| Become a Master Blogger By Linda Smith, Member Services Committee chair You don't have to wait for the Agricultural Media Summit to boost your knowledge. The Member Services Committee is offering a one-hour Webinar on editorial blogs - benefit to publications, how to make them valuable to readers, and the ins and outs of blogging. We have lined up two experienced bloggers as presenters - John Phipps of Farm Journal Media and Chuck Zimmerman of ZimmComm. It will take place 1:30 Central Standard Time, March 11; cost, $30. If you have specific questions on these topics - or ideas for other Webinars - please send them to Linda Smith! Sign up today at the AAEA Web site by clicking here. Linda Smith, executive editor, Top Producer, can be reached at 215-557-8960 or lsmith@farmjournal.com if you have any questions. Two Good Things at Once: By Gene Johnston, Future Ag Communicators Committee chair We're all really lucky to have found our way into this profession. If you're like me, it took some special help along the way to get you here. Please, indulge me for a minute with my personal story - it probably reads something like your own. I honestly don't know how I got off of that Guthrie County tenant farm and found my way to Iowa State University. There was no history or culture of higher education on either side of my family. My dad was one of the smartest people I've ever known, but he got no encouragement when it came to schooling. He dropped out of high school after one year and started farming. My older brother never considered college. My older sister did, but that didn't start well and it ended worse after just five weeks. (Long story, I won't ask you to indulge me that much, except to say that Linda rebounded nicely, bless her heart.) So when I think about it now, 40 years later, it does seem like a minor miracle that I went off to college to become a farm reporter, stuck it out for a degree in ag journalism, and have spent every working day since as a farm magazine editor. My personal miracle started with my folks who, despite their own lack of schooling, gave their encouragement to my continuing education and wrote some tuition checks they couldn't afford. It must have been particularly difficult for my dad. For one, the milk cows had to go. And, he always thought that real work involved pitch forks, corn knives, and hay hooks. Could it be an honest living if your only tools were a pencil and a notebook? And does it take four years to learn how to use them? My folks are gone now, 10 years this summer for my dad. I have no regrets about things unsaid with either of them, except maybe this one: I never told them "thanks" for my career. Without them, it wouldn't have happened. Well, in a manner, I'm fixing that now. Some kid is going to get a scholarship in ag communications in memory of Bill and Betty Johnston, thanks to a brand new AAEA Memorial Scholarship. It's a way to honor them for what they gave me. If you're so inclined, you can join me and honor someone who nudged you along the way, and is now gone. The Future Ag Communicators Committee, with approval from the AAEA Board of Directors, has put in place this program that will memorialize deceased colleagues or loved ones, and support an aspiring ag communicator with a scholarship; two very good things for the price of one. The Memorial Scholarship will work within the framework of the scholarship program that AAEA has supported for several years through the Ag Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT). We've been growing this AAEA/ACT Scholarship Program during that time with some generous and increasing support from the Professional Improvement Foundation (PIF). Last year, PIF Trustees provided $4,000 from general funds for scholarships, split among five students. And they've approved that amount again for this year's scholarships, to be awarded at the Agricultural Media Summit (AMS). At the urging of AAEA leadership, we're expanding it beyond that with this new AAEA/ACT Memorial Scholarship. Like me, you can make an earmarked donation to PIF, to be applied to the Memorial Scholarship in the name of the person you'd like to memorialize - a parent or other relative, a college professor or mentor, or a deceased colleague - who was really special to you. It's simple: Write a check out to the AAEA Professional Improvement Foundation with a note that says "For the Memorial Scholarship in memory of [include name]." Send it to AAEA headquarters. All the money given for this will be pooled, and when we award the AAEA/ACT scholarships at AMS, the top scholarship winner by vote of the Future Ag Communicators committee will be awarded the Memorial Scholarship. That recipient will get the regular scholarship amount ($1,000 this year) plus whatever amount is collectively given towards the Memorial Scholarship (up to a maximum of $2,000). Every name being memorialized will be attached to the scholarship and publicly acknowledged at AMS. The cutoff date for Memorial Scholarship donations will be March 31, 2008, the same deadline that ACT students have to apply for a scholarship. Send your donation before that date, and it will go towards the scholarship given this summer at AMS, and the person(s) you are memorializing will be honored then. Donations after that date will be applied towards the Memorial Scholarship next year. There's no minimum or maximum amount you can give for the Memorial Scholarship. And of course, the amount of any donation will not be made public. Your donation will be pooled with mine and all others and added on top of the regular scholarship amount. If you choose to participate and send a check, please drop me a note (gene.johnston@meredith.com) and tell me about the person or persons you're remembering. I'd like to hear the story. And I'll see that they get appropriate recognition at AMS and/or in The Byline. I'll also see that the student recipient of the Memorial Scholarship knows about those special people who made it possible. I can't think of a better way for you to remember someone who helped you get to where you are in this incredible profession. Send your donation and note to: Gene Johnston, managing editor, Successful Farming and Agriculture Online, can be reached at 515-284-2826 or Gene.johnston@meredith.com. Virtual Experts Now Online With the help of the Future Ag Communicators Committee, several winners of the 2007 AAEA Writing Awards were tapped to provide insight into how their winning entries came to be. Both students and professionals are encouraged to review these writers' thoughts on the planning stage, fact-gathering, writing tips, plus a little background on their writing careers. Click here to view the new Virtual Experts. Registration deadline is March 31 for the Click here for details. |