She doesn't just understand agriculture – she lives it. Michele grew up on a dairy farm, has been a registered Holstein breeder since age nine, worked with farmers across 25+ countries,founded #AgChat and #FoodChat before agricultural social media was a thing. She's an IPPY gold medal-winning author and a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) — a credential held by fewer than 10% of professional speakers worldwide. And today she's working on a conservation project and how to use A.I. as an issure forecasting tool for agriculture. Your audience will know immediately: this is someone who gets it.

That's her sweet spot. Michele built her career connecting people who grow food with people who eat it — without talking down to either side. Whether your room is full of commodity producers, agribusiness executives, dietitians, or all three, she meets them where they are. Her appearances on CNN, NPR, USA Today, RFD-TV, and many other media channels reflect her ability to make agriculture resonate well beyond the farm gate.

Agricultural organizations, nutrition scientists, commodity groups, agribusiness companies, farm financial institutions, dietetic associations, extension programs, rural community organizations, and food companies. Her client roster includes the American Farm Bureau Federation and several state farm bureaus, numerous leadership programs, American Soybean Association, Merck Animal Health, Farm Credit Council of America, Women in Agribusiness, the American Meat Science Association, and Iowa Pork – among many others. If your audience works in, around, or alongside agriculture, Michele can empower them.

Each keynote and training workshopis tailor-made, and Michele believes in creating experiences – not just "talks." Before your event, she invests time understanding your audience's challenges and what you need them to walk away ready to do. Meeting planners receive a Pre-Program Questionnaire one month out to ensure content and logistics are dialed in. Her goal is to meet your event's goals and leave your audience thinking months after your event. No two programs are identical.

Event professionals often bring Michele's high energy keynotes to open or close their conference on an inspiring note. Current keynotes include:

• Grace, Gratitude & Growth: Women Leading Agriculture Forward – Self-leadership, mental wellness, and confident communication for women in farming and ranching
• Take Food Bullying by the Horns – Neuroscience meets grocery store marketing. Practical tools to build consumer confidence and cut through the confusion.
• Resiliency for Agriculture: Surviving the Darkest Storms – Honest, humor-infused, and heartfelt. Chronic stress, adversity, and mental health in agriculture – addressed directly in a way that resonates with everyone in agriculture.
• Translating Farm to Food: Creating a Different Conversation – Bridging the gap on GMOs, animal welfare, antibiotics, hormones, and other contentious issues.
• Celebrating Agriculture! – Uplifting and energizing keynote to honor and motivate the people, promise, and passion behind our food.
• Leading Forward – Nobody Warned You About This Part: Equip the next generation of farmers and agribusiness leaders with the communication confidence, mental resilience, and advocacy tools to lead agriculture forward .

Meeting planners often book Michele for interactive breakout sessions, in addition in addition to a keynote, to maximize their investment. Her workshop options include:

• Harvesting AI: Predict Food Trends, Protect Farming's Truth – Use AI to forecast consumer behavior while defending agriculture against machine-generated misinformation/disinformation.
• Stress Management for SMART Business – Science-backed, farm-practical strategies to manage stress and build resilience.
• Science Story Speak – A custom training for researchers, NRCS, extension professionals, and scientists who need to connect their work on a human level.
• Championing Agriculture – Tools to navigate contentious food conversations on social media, in policy discussions, and face-to-face.
• Take Food Bullying by the Horns – Workshop version with deeper tools for understanding neuromarketing and combating food misinformation

Specialized tracks available for dietitians, nutrition professionals, and science communicators. All programs customized to your audience and timeframe.

Meeting professionals say Michele Payn makes their job easier – and their audiences ask for her back. She's worked with one client for 23 years! Michele's goal is to move minds and hearts - and leave your audience still thinking about your meeting a month after the event. Dedicated event planning checklists, plus downloadable bios, photos, program descriptions, and AV specs, are all on the Meeting Planner page. Everything you need to promote the event and prepare the room is on one page. And Michele will gladly brainstorm the remainder of your event with you to achieve maximum results!

Yes – and she's been doing it for over a decade. Same customization, energy, and interaction. Live polls, Q&A, and video keep virtual sessions from feeling like webinars.

Many planners bundle Michele's books with registration or as gifts – they extend the event's impact well beyond the event - and Michele will give you bulk pricing. Author signing at sponsor booths is also available, upon request. Michele can also bring books for attendees to purchase an author-signed copy. Contact book@causematters.com.

Michele is based in central Indiana and travels internationally. She's flexible on cancellations in the event of emergency – rescheduling within a year when life intervenes. Her calendar fills fast, especially winter conference season, so don't wait. It's helpful if you have a date (or three), location, and a sense of what you need your audience to walk away feeling. She'll handle the rest.