CCA Institute
September 15-17, 2020
Greetings, CCA friends:
Thank you for your patience as we have planned (and planned again, then planned once more) our 2020 CCA Institute. While we’re sad that we weren’t able to meet in person in Buffalo, we’re absolutely thrilled that we will still move forward with a virtual Institute. And YOU are invited.
Meet us online September 15-17 for sessions, coffee breaks, discussions and more. And the best part is that all of our members who have never had the funds or time to attend an in-person Institute can now come!
Most speaker sessions will be recorded and made available to registrants after Institute, just in case there is something you miss. Click on the tabs above for more information on the schedule, and to register. We can’t wait to see you soon!
Jennie Lacey and Candace Croft
Co-Chairs
2020 CCA Institute
Tuesday, September 15Note: All times are listed as Eastern Standard Time (EST)
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| 1:00–1:10 p.m. | Institute Kick-Off / Welcome & Overview Jennie Lacey & Candace Croft |
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1:15–2:00 p.m. |
General Session 1 Sharing the Message that Cooperatives Build a Better World |
| In this session, you will see Principle 6 in action! Messaging trends in consumer marketing and co-op opportunities at a local level will be examined, as two recent approaches to cooperation among cooperatives are broken down. Learnings from the actions taken over the last 18 months will be showcased and tangible assets you can put to use immediately in your community will be shared. This session will bridge the gap between ideas and action to inspire your co-op’s desire to team up with others for local cooperation. | |
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2:05–3:05 p.m. |
General Session 2 The New Rules of Co-op Reputation Management: Spot Trouble on the Horizon |
| As more and more cooperative members are finding new ways to be heard, the same rules of public response no longer apply. Social media and stakeholder engagement have transformed the relationships between the co-op, the board, and the members.
This session explains the new communications landscape. With examples from outside organizations and within the cooperative space, communicators will learn the best practices for managing hot-button issues in today’s sensitive media environment, including member activism and rebuke against organizations, brands, and their leadership. |
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3:10–4:00 p.m. |
Panel Discussion (12-min each + 14-min Q&A with speakers) Communicating Through Mergers – Dori Lichty |
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4:00–4:10 p.m. |
Wrap Up / Conclusion Day 1 |
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4:30–5:30 p.m. |
Virtual Networking (link to be sent later) |
Wednesday, September 16Note: All times are listed as Eastern Standard Time (EST)
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| 10:00–10:45 a.m. | Virtual Coffee Chat (link to be sent later) |
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11:00 a.m.–noon |
General Session 3 Generation “THEM”: Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce |
| Generation “THEM” examines the “WHY” behind each American generation’s common perspectives so that we can better understand one another and build more cohesive teams. This presentation gives attendees solid understanding of generational norms and the importance of attracting and retaining top young talent to ensure sustainability while allowing them to laugh at how silly we are deep down. | |
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12:05–12:50 p.m. |
Breakout Sessions
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| Turning a rough diamond into a polished gemstone is both art and science. It requires a diamond cutter, someone whose skilled hands and tools can add the needed facets to unlock the stone’s inner beauty and maximize its value. Likewise, skilled storytellers can use multimedia tools to add new facets to rough story ideas — increasing their allure and communications value. In this session, Jason Jenkins, owner and creative director of Mill Creek Communications Services, will share his process for creating effective and entertaining multimedia stories — from concept and asset generation to production and distribution. | |
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Inspiring Ambassadors: Engaging Internal Audiences with the Co-op Story |
| Inspire your co-op’s employees, members, and leaders to be ambassadors of your cooperative brand with training & inspirational storytelling. This interactive workshop is designed to get attendees involved in breaking down the co-op story and reviewing how to easily educate internal audiences on cooperatives and effectively communicate the many benefits of leading, supporting, working for, and doing business with cooperatives to support local communities. | |
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1:00–1:45 p.m. |
Breakout Sessions
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| Everyone knows that video is the go-to tool in a marketer’s tool kit; however most fail to get the results they want online. In this 45-minute session, we will help attendees learn how to tell better stories that get more results on social media. We will cover the Cosmic Sauce Video Storytelling Playbook where we will go through our process in telling stories that have generated thousands of views and real engagement on social media. We will also peel back the curtain and review real video marketing campaigns from real clients. | |
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Graphic Design Rules! |
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| Learn what good design looks like. And how to spot—and fix—a bad design. This session will help novice designers and those not trained in the industry to produce effective communication for both print and digital formats. We’ll focus on proper use of typography, images, color, composition and more! By learning these few simple “rules” your designs can really stand out and get noticed! | |
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1:45–1:55 p.m. |
