Your State Annual Meeting survival kit

After a quick update, I’m re-sharing this article from last year because it’s evergreen and timely as all get-out. See you soon in Furniture City!

On Dec. 1, 2003, I’d been on staff less than six weeks when I arrived at my first MFB State Annual Meeting, at the Grand Traverse Resort outside Traverse City. Suffice to say I didn’t know what I was doing: Didn’t know my job or many of my own coworkers, didn’t understand the organization, certainly didn’t know any of the hundreds of members swarming the place all week. 

In two short weeks I’ll see many of you in Grand Rapids, at what’ll be my 23rd MFB Annual. Over time my inexperience, naiveté and ignorance gradually gave way to their opposites, and the brightest silver lining to that evolution is that nowadays I really look forward to this event, because I can’t wait to see YOU. 

Much has changed, much hasn’t. One constant is that it’s always somebody’s first annual meeting. 

New staffers get a lot of guidance about what to expect and how to survive. Some of that advice is just as useful to you as a member attendee as it is to those of us working behind the scenes. 

Here are my Top 5 State Annual Tips:

1. Comfortable shoes are vital. It’s a big facility and there’s a lot of walking, even if your room’s near the elevator. Nobody is judging your choice of footwear, so put comfort first.
2. Adequate hydration takes many forms that warrant sharing because Amway/Devos is a notoriously dry facility. Drink as much H2O as you can. Run a small humidifier in your room if you can bring one. Keep your hand lotion and lip balm of choice handy at all times. My secret weapon is Ayr brand saline nasal gel. (Not the same brand’s saline spray, but the gel.) Hear me out: Each morning before leaving the privacy of your room, put a dab on the end of your pinkie and jam it way up there. Slosh it around best you can, then pinch your nostrils together and smoosh it around some more. That’s it. The stuff lasts all day. You’ll thank me!
3. Embrace your inner extrovert. Even if you have to fake it (it works!), force yourself to interact with your peers. Call it “networking” or mingling or rubbing elbows — whatever — but State Annual Meeting repays generous dividends on your efforts to connect with your fellow farmers. Any gung-ho Farm Bureau advocate will tell you that expanding your network of peers is one of the most valuable rewards of membership. State Annual Meeting is a prime venue for flexing that truth and growing your roster of both business contacts and personal confidants.
4. Lean on your staff. We’ll all be clearly marked with white ribbons on our name badges, and we work for you, so don’t hesitate to stop any of us in our tracks for pretty much any reason. Can’t find the Emerald Room? What time’s the Discussion Meet? Where’s the coffee? Who’s my delegate chair? Why does it smell like a movie theatre lobby? If we don’t know the answer immediately, we will stop and call whoever does and get you the information you need, right now.
5. Have fun: Enjoy yourself! Nobody talks enough about how fun this event is. Outside heated policy debates and nail-biting elections, don’t lose sight that this is your club and these are your people. We all have far more in common than we have differences, and Farm Bureau is your supportive, like-minded family. 

Embrace it, and I look forward to seeing you in two weeks!