FFA Corner: Lessons from a hybrid FFA state officer summit

What was the first big gathering you attended this summer? Did it feel the same as events prior to March 2020, or was there something different?

As I’ve been traveling and visiting many of these “first” events in states, I’ve noticed an almost magical environment as people start to come together in person again. In July, we held the first in-person National FFA Conference in over a year and a half.

The participants at the State FFA Officer Summit in Washington were state officers from all 50 states and Puerto Rico. They taught me a few things we can apply to our future events in agriculture.

If we want it to happen, we can make it happen. As my teammates and I prepared for this conference, I was nervous. It was not only our first big event to present as a team, but also a hybrid event.

Virtual participants were live, and it was our job to include them in real-time. As I practiced my sessions in the Monroe room in the back corner of a Hilton hotel, I consistently forgot about the virtual officers.

Yet, in the first session when the conference started, I was blown away by a small, but meaningful moment. Our tech managers projected the Zoom attendees on the screens in the hotel conference room and without prompting the nearly 100 in-person officers broke out in cheers and applause.

From then on, it was easy to create a meaningful hybrid experience because each member wanted to make it meaningful.

As we move back to in-person events, let’s not risk losing a valuable lesson by simply reverting back to the norms of 2019. Yes, let’s bring back the deeply meaningful opportunities for personal connections through hallway conversations and networking dinners, but let’s not forget that we can achieve the best of both worlds if we’re willing to make it happen.

If we can extend value to more people without sacrificing the quality of that value, let’s challenge ourselves to do so.

I like to think I’m well-informed about all things American agriculture. In reality, I know very little about what’s beyond my own corner of the Midwest. I’m grateful for how my state officer friends created meaningful experiences to engage with those who had different knowledge.

I learned about irrigation from an Arizona officer while waiting in a hallway during some free time, reindeer farming and natural resource youth camps from an Alaskan as we left dinner, and challenges faced by North Carolina hog farmers during a small group discussion on advocacy.

The overarching lesson is two-pronged: First, we create more value when we bring together a wide variety of people and perspectives who are still united around a shared value. Second, that value is realized most often when we seek out encounters with those whose knowledge does not coincide with ours.

Yes, as a row crop and cattle farmer from Illinois, I can learn from other row crop farmers, but I’m likely to gain more new information from the Montanan than my Illinois friend a few counties over.

Ultimately, I saw the most depth to conversations when the state officers diversified their conversations, but purposefully. If we talk to as many people as we can to check off a list, we’re missing the point. If we only talk to one person because we’re comfortable with them, we’re missing opportunities.

As I head to the last of the summer and fall field days and into winter conferences, I’ll be taking these lessons with me. I hope you will, too.

The state officers that are serving their respective states for this upcoming year are some of the most genuine, encouraging and kind-hearted people I have ever met.

They’ve been steadfast throughout a time when many FFA members chose to go other routes and they pursued their roles not for a spotlight, but for relationships.

That week I spent with them — in person and on Zoom — was the rejuvenation I needed as I head into the last few months of my term. Yet, what they taught me about making meaningful experiences happen and learning from each others’ unique seat in agriculture will stick with me far past my time in the FFA.

As I am reminded, time and time again, the future of agriculture — in Illinois and beyond — is truly in good hands.

Miriam Hoffman of Earlville, Illinois, is the National FFA eastern region vice president. She is an agribusiness economics major at Southern Illinois University.