Wrap Up / Conclusion Day 2 |
Thursday, September 17Note: All times are listed as Eastern Standard Time (EST)
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| 11:45 a.m.–12:45 p.m. | Power Hour |
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1:00–1:45 p.m. |
General Session 4 Today’s History Through Yesterday’s Eyes: Capturing Co-op History |
| After this session, you’ll never again overlook the lasting power of black and white images. Professor Frank Cost of Rochester Institute of Technology will discuss better ways to create photographs for lasting impact. This session will take you beyond popular apps and go deeper than “convert to grayscale” to put you on the path to capturing your cooperative’s people and places so they appear classic today and timeless for decades to come. | |
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1:50–2:30 p.m. |
Breakout Sessions
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| This is not your grandfather’s candid photo technique! Calling upon his 40 years of pushing photographic boundaries, Frank Cost of Rochester Institute of Technology will introduce you to a low-cost, quick way to capture human expressions without looking like a nosy photographer. If you’ve longed to be a “fly on the wall” when photographing people, Frank’s method will put you there. | |
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Sustainability Session |
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| Over the past six years, NCFC has collaborated with its farmer co-op members to develop a unified approach to co-op sustainability. This session will highlight NCFC’s work to establish shared principles, communications tools, a field guide for co-op sustainability and a self-assessment progress checklist. NCFC’s VP of Communications will share case studies and lessons learned about best practices for telling your co-op’s unique sustainability story. Attendees will learn how to access the various sustainability resources developed by NCFC’s Sustainability Working Group, and tips for highlighting your own co-op’s sustainability efforts. You might be surprised how many sustainability practices you are already doing! | |
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2:35–3:10 p.m. |
Breakout Sessions
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| What good is a video if no one sees it? Too many marketers fall into the trap of spending thousands of dollars on video content without thinking through a proper distribution plan. Even if a marketer has a plan, most do not know how to design a proper social media campaign to ensure results. In this session we will walk attendees through how to craft a social media campaign strategy using video for distribution on Facebook and Instagram. | |
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Themed breakout + How to Do It for Our Coops for Client or Team Members Events |
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| Tired of PowerPoint presentation after PowerPoint presentation? Looking to spice up your typical event breakout sessions? Learn how Compeer Financial created an escape room to add an educational, themed and interactive breakout session to their client-facing event lineup. Explore the possibilities for your organization to create a lasting memory with a client experience like none-other! In this session you’ll learn how Compeer created their escape room, how they measured its success and what lessons they learned in developing a client experience with a small budget. | |
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3:15–4:15 p.m. |
General Session 5 Applying Disney’s Five Principles in Cooperative Communications |
| It’s impossible not to communicate, but it’s altogether too common to communicate poorly or unintentionally. Communication is not limited to an event but covers the entire spectrum from vision casting and expectation setting to follow up and everything in between. If there is one company that has mastered intentional communication it is Disney, so why not learn from the best? Join us for “Disney-fied Communication: Communicating Magic”!!! | |
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4:20–4:30 p.m. |
Wrap Up / Thank You |
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4:30 p.m. |
Conclusion 2020 CCA Institute Virtual Event |
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Session: Sharing the Message that Cooperatives Build a Better World Session: Engaging Internal Audiences with the Co-op Story Speaker: Kaeleigh Barker |
| Kaeleigh Barker has been connected to cooperative business for over a decade. She is currently Director of Strategy for Cooperatives for a Better World where she dedicates herself to elevating awareness of the cooperative business model, working with national and global partners. She is well versed in the diversity of the cooperative sectors and recognizes the current state of cooperative awareness. She looks to actively connect what we can do together to enhance public knowledge, appreciation and participation in the cooperative movement.
Kaeleigh grew up in New Hampshire, where she first interned in 2005 at CCA Global Partners, working thereafter to conduct research for the purchasing cooperative that would lead to multiple expansions of the business. Today CCA Global Partners consists of 14 divisional businesses under one cooperative umbrella. Subsequently her background also includes rural and urban teaching experiences in special education and competent communication. Kaeleigh’s passion for learning, communication and storytelling has compelled her involvement with Toastmasters International, a global public speaking program, in which she was recognized in 2016 for her accomplishments. |
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Session: The New Rules of Co-op Reputation Management: Spot Trouble on the Horizon Speaker: Molly McPherson |
| Molly McPherson, M.S., APR, combines her knowledge of current communication practices with years of news and crisis management experience to help organizations manage issues – from emerging to a crisis – to ensure they emerge with their reputation intact. Molly created a PR framework for response in the age of online stakeholder activism.
