ACI Conference Agenda 2008

 

Nashville, TN

The following agenda is a work in progress. As presenters and topics are confirmed, the following agenda will offer more details. ACI Conference Millennium Maxwell House Hotel Nashville, Tennessee July 14-18, 2008 Agenda Monday, July 14 Conference Sponsor, The Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation 12:00 noon Crown Ballroom Foyer Registration Opens 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Location TBA ACI Board Meeting 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Crown Ballroom Welcome to Music City Mixer 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Crown Ballroom Entertainment - 2nd Nature (acoustic bluegrass group) Tuesday, July 15 - Sponsored by J.F. Griffin Publishing 8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Crown Ballroom Foyer Continental Breakfast 8:00 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. Hospitality Suite Awards Committee Meeting 9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. Welcome to ACI Conference, Nashville Marianne Burke, ACI President Gary Myers, Executive Director, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Commissioner Susan Whitaker, Tennessee Department of Tourist Development (tentative) 10:00 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. Dr. Jim Byford, Dean of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, University of Tennessee at Martin. Dr. Byford has spent most of his career helping students “connect” with the outdoors. He mentored many young people during his years in 4-H, while working for the University of Tennessee Agriculture Extension Service. His book, “Close To The Land,” chronicles his outdoor experiences growing up in West Tennessee. As an avid hunter and fisherman, Jim continues to spread the word about the importance of providing young people opportunities to appreciate nature. 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Keynote Speaker – Ken Finch Ken is the founder and president of Green Hearts Institute for Nature in Childhood, one of the country’s first nonprofit conservation organizations entirely focused on restoring and strengthening the bonds between children and nature. Ken has been working in environmental education for 35 years, and holds a master’s degree in that field. He has served as the Director of two of the country’s largest nature centers, as a middle manager for two children’s museums, and as the Minnesota State Director for the National Audubon Society. Among his extensive volunteer service has been a term as national president of the Association of Nature Center Administrators. Ken, his wife, and their two boys live in Omaha, Nebraska, where Green Hearts is based. 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Lunch Break (on your own) Concurrent sessions: 1:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Marketing – Stephanie Hussey, Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation As part of a new program from the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF), 30 state agencies mailed postcards, letters and self-mailers to more than one million lapsed anglers across the country this year. RBFF’s Direct Mail Marketing Program is focused on recruiting lapsed anglers to increase fishing license sales. State agencies began implementing the program in March 2008 with the majority of mailings occurring in April. Evaluations for many of the participating states are underway and will be available in October 2008. RBFF is also working to gain commitment from 10 new states to implement the program in 2009. We’ll hear program highlights from participating states, including creative incentives and promotional efforts. We’ll also participate in a roundtable discussion to share successes, lessons learned and ideas to build on the program for next year. 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Songwriting – The power of lyrics and melody Woody Bomar Woody is president and CEO of Green Hills Music, located on Music Row, here in Nashville. He has enjoyed a hugely successful career as a songwriter and music publisher. His first venture into music publishing, Little Big Town, was so successful that Sony Music purchased his company and hired him to continue to market the songs. (The current group by the same name called to ask Woody’s permission to use it.) While at Sony, Woody signed and worked with newcomer Taylor Swift. This session is guaranteed to be informative and entertaining. You may just walk away with a newly discovered ability to write a song or a jingle. 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Hunting and Fishing Regulation Publications Liberty Press and J.F. Griffin Publishing will participate in this informative session regarding the latest news in the production of these essential documents. They’ll have samples of their most recent publications and ideas regarding improving your next guide. 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. ACI Dinner and Auction! Steve (Wild Man) Wilson & friends If you’ve never attended an ACI conference, you’re in for a treat. We’ll have fun trying to out-bid each other on some fantastic items. This is a great way to get to know new people. (Be sure and bring something for the auction.) Wednesday, July 16 - Sponsored by MyOutdoorTV.com 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Board the bus at Millennium Maxwell House Hotel and travel to The Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee 9:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Welcome and laser light show in the Cybersphere 10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Tour of The Renaissance Center, including television and multimedia production facilities 11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. Lunch in the Gas Light Theatre 1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m. Transitioning to High Definition – What you need to know You’ve heard the chatter about the “mandatory switch to digital” in the spring of 2009. We’ll discuss how this will impact broadcast and cable television. What is the most cost effective way to make the move to high definition? How much does it cost? Is it for everyone? Can I still use my old equipment? These and many more questions will be answered during this session with presenters from The Renaissance Center multimedia production team and Television and video pros from Texas Parks and Wildlife. 2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Concurrent Sessions: Beyond the Broadcast We’ll learn ways to maximize our video resources. Whether it be internet outlets or special distributions of popular subjects on DVD, this session will get you thinking about the tremendous possibilities you may have sitting on your video storage shelves. Wildlife Photography – Byron Jorjorian Byron is an internationally known photographer whose work is unbelievable. This session will be filled with awesome photos depicting some of Tennessee’s most beautiful areas and creatures. He’ll share tips and tricks of the trade. Visit his Web site for some samples at www.byronjorjorian.com. 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. Concurrent Sessions: State Conservation Magazine Round table Session Meet your fellow state magazine production counterparts in this informal discussion. While some discussion topics have been selected, attendees can introduce additional topics for the group to address. Please bring samples of your magazine, marketing materials, direct mail samples, etc. to share with the group. Discussion Topics: 1. Who we are—Results from a survey taken prior to the conference. 2. Marketing: Increasing subscriptions—what works and what doesn’t. 3. Revenues: Is advertising the answer to rising production costs? 4. Mistakes: Share your own and learn from others. The Art of the Voice-over Joe Loesch - Owner of Creative License, an advertising and marketing firm specializing in audio books. He’ll share secrets from his years of experience as a producer working with voice-over talent. This session will be held in the audio studio at The Renaissance Center with opportunity for the students to record what they’ve learned. 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Board the bus and travel back to the Millennium Maxwell House Hotel. The evening is open for exploring Nashville. Remember, the free hotel shuttles run until 10:30 p.m. and the Hospitality Suite will be open late. Thursday, July 17- XONtv.TV, Southwick and Associates, agenda sponsors 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. ACI Annual Membership Meeting 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Internal Communications (Adding value to your agency through effective I&E Strategies) Micah Holmes, Oklahoma, moderator Role Players: Exploring the methods and philosophies that successful information professionals use to add value to their agency.

