Your Feedback on Fall Convention Will Shape Plans for Spring
We heard from an unprecedented number of you about your experience at the Marketing & Distribution Convention in Houston this fall—142 of you, to be exact. You shared your thoughts on what will help you make the most of conventions and to bring your business to the next level. We’re using that information to put together a spectacular Supply Summit & Showcase in Omaha in April.
For the members who were not with us in November, please join the conversation. As we offer this overview of plans for upcoming meetings, let us know what you think. And please, put Omaha on your calendar (April 18-20). It’s just better when you’re there.
Speakers—You suggested dozens of topics for speaker sessions in your convention survey responses. We hope to find an opportunity to present most of them. A few ideas though appeared repeatedly, and we’ll prioritize those. They are:
- The economy, including an analysis of commodity cycles and a projection on the pending industry turnaround.
- New technologies, specifically robotics, artificial intelligence, autonomous machines, and radio frequency identification.
- On a related note, technology influencing farm production.
- Global issues, specifically trade, what to expect from China, global competition, and what farming trends abroad will influence production in North America.
Association staff has focused on these topics and is booking speakers for April. Already scheduled to join us is Jim Mintert, who is director of the Center for Commercial Agriculture and a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University.
If you know someone who can offer insights into any of these topics, we want to know them, too! Pass along your suggestions.
Schedule—We tried something a bit different in Houston. We compressed the schedule. While about 80 percent said you liked the shortened format, those of you who didn’t were quite passionate in your dislike. We’re looking for a happy medium that solves the problems that you mentioned in your survey responses but continhonors your wish to spend as few days away from your business as possible.
What Matters Most—You come to our meetings for different reasons, but at the top of the list is the opportunity to network. Nearly four out of 10 of you list that as your primary purpose. As we tinker with the best schedule for the most people, we will not compromise on the time you have simply to connect with one another.
Beyond how you spend your time at meetings, you also told us when the best time was for you to go to a fall convention. We learned we most need to avoid the week before Thanksgiving, Agritechnica, Halloween, and federal election days.
Let’s Keep Talking—Your feedback, even when it leaves a bruise, is enormously valuable. It takes what may otherwise be guesswork for us and turns it into a very clear direction. Ultimately, it leads to a more productive Supply Summit or Distribution Convention for you.
A Final Question—Would it be useful to bring in a tax expert for the Supply Summit in April? The tax plan rewrite (details on page 2) is dramatic, but it may not be a top-of-mind issue for you by then. Send your thoughts to Kristi Ruggles at Kristi@FarmEquip.org, or call (314) 878-2304.
Thank you for being part of the Association. Great things await in 2018.