients? Do you want your story and brand in front of agrimarketers who might want your services? Then please send all agency announcements to news@agwired.com. We’re finding that many agencies have multiple “lists” and we want to be on all of them. We want your agency news releases as well as those you distribute for your clients. AgWired is probably the most unique online industry news source and you can help define it. Just go to “What Is AgWired?” (http://agwired.com/2010/05/11/what-is-agwired/) and add your comment! The same thing applies to you farm groups and marketing and communication departments for agribusinesses. We can’t tell your story if you don’t tell us!

Domestic Fuel:

Are you doing any work in the renewable fuels industry? Ethanol, biodiesel, algae, wind, solar, natural gas, propane? Do you have clients who are? Then please send all announcements to news@domesticfuel.com. With nearly 30,000 unique visitors a month and growing, Domestic Fuel is the best way to get your message out to all the participants in the industry as well as a significant component of interested consumers.

Precision Pays:

Here’s where we cover the latest technology that’s making farming more efficient and cost effective. Send your news to news@precisionpays.com. Precision Pays is one of the only online sources of news dedicated to this topic.

World Dairy Diary:

This very active news service covers all things dairy. Send your news and announcements to news@worlddairydiary.com.

A signature feature of our on location online event coverage is a photo album and I took quite a few during this event: President Obama POET Biorefining Photo Album

The Aggies of New Mexico State University were the winners of this year’s competition. This is the second time the Aggies have won the top honors, but it has been awhile – so they were celebrating big time!

You can watch a short video of their team right after they were announced.

Other top winners in the student NAMA awards included Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, which took first place for Outstanding Student Chapter; and Iowa State University, which received first place and $3000 for their chapter as the John Deere Signature Award winners; and Mike Gustafson regained his title as “Hard Ass” judge of the year – three times in the past four years!

Congrats to all the winners!

2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

ZimmComm would like to thank Successful Farming for sponsoring coverage of the NAMA Conention on AgWired.

I am one of the founding board members of the AgChat Foundation and am leading our efforts to find sponsors who would like to help with the Foundation’s mission and program areas. You can learn more about the Agchat Foundation on their website.

Most of the board members leaders are farmers. I’m producing a series of interviews with them. Here’s one with Jeff Fowle, a northern California farmer with a very diversified operation. Jeff is a very passionate AgChat Foundation board member. He says the mission can be summed up by pointing to the four key program areas: Agvocacy 2.0 training; Agvocacy strategic campaigns; Data Analysis and Technology scholarships. The goal of all these program areas is to assist farmers who want to become advocates for agriculture.

You can listen to my interview with Jeff below:
Jeff Fowle – AgChat Foundation

Even we didn’t know that today you’d be following news and information produced by the company via Twitter on your mobile smart phones.

Well, one thing you can count on is that ZimmComm will Tweet you Right! If you’re attending this year’s National Agri-Marketing Conference please stop and visit and while you’re there get some Twitter tips from the professional ag tweeters and enter our drawing for a cool prize.

ZimmComm will be giving away a Barnes & Noble Nook eReader at our Connection Point booth #412. The opening of the trade show is after the Best of NAMA Awards ceremony on Wednesday evening. We’ll also have a drawing for a Zoom H2 digital audio recorder for students who are interested in becoming farm podcasters.

Post Update:

The B&N Nook was won by Sara Sims, Valmont Irrigation. (pictured with Cindy)

The Zoom H2 was won by Kathryn Tokarz, Penn State University.

We are once again sponsoring the NAMA conference and assisting as the NAMA bloggers on the NAMA Blog. Full coverage is also being posted to our AgWired website.

Over the next several days we’ll be posting photos and interviews with agrimarketing professionals and students during this annual meeting that brings together ag media, advertising and public relations agencies and marketing and communications professionals at agribusinesses and farm groups.

I have already used one of these devices to actively participate in an AgChat session. I can do just about anything else I want to do on the web. Will it replace my Mac? No. But it is an awesome book reader and works great for tweeting and handling email.

A large, high-resolution LED-backlit, IPS display. An incredibly responsive Multi-Touch screen. And an amazingly powerful, Apple-designed chip. All in a design that’s thin and light enough to take anywhere. iPad isn’t just the best device of its kind. It’s a whole new kind of device.

The high-resolution, 9.7 inch LED-backlit, IPS display on iPad is remarkably crisp and vivid. Which makes it perfect for web browsing, watching movies, or showing off photos. It’s also been designed to work in any orientation — portrait or landscape. And because it uses a display technology called IPS (in-plane switching), it has a wide, 178° viewing angle. So you can hold it almost any way you want, and still get a brilliant picture, with excellent color and contrast.

Between the two of us and our hardworking freelancers, we did 4310 posts on all websites, including Agwired, Domestic Fuel, Precision Pays and World Dairy Diary. We also did 176 podcasts and too many audio interviews to count.

We uploaded 11,282 photos to 48 Flickr photo albums and 88 YouTube videos.

The most popular YouTube videos on our channel in 2009 were Daryl Hannah at NBB with 6854 views, the new John Deere planter with 5876, the New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race 4557 and the tractor pull at National Farm Machinery Show 2872. Top stories on Agwired included:
John Deere Unveils Largest Planter
HSUS Challenges American Agriculture
HSUS in Nebraska (tops in comments)
Record Phone Calls on iPhone
Get a Rustler from New Holland

We visited over 60 different cities, from Panama City to Portland, San Antonio to Minnetonka, and San Diego to Boston. Read our travelogue here.

Best of all – our readership was up significantly on all websites:
Agwired – up 45% to 158,400 unique visitors
Domestic Fuel – up 15% to 269,000 unique visitors
Precision Pays – up 166% to 29,000 unique visitors
World Dairy Diary – up 68% to 110,000 unique visitors

Thanks to our of our wonderful friends in the industry for making 2009 a great year for ZimmComm. We look forward to continuing our relationships in the new decade.

Happy New Year!

Regardless of the particular technology, social media matters and is here to stay.
Forty-three percent of the 2009 Inc. 500 reported social media was “very important” to their business/marketing strategy. And an incredible 91% of the Inc. 500 is using at least one social media tool in 2009 (up from 77% in 2008). In addition, as they ramp up their usage, the Inc. 500 companies are also seeking to protect themselves legally, with 36% having implemented a formal policy concerning blogging by their employees.

Thanks to Podcasting News for the heads up.

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.

Over half of the corporate bloggers blog to attract new clients for their business, while most part-timers (61%) want to make additional money and almost three quarters self-employed bloggers try to draw in new customers for their business. But no matter the type of blogger, the most important reason for them all is either to share their experience and expertise or to speak their mind.

After the Introduction you’ll find report segments on:

Day 1 — Who Are the Bloggers?

Day 2 — The What and Why of Blogging

Day 3 — The How of Blogging

Day 4 — Monetization And Revenue Generation, Brands in the Blogosphere

Day 5 — 2009 Trends: Political Impact of Blogging, Twitter Usage

Darren says that a blog allows you to build a community around a niche topic and that if you are successful doing so you’ll find advertisers who want to be a part of it.

You can listen to my interview with Darren here: bwe-09-rowse.mp3

BlogWorld Expo Photo Album