OKFB hosts fourth-annual FFA Communications Conference

Oklahoma Farm Bureau hosted nearly 90 FFA members at the organization's fourth-annual FFA Communications Conference Tuesday, July 23, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Edmond.

The one-day conference gave FFA members the opportunity to learn from various speakers in each segment of communications and elevate their overall skills to use within their FFA chapters.

FFA members were split into breakout sessions where they heard from speakers who are professionals in the agricultural communications field. There were a total of four breakout sessions which included design, writing, social media and photography and videography.

The design session was taught by Taylor Gazda, who owns Gazda The Brand, a full service agricultural marketing service. She focused on teaching students the importance of creating clean, creative and consistent graphics. She also walked them through several design platforms the students can use for their FFA chapter communications work.

Ruth Inman of Ruth Inman Creative Services led the social media session, where she taught students what to post and what not to post on various social platforms. She also gave the students tips and tricks on how to write captions and how to use social media graphics.

The writing session was taught by Kirsten Hollansworth, public engagement specialist for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry. She taught students how to write a press release and other news-related content. She also had the students write a press release of their own about the event.

Ariel Scholten and Jono Horry of Neat Media House taught the photography and videography session. Ariel and Jono explained to students the art of taking photos and recording video footage. Students also had the opportunity to learn about how to capture quality photos and videos and the equipment they could use.

During the morning session, FFA members heard from Oklahoma FFA advisor Scott Nemecek about the importance of sharing the FFA story. Students also heard from Ron Hays with the Radio Oklahoma Network about sharing the agriculture story.

OKFB's own Dustin Mielke presented the final session at the FFA Communications Conference. He shared with FFA members his agricultural communications story and showed examples of how FFA members can effectively share the agriculture story.