Discussion Meet emphasizes communications, conversations

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Illinois Farm Bureau sets a big table when it comes to its Discussion Meet program.

Whether it’s the Young Leader Discussion Meet, for IFB Young Leaders, members who fall in the 18- to 35-year-old age category, or the Collegiate Discussion Meet, for members of the 11 Collegiate Farm Bureau chapters across the state, the requirement is simple.

“The great thing is you don’t have to come to the table as an expert — you just have to come to the table,” said Vanessa Wright, the Young Leader program coordinator at IFB.

One of the goals of Wright and IFB is to increase participation in the Discussion Meet program.

To do that, Wright is emphasizing the communication and conversations that are at the heart of Discussion Meet competition.

“I think some people think it’s more debate style. Actually, you are getting judged on how you are working cooperatively with the people in your room,” she said.

Another misconception is that participants have to come to a consensus on a topic.

“You don’t get points deducted for disagreeing. It’s all about how you handle yourself when you disagree. If someone gets sassy or interrupts, they might lose points,” Wright said.

“But if someone brings up a point that you disagree with, you say thanks for bringing that up, I don’t know if I agree and here’s why. You don’t get docked points for that and you might actually earn points for that because you handled yourself with professionalism, even though you didn’t see eye to eye with the other person.”

The Young Leader Discussion Meet starts at the district level. The Young Leader Committee is composed of representatives from the 18 Farm Bureau districts across the state.

Each of those districts hosts an annual Discussion Meet, usually in mid to late summer. The winners of each of those meets competes at the state Discussion Meet, at the IFB Annual Meeting in December.

“At the state level, we do two round robins, then a top 10 and then a final four,” Wright said.

Participants get the question that they will be discussing in advance. Meets are judged by a panel of judges drawn from the local community. Participants have 30 seconds to introduce themselves.

The group then has 25 to 30 minutes to discuss the topic, a minute of quiet time to formulate their closing statements and one minute maximum to make a closing statement.

Participants are judged on their opening statement, their analysis of the topic, problem solving and implementation, cooperative attitude, delivery and their closing statement.

“It’s very collaborative in nature. You are trying to work together and it’s meant to mimic a committee meeting, whether at the Farm Bureau or elsewhere,” Wright said.

“You are really working with and as part of a committee to find potential solutions to these topics or problems.”

The Discussion Meet topics and questions are developed by the American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee. That committee releases five questions each year on a variety of topics related to agriculture.

“I work with the state Young Leader Committee and they decide which questions will be discussed during which rounds of the Young Leader and Collegiate Discussion Meets,” Wright said.

She said one of the messages she wants to get out to more Young Leader members as well as Collegiate Farm Bureau members is that Discussion Meet not only is a chance to meet others who are in agriculture or have an interest in agriculture, it’s also an opportunity to learn more about the industry.

“The message we are continuing to get out is this is a really great opportunity, in a low stakes setting, to learn more about what is going on in the ag industry and to talk to and hear from your peers about it, to become more versed in those issues,” she said.

Another mantra of the program is that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Many of the past state Young Leader Discussion Meet winners, including this year’s winner, Austin Granby, of District 5, participated for consecutive years before winning.

“If you don’t win, you can continue to compete. It’s an exercise you can continue over the years. The more familiar you become with the competition, the more confidence you have and the better you compete, the more you can bring to the table,” Wright said.

Participation numbers for past years were higher than in recent years.

“At the state Discussion Meet, we usually teeter between 18 and 20. Looking through the files from six, seven, eight years ago, we had numbers in the mid to high 20s. I would love to get back to that,” Wright said.

She said one of her goals is to make Discussion Meet more approachable, whether at the Collegiate or the Young Leader level.

“These conversations are so integral. We are in a very polarized world right now and learning these skills and also having a platform to practice those skills is an intangible and invaluable benefit from this competition,” she said.