Agriculture is interwoven into my personal fabric. This passion led me to the world of professional speaking nearly ten years ago. Anyone can speak, but not everyone delivers the same impact.  Continued education about the many facets of a speaking business, building expertise in a given topic area, and mastering the art of presenting a quality program are just a few of the areas expected by the National Speakers Association for professional membership. Some pundits like to make fun of my Certified Speaking Professional designation, but I consider it an honor to be one of less than 10% of professional speakers in the world with a CSP.

Which shoes are you wearing? Realize you likely have different worlds that will intersect - and provide you with an opportunity to share your passion for agriculture.

While I’ve always been very proud to to be a farm girl and have frequently traded in heels from the NSA convention for dairy judging boots –  my worlds were segmented.  It’s embarrassing for someone who preaches ag advocacy to admit this, but I figured 99.5% of my fellow NSA members had no clue what it was like to work in agriculture and had very different priorities. I was very quiet about my work with other groups of speakers.  I’m thankful to have built a successful business around my passion, but being the world’s most brilliant and wealthiest speaker has never been a priority. I speak to serve agriculture.

Fellow ag and food speakers like Jolene Brown, CSP and Donna Manring got me to open up a little bit at NSA events (imagine the hot air in a room of people who talk for a living). Thanks to communities like NSA XY, I connected with speakers who were on a similar journey. My speaking colleagues have taught me that passion translates into any world. Friends like Kim & Jason Kotecki also challenged me to be less defensive about agriculture and asked a lot of questions.  After publishing weekly food facts on Facebook in 2008, I started to see other speakers sharing that information and asking questions about claims made by activist groups. The day that Eliz Greene wrote an unsolicited blog post about visiting a modern dairy farm was a real wake-up call about the opportunity that exists to connect these worlds.

Perhaps most importantly, I’ve discovered these speakers are an incredible resource. I’ve seen agvocates hug Scott Ginsberg after he wrote guest blog posts, watched the rousing response when Gina Schreck, CSP was one of the first special guests on #AgChat, have an article in the pipes on how to make smarter use of your time from Neen James, CSP and am excited to announce that Stacey Hanke is writing a guest blog on communicating more effectively. You might be surprised at how interested my speaking friends are in agriculture; there seems to be an intrigue with what we do as stewards of lands and animals.

A note from Michele: my heartfelt thanks to the more than 100 farmers, ranchers and agvocates who helped showcase how much you care to the NSA UnConference.

My two worlds will again intersect this weekend, when I speak at the NSA UNconference about lessons I’ve learned from building a Twitter community as a resource for those in agriculture. It’s a little unnerving to speak to speakers; I even went so far as to make a video of the top 10 reasons to not come to my session. However, I’m excited to showcase the people who are involved in the business of growing food, feed, fuel and fiber. I’ll be starting the workshop with pictures of our cows, cute new shoes and tweetchat on the big screen to showcase the engagement of the ag community.

The intersection of these worlds is a reminder that the opportunity to share your story is likely staring you in the face.  I always say that agricultural advocacy isn’t rocket science, but apparently don’t listen to myself. Don’t wait until someone until asks you a question or has misinformation. Put your passion to work – and watch your worlds move closer together, rather than collide.