IPSA Sessions feature Outstanding Speakers
Topics deemed relevant and timely by attendees
OMAHA, NE - The Independent Professional Seed Association (IPSA) hosted its 23rd Annual Conference and Trade Show, January 17-19 in Indianapolis, IN. Attendance and registrations approached 300 for a strong program offering on key industry topics. Nearly 70 percent of all IPSA member-companies registered for the meeting, and over half brought at least two attendees from their regional seed company.
IPSA's Business Development Committee and the IPSA Board of Directors provided insight and support throughout this process. IPSA President John Hennenfent with Munson Hybrids in Galesburg Illinois served as Chairman of the planning committee and offered this assessment: "This year's conference offered insight our members can benefit from and profit from directly and immediately."
General Session I
To kick-off the conference, John Hennenfent with Munson Hybrids moderated a new rapid-fire session, where all breakout speakers were offered 8-10 minutes to highlight their presentation to all attendees. The program provided real insight into each breakout session, allowing attendees to decide what concurrent session to attend.
AM Breakout Sessions
The morning concluded with five concurrent breakout sessions, highlighted below:
- Seed Corn Supply Strategies - Yesterday, Today and into Tomorrow - Paul Kjolhaug, MayerSeedline
- How to Create Fascinating Social Media - Sally Hogshead, Orlando, Florida
- Estate Planning for 2010 - 2012: Temporary Uncertainly - Roger McEowen, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
- Be the Hero: Deliver New Value by Using On-Farm Data to Fit Seed to Field - Chris Fennig, MyFarms, Portland, Indiana
- Managing Stewardship Agreements with AgCelerate - David Lane, AgData, Morrisville, North Carolina
- Effectively Marketing & Communicating with your Customers - Lynn Henderson, Agri-Marketing magazine, St. Louis, Missouri
- Going Pro: How to UP your Sales Professionalism - Mike Wagner, White Rabbit Group, Des Moines, Iowa
- Business Tax Law Changes - Roger McEowen, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
- World Status: An Overview of the Global Seed Industry - Shawn Brook, SeedWorld magazine, Winnipeg, Manitoba
- Managing Stewardship Agreements with AgCelerate - David Lane, AgData, Morrisville, North Carolina
PM Breakout Sessions
IPSA hosted a variety of breakout sessions right after lunch that included the following:
General Session II
The afternoon concluded with an exciting presentation by keynote speaker Sally Hogshead titled "How to Fascinate Your Customer." Decades of research on how customers respond to messaging allowed Sally to develop a training program for companies to tailor specific messages to various customer types. Sally utilized material from her book titled "Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation."
General Session III
The closing General Session included a presentation by Mike Mazzocco with Verdant Partners Consulting regarding the new IPSA Benchmarking Program for financial and business metrics. Mike outlined the benefits of the program, and indicated that signups were still being taken through the end of January.
The capstone presentation featured Mike Wagner with White Rabbit Group, who also spoke at last year's Annual Conference. Mike's presentation, titled "Coaching Your Sales Team," was well received by those in attendance. Mike provided a number of tools that owners and sales managers can use to coach their sales staff (and all staff members, for that matter). Mike provided attendees an entertaining and enlightening perspective.
Summary
"The planning committee just sets the bar higher and higher with each successive IPSA Annual Conference. Given the tremendous success surrounding this year's conference, I can't wait to see what they have in store for 2013 in Tucson," stated IPSA's CEO, Greg Ruehle. He added "IPSA strives to continue delivering high-quality and relevant programs for its members - at Annual Conference, via the web and by direct delivery."
More information can be found at the IPSA website at http://www.independentseeds.com
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