It is no secret that Information and Communication divisions are most effective when they operate as a team player within a state agency. But how can you provide a practical, valued service to your co-workers and constituents? This lively, interactive seminar will help you understand how you can make your own divisions function more smoothly and effectively within your agency as a whole. In our agencies we're often the only professionals with a background in communications, while the rest of the agency is typically made up of biologists and law enforcement professionals. How can we understand their perspective and how can we get them to understand ours? This seminar will explore those answers with round table discussions. 10:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Diversity and Outreach - Lydia Saldana, Texas, (moderator) Reaching out to Hispanic audiences is becoming increasingly important to fish and wildlife agencies. Hispanics comprise the largest and fastest growing minority group in the United States. We’ll hear from a Hispanic marketing expert who will share insights on how to effectively reach this audience. We’ll also hear about how the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is working with inner-city organizations to reach out and connect with underserved audiences. 11:15 – 12:00 noon Social/New Media Technologies - Lydia Saldana, Texas, & Judy Stokes, New Hampshire, (moderators)
 Social networking and new media are exploding onto the communications scene. How is your agency rising to the challenge? We’ll hear from an expert that will help us navigate through the quickly changing communications landscape. We’ll also hear from a state conservation agency that is forging ahead into this brave new world. 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Concurrent Sessions: Making the Education Connection - Patricia Miller, Aquatic Education Coordinator for TWRA, and Tami Coleman, from the Tennessee Department of Education will report on a recent event that drew over 150 school teachers from across the state. They’ll discuss the importance of recruiting educators to help us introduce students to the outdoors through various activities and outdoor classrooms. This session will provide a logical “next step” to Ken Finch and Dr. Byford’s presentations from Tuesday. Outreach-What’s Working In Tennessee - Donald Hosse, Don Crawford and Lance Rider This session will allow a look at how TWRA is using Becoming an Outdoors-woman, Archery In the Schools and the Scholastic Clay Target Program to recruit and retain customers for the next generation. 2:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Great Ideas In Ten Minutes Or Less This session will feature an open forum for us to share our best ideas. A similar session in Florida was very well received by attendees. To get on the agenda, contact Don King at don.king@state.tn.us. Each participant will be given ten minutes to outline their topic and answer questions from the audience. 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. Awards Dinner and Banquet Dress is casual again this year. No need to pack the suit or formal dress, unless you just want to! We’ll have a photographer to document the evening and the winners. Friday, July 18 – Chaffin Communications, D.J. Case and Associates - Travel sponsors Field Day Choose from one of the following trips which are included in your registration fee: Re-establishing Mussels in the Cumberland River Travel to a TVA Steam Plant in Gallatin, Tennessee, where our biologists are raising various mussel species to bolster populations in the Cumberland River. Stones River Range and Hunter Education Center Travel to our newest range only a short distance from the hotel and learn how TWRA is using this facility to educate hunters and promote the shooting sports. (We’ll have loaner guns available for practice.) For a reasonable additional fee, consider these optional trips: A canoe float down the beautiful, scenic Harpeth River, a guided fishing trip floating the Caney Fork River, and the Grand Ole Opry on Friday night. (We have a block of tickets at a group rate discounted price.) Be sure and order online at the ACI site, or contact Juanita Tate at the number below. Check out the conference web site for details at http://www.aci-net.org/ Please contact Juanita Tate at (615)-781-6538 for information or to sign up for any of the field trips listed above. Thanks again to our sponsors! RBFF - Conference sponsor J.F. Griffin - Day sponsor, July 15 MyOutdoorTV.com - Day sponsor, July 16 Liberty Press - Agenda sponsor Southwick and Associates - Agenda sponsor D.J. Case and Associates - Travel sponsor XONtv.TV - Travel sponsor Chaffin Communications - Travel sponsor mailto:don.king@state.tn.ushttp://www.aci-net.org/shapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1
Printable Versionhttp://www.state.tn.us/twra/news/aciagenda.pdf
http://www.state.tn.us/twra/
Printable Versionhttp://www.state.tn.us/twra/news/aciagenda.pdf