I just spent three days at the National Agri-Marketing Association conference in Kansas City. Many of the attendees at this yearly event come from the marketing and communications industry. Lots of business people at the conference were talking about the latest challenges in communications and marketing.

Lots of interesting topics were presented in the seminars. Lots of experts and professionals were milling about – and certainly there was lots and lots of conversation.  But…with each other?

One evening, I spent an enjoyable dinner with a group of AdFarmers –  we were joking about the pervasiveness of Twitter. “If you haven’t tweeted about it, it hasn’t really happened!” At one point, we all were sitting around the table, looking at our individual hand-held devices.  No one speaking. Later that night, I was at the wonderful annual Brownfield party. Standing at the bar, I found myself surrounded by 4-5 people, all of whom were either on their cell phones or their blackberries. No glances at nametags to see who was who. No conversation. Back at the hotel, I found myself with five people in the elevator. Silence.  No one glanced up from their smart-phones long enough to do anything more than press the button for their floor.

All this at a professional conference where everyone could at least offer camaraderie, and at the most a great idea, some business or a job offer!

This is where it gets personal.

My point: don’t forget that e-mails and blogs and tweeting and Facebook, while important, aren’t as important as the interaction and networking – the personal communication — you can do at a gathering.  As marketing professionals, we’d give anything for a venue at which we could personally meet and talk with targets or prospects. So, when you’re face-to-face with people – talk with them. Build contacts and network.  Talk about issues and ideas.  Find out what others are thinking.  Put together your thoughts and try them out on people.  Get their input. Walk away with at least five people to whom you want to send a follow-up note (and yes, e-mail is just fine for that!) Summarize for clients or prospects or your colleagues the key things you learned.

Sure digital and social media, cell phones and blackberries, blogs and websites are incredibly important to us as marketers and as communicators. And that importance will continue to grow. But after you leave such an event, you’ll find that the most value you received was not through a screen or a device – it was through the people and the ideas and the conversation and the networking available at the event.

And that’s so much better than keeping your face pressed to your iPhone!

Where do you think technology fails us when it comes to maintaining business relationships?

Bob Wilhelm uses his vast experience to provide every single AdFarm client with personalized, strategic, and second-to-none service. He can be reached directly at Bob.Wilhelm@adfarmonline.com.

Why should a box office-busting, technologically ground-breaking Hollywood movie listen to the world’s oldest profession about anything? Well since Avatar didn’t sweep the 2010 Oscars or even manage the Best Direction awarded a true agriculture classic like The Grapes of Wrath , just think of it as a little neighbourly advice.

Do these 3-D glasses make my crop look big?

James Cameron had a pretty clear picture of what Avatar was going to be, over a decade before the rest of the world did. But the technology was lagging, he decided. So he seeded. And waited.  In the end, Mr. Cameron didn’t harvest the bumper crop of Oscars he had hoped for, and any farmer could tell him why.

Avatar learning #1: Technology will take you only so far.

Farmers who grow crops know that geography and weather are huge factors in determining their success. They can research and ask questions and make informed decisions about seed. But in the end, growers who have the best land and who luck into the best weather conditions, win.

Daddy, tell me a story.

Avatar looks better than any movie has a right to, unless it’s also a $237 million US epic about a computer generated world in outer space. But at the end of the day, there’s a certain amount of value lacking if the movie doesn’t tell a great story. You could do better, Mr. Cameron. And you wouldn’t have to go to Pandora for the premise.

In fact, the next time you’re stuck for a riveting storyline ask a rancher about preg checking cows. Or a farmer about the anxiety of losing a wheat crop to fusarium head blight . Or sit at a business meeting where US soybean growers struggle to understand how they can compete in a global commodities market.

Avatar learning #2: Real life breeds real drama.

You can’t make up the kind of drama that comes from generations of winning and losing in agriculture.  You don’t need to. If we’re facing Avatar Two, the writers should buy a farmer a coffee. Then just sit back and really listen.

Take off your 3-D glasses and let’s hear about one of the bazillion other ways Avatar can learn from agriculture.  If you’re in animal science and can discuss flying dragons in 140 characters or less, tweet @adfarmtweets.

Warren Fick has no Facebook photo, just a silhouette. His big picture thinking gives our clients a unique face in agribusiness. And he writes. Contact him directly at warren.fick@adfarmonline.com

I am an art director. I went to school and learned all the cool programs — the ones that are now obsolete. I did all the faddish type treatments of the day -- the ones that are now outdated. But the thing I did in school that is still relevant was learning.

Even though I’ve finished my years of classrooms and homework assignments, The learning never stops. Technology is passing everyone by, you can’t keep up, you are lucky to hang on. The tools we use today didn’t exist 3 years ago. Knowing what’s out there is only half the battle.

The other half, or dare i say larger portion is the idea behind it.

New software, new tools, new filters in photoshop, are only a click away, but the one thing you can’t click a button to get – is an idea.

An idea, a concept – a good one, will be relevant for years to come. Don’t believe me? Take a look through an old Communication Arts sometime, and revel in the genius of those who have walked before you. Those ideas are the result of constantly looking at the word, taking in all you can, and distilling it to that idea – that nugget of connection – that makes it great.

I take refuge knowing that the great designers such as Goodby, Bogusky and Sullivan didn’t always have the stellar idea, they started out in the trenches learning long after the bell rang.

Here is a blog that shows you virgin ads done by designers. Some are better than others, but they are always learning, and I bet their next ad will be even better. I challenge everyone to always be curious and never stop learning.

And, you can check it out on facebook, too.

I’m not saying that the tools aren’t important.

But they are a small cog in the machine of advertising. A bad idea sent across the cosmos through your twitterbookblog account isn’t going to help you. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Good ideas will elevate you – bad ideas will cripple you. Our culture is quick to point out a wrong move and hang you for it. Those tools you were so excited about using are now the ones hammering your coffin shut.

Without an idea worth sharing, the tools don’t matter.

How are you making sure that the technology doesn’t overshadow the idea?

With his passion for learning and smart design sense, Shaun Crockett is finding the right solutions for Adfarm clients every day. He can be reached directly at Shaun.Crockett@adfarmonline.com