American Agricultural Editors Association

AAEA Committee Descriptions

Advisory Board

The purpose of the AAEA advisory board is to be a think tank for the organization. The committee is to advise, not manage. The committee should dream without limitations or restrictions. For example, ideas in the past have included sabbaticals funded by PIF for creative and unusual writing, photography, etc., and additional training in photography and writing. The committee should meet at least once yearly in person and communicate regularly with members and the board. The advisory members should represent a cross section of age, experience and geographic areas. The committee should report to membership regularly through The ByLine and feature special notices on the web page. The committee works closely with the board, PIF committee and membership. According to committee meeting minutes from 1991, the tenure of the chairman should be two years and the immediate past president serves for one year.

AMS Program

This committee is responsible for working with corresponding members of LPC on the program for the Agricultural Media Summit. The chair should send an initial e-mail to all committee members regarding the dates of the upcoming Summit as soon as the president names the committee. After initial contact, it would be best for members to meet face-to-face to discuss potential speakers and topics. This should be coordinated with the AMS Steering Committee Meeting. An outline of the program should be developed, and each committee member assigned to a specific topic/speaker. That member then follows through by contacting the speaker, determining the acceptable fee, and providing a biography, address and phone to the committee chair. If possible, that contact person will also serve as room moderator for the session during the AMS. The chair must stay in constant contact with members until all speakers are confirmed. The chair will send out regular updates of the AMS program to committee members, AAEA Secretary, AAEA President, and LPC Secretary. During the AMS, the chair will work with the AAEA Executive Director and staff on final arrangements and will be available to handle extraordinary circumstances, should they arise. When committee leadership changes, the chair will pass on any important information that will help the incoming chair. This will include Excel file of previous program, speaker contacts and files, and committee reports.

AMS InfoExpo

The committee's purpose is to recruit companies to participate in the Agricultural Media Summit trade show. The committee's chair is responsible for helping develop promotional literature for the event, coordinating with the AMS Sponsor committee in the recruiting effort, fielding questions from company representatives and helping inspect and select trade show facilities. Other duties include helping update and maintain the mailing list, helping develop the trade show booth layout and providing ideas for future trade show themes.

AMS Sponsorship

This person is responsible for working with the corresponding member of LPC for soliciting sponsorships for the Agricultural Media Summit. Both members work with the AAEA and LPC offices for mailings that go to potential sponsors. Once the mailing is completed, the AAEA and LPC representatives split up the list of major contributors and start contacting them. The AAEA job requires a good knowledge of AAEA, LPC and the AMS as it is a selling job for all three. This person also needs to be aware of the AMS program and all activities planned because often sponsors want to immediately know what activities they are sponsoring. During the entire process, this person must be in contact with the AMS steering committee. Sponsorship funding accounts for about half of the AMS budget. So the steering committee must be aware of sponsorship progress should there be a significant shortfall in funds. Other duties of this person include keeping in contact with sponsors and AAEA and LPC about the activities each sponsor purchases, like signage, podium recognition, etc. For the AAEA representative, it is helpful if the person has a good knowledge of crop and chemical company contacts.

ByLine

The committee chair for The ByLine coordinates editorial material for the newsletter. The chairman normally makes story assignments and sees that stories and photos are turned into AAEA headquarters. The story mix normally includes industry features, membership profiles and professional improvement.

Design Contest

The chair responsibilities are to lead and communicate with their committee to assimilate their ideas and incorporate them in a particular program the most affective way.

International

The International Committee serves as a liaison between AAEA and IFAJ (International Federation of Agricultural Journalists). Each member of AAEA is part of IFAJ. The International Committee chair (or another designated committee member) is a member of the IFAJ Executive Committee and should attend the biannual IFAJ Executive Committee meetings (held in January and during the IFAJ Congress).

The International Committee strives to make IFAJ relevant to the AAEA membership through articles in The Byline and by encouraging members to attend IFAJ Congresses. In the past, the International Committee offered stipends to attend Congresses. The Committee received a grant from the Professional Improvement Foundation to offer stipends to the 2003 IFAJ Congress.

The International Committee is also responsible for developing contacts and fostering relationships with journalists in countries that are not necessarily part of IFAJ. The Committee has included AAEA members from Canada. We are trying to establish contacts in Mexico and South America.

Because other members on the IFAJ executive committee are primarily the executive directors of their country's member organization, it has been recommended that the AAEA International Committee chair serve for a multi-year term to provide continuity between AAEA and IFAJ.

After the International Committee membership is selected, the chair makes contact with committee members via email. Updates on current projects are emailed to the committee members periodically. IFAJ updates are emailed after the biannual IFAJ Executive Committee meetings. Face-to-face meetings are often scheduled during the APS for committee members who are attending APS; a report is emailed to members who could not attend. Conference calls are made as needed.

Distinguished Service Award

The chairman is responsible for the organization of the committee and leads its meetings, usually held by phone or e-mail.

