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Breakfast with the Best a Success! |
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Written by CanACT
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Thursday, 08 March 2007 |
On a snowy February 14th, 2007, students at the University of Guelph, the OAC Alumni Association and members of the agriculture industry all gathered at the Breakfast with the Best – a networking breakfast highlighting the agricultural communications initiative at the U of G.
Students were first welcomed by Ian Rumbles, OAC Alumni Association member and organizer of the breakfast, and were then addressed by Dean Pearson and by Bruce Stone, the president of the OAC Alumni Association. Following this, the Canadian Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (CanACT) president, Kate Roberts, gave a presentation on the various aspects of the agricultural communications initiative, including CanACT, the agricultural communications undergraduate courses, the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association (CAMA), Students Promoting Awareness of Research Knowledge (SPARK) and the new agricultural communications graduate diploma program. Her message was that this initiative is the only one of its kind in Canada, with resounding international success, and as such, the students coming out of these programs need industry to help get their skills recognized and used.
“We need to bring we we’ve learned to the industry.” says Roberts, “If you want agriculture to have a profile in the future, we need you to help us bring light to this need, to create a ripple effect and to get the industry to be supportive of adopting communications into their business practices.”
Mark Ostrowski from Opal Management Associates was the guest speaker at the breakfast. He presented students with a logical order for how to be successful at networking, starting with knowing why you’re going to these events (having focused goals and results), meet people by having friendly eye contact, have a real conversation with someone (ask questions and listen to understand), know when to take your leave and lastly to follow up to build up a core group of contacts.
“It was a great opportunity to learn more about career options in agriculture communications by meeting people from the industry,” says Katie Savage, CanACT member, SPARK writer and past student of the agricultural communications class.
With an overall attendance of about 40 people, the breakfast proved to be an outstanding success amidst the poor weather and road conditions. CanACT hopes to work with the OAC Alumni Association to make this an annual event.
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CanACT tours the Ontario Agri-Centre |
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Written by Kyle Maw
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Wednesday, 01 November 2006 |
 CanACT members with Peter Hannam CanACT members received a first hand tour recently by Ontario Agri-Centre founder Peter Hannam. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 July 2007 )
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Targeting your message mandatory for successful communication |
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Written by Katharine Found
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Friday, 22 September 2006 |
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Delivering the correct message to a target audience is key to successful agricultural communication, but the task is easier said than done, as some University of Guelph students recently discovered. Several keen agricultural communicators from the University of Guelph’s student club CanACT were on hand September 21st to hear Paul Mistele, Vice President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture, address the challenges and best methods for communicating agricultural issues. He says those involved in agriculture are very passionate about their industry but warns this passion can often muffle the real message that grassroots producers want to communicate. “The media picks up and identifies to the public that there’s a crisis,” says Mistele. “But they never really communicate what the crisis is. It’s simply amazing how hard it is to get the agricultural message out.” Mistele also recognizes how difficult it is to sustain a message in today’s media. He says demonstrations on Queen’s Park and tractors on Hwy. 401 bring media attention today, but it’s gone tomorrow – yet the crisis in agriculture remains. He does recognize that Ontario has many successful communication initiatives that help to bridge the gap between agriculture and the uninformed public, such as Ontario Farm Animal Council’s “Faces of Farming” calendars, virtual farm tours and media tours. He says more of these initiatives would be possible if budget constraints didn’t exist. “We’re always limited by budget,” he says. “But we love what we do so we just have to keep working to get the message heard.” The next University of Guelph CanACT meeting will be held Thursday October 5th at 5:30 PM. Peter Hannam, founder of First Line Seeds Ltd. will detail his experiences in the agricultural community and the role communication has played in his many successes. |
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