The chairman, who is responsible for publicizing the award to members, works with staff to prepare appropriate publicity material. Award nominations are then sent to the chairman, who distributes nomination material to the committee members.

After a pre-selected period of personal examination of the nominees' vitas, the committee reconvenes to decide the winner. The chair then informs the winner, winner's nominator, and nominators whose submissions were not chosen - who are told they have the option to allow the committee to retain the nomination an additional year up to three total years, at which time they are requested to resubmit their nomination.

The chairman then prepares a release for publication in The ByLine and for submission to any appropriate publicity outlet designated by the award recipient.

Future Ag Communicators

This committee's purpose is to encourage and promote undergraduate interest in the field of ag journalism.

The committee chair organizes the annual internship program, including the host magazine and intern selection processes. The AAEA office typically provides support in mailing and publicity; while the chair makes sure deadlines are met and rallies the committee to make selections.

The process is similar in carrying out the other branch of the committee, the AAEA Mentor Program. In addition to helping the committee solicit applications and pair mentors and students, the chair also follows up with those pairs throughout the year.

Since the Future Ag Communicators Committee divided itself into two halves (one for internships, the other for mentorships), the chair now helps keep the two branches connected, largely through an annual meeting at the APS. The committee chair may also be called upon to write and promote the intern and/or mentor program in The Byline.

Membership

The membership committee was enlarged for the 2004 year from four to eight members. The larger committee is helpful in carrying out the committee's functions.

Chief among those functions is making personal contact with members who do not renew in a timely fashion. The Executive Director is a crucial resource in keeping the committee chair updated on who is behind in their renewal of membership. Such contacts, spread among the committee members and under the direction of the chair, result in a high percentage of current members keeping their membership current. This is the most important productive work of the committee.

Beyond the necessary work of ensuring that all members are kept current in their membership, the committee should focus efforts on reaching out to potential new members. There are many folks on the staffs of ag publications, ag associations and within agri-business who qualify and should be members of AAEA, yet don't hold membership. An active and creative effort by a large committee under active leadership should put forth effort each year to reach out to these potential members. Creative concepts, such as the 2004- initiated "half price for new members" campaign may be helpful in encouraging non-members to give AAEA a try.

None of the committee's key functions will be effective without personal contacts being made by committee members. Voice to voice communication is more effective than the ubiquitous e-mails we've learned to love, hate and ignore.

The committee also has a role in determining that potential new members meet the association's bylaw requirements for membership.

Nominating

The nominating committee consists of three members: the current president and the two immediate past presidents. That group makes recommendations to the board and the membership for new board positions, president-elect and president positions. The committee should discuss and agree on leadership capabilities for each candidate before making a preliminary recommendation to the board for approval. Then, a committee representative makes a final recommendation to the membership in the form of a motion at the annual business meeting. Normally, a unanimous ballot is cast and the new positions are voted on by the members.

Photo Awards

The AAEA Photo Committee's main role is to guide and oversee the organization's photo judging contest, ensuring the quality and consistency of the competition. We examine and update rules in the contest, address concerns and interpretation of those rules and discuss major changes if necessary. We help publicize the contest and encourage members to participate. We also assist other committees in areas that relate to photography and photo education.

The chair of our committee is responsible for collecting and distributing information from/for committee members, overseeing the judging process, addressing concerns that arise regarding the contest, planning/chairing any necessary meetings of the committee and writing committee reports, or assigning and overseeing such tasks.

In the past, our committee members have agreed to or volunteered for additional roles, such as photographing events, organizing meetings, planning educational workshops and finding speakers for APS and more. However, we feel such additional roles are up to the discretion of individuals on our committee who wish to participate in those areas, rather than by default the responsibilities of our group.

Professional Improvement Foundation

PIF was created to provide grants for professional improvement, education and training activities for AAEA members and students seeking a career in ag communications. It also oversees fundraising and related efforts to grow the PIF endowment. PIF is self-sustaining and acts independently of the AAEA Board of Directors.

PIF is governed and administered by a Board of Trustees. In turn, the Trustees are governed by a five-member Executive Committee. The chairman, vice chairman and secretary/treasurer are elected from among the Trustees. Two other Executive Committee members are selected from and by the AAEA Board of Directors. These two are generally, but not limited to, the AAEA president and AAEA immediate past president. The Executive Committee acts on behalf of the Trustees.

In addition, the chairman appoints a financial committee to coordinate PIF's investment strategy. Other subcommittees may be named as needed.

Meetings are held at least annually and/or at the discretion of the chairman. All other PIF business is done via e-mail and conference calls. The secretary/treasurer records minutes of all meetings and conference calls and distributes them to all Trustees.

Trustees are responsible for the annual PIF fundraising drive, soliciting AAEA members to contribute to the Foundation. Trustees are also strongly encouraged to contribute. The chairman may also assign the Trustees to write grant applications and/or any other activities designed to benefit the Foundation.

PIF reports its actions and recommendations to the AAEA Board of Directors and uses The ByLine extensively to publicize its activities.