Molly is the host of the Confident Communications podcast and frequently speaks about crisis communications, public relations and social media crisis response to executives and organizations. Molly was Director of Communications for the Cruise Line International Association in Arlington, VA. More recently, she worked with FEMA’s Office of External Affairs during post-Hurricane Katrina efforts and helped launch their first social media program. She is firmly grounded in the belief that communicating trust and transparency both online and off is key to an organization’s success in the modern age. |
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Panel Discussion: Communicating Through Mergers Panelist: Dori Lichty |
| Dori Lichty is the communication specialist at CentralStar Cooperative in Waupun, WI. With more than 13 years of agricultural cooperative-communication experience, and most of it as a one-person staff, Dori’s award-winning work portfolio ranges from writing press releases to social media and video development. On the home front, Dori dairy farms with her husband, Steve, and their two children; they milk both registered black and white AND red and white Holsteins, as well as Jerseys. She enjoys being a 4-H Mom and all that entails, making homemade gifts, visiting historical museums, and reading a good romance novel. | |
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Panel Discussion: Leveraging Social Media During a Crisis Panelist: Candace Croft |
| Candace Croft, CCC, is Communications and Public Relations Coordinator at West Florida Electric Cooperative. She is the editor of the cooperative’s monthly member newsletter, Current Light Flashes, serves as the Youth Tour program coordinator and runs the co-op’s social media. She works to facilitate the cooperative’s advertising, community & media relations efforts, school programs and community events. Croft has been a Certified Cooperative Communicator (CCC) through the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association since 2007, a member of the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) since 2007, and earned her Master Cooperative Communicator (MCC) certificate from CCA in 2012. She is currently a member of CCA’s board of directors, serving as Secretary/Treasurer. Croft has been employed by West Florida Electric since 2005. | |
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Panel Discussion: Communicating with Legislators Panelist: Allan Reetz |
| Allan Reetz is the director of public and government affairs for the Hanover Co-op Food Stores and Auto Service Centers of New Hampshire and Vermont. Since 1995, Allan has done marketing, communications and advocacy work for this 84-year-old cooperative. For 20 years, he handled all broadcast marketing for the Hanover Co-op, highlighted by a long-running radio series of farmer interviews telling the story of regional agriculture and local farm families. In his current role, Reetz advocates on issues such as affordable workforce housing, local food sourcing and authenticity, wage fairness, public transportation, and food security. The Hanover Co-op is the nation’s second-largest food cooperative with 2019 sales of $77 million. areetz@coopfoodstore.com | |
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Session: Internal Communications in a Multi-Generational Workplace Speaker: Kristin Scroggin |
| Kristin Scroggin can’t do math, or bake a pie, but she is a GREAT speaker! Kristin has her Masters in Communication Studies, Bachelors in Communication Arts and has been a Communications Lecturer at the University of Alabama in Huntsville for 11 years. Her passion is generational diversity, and for the past five years she has spoken at conferences and organizations across the United States ranging from Fortune 500 companies to tiny non-profits, about this vital topic. Obsessed with travel, and desperate to see the world, she and her husband try to keep their heads above water while parenting their four children and any foster children who come their way. | |
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Session: Multimedia Storytelling Speaker: Jason Jenkins |
| For two decades, Jason Jenkins has captivated audiences with stories that inform and entertain. In 2016, he founded Mill Creek Communications Services, and today, he works with clients nationwide in many industries, offering his expertise in news and feature writing, photography, videography and editing. Before launching Mill Creek, Jenkins worked nine years for Missouri’s electric co-ops. He was recognized often by CCA for his communication skills and was twice named the association’s Photographer of the Year. Jason and his wife, Allison, make their home in central Missouri with their three children — Aiden, Carly and Ashlyn — and their yellow lab, Radar. | |
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Session: Videography for Any Budget Session: Videography Session Speaker: Johnny Eaker |
| Johnny brings tremendous experience in video strategy to Cosmic Sauce. Prior to helping found the agency, he was a video director at a Fortune 50 company, where he worked with high-profile partners like the NBA, helped lead national campaigns, and helped grow the brand’s social media presence to over 2 million followers. | |
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Session: Graphic Design Rules! Speaker: Greg Nettles |
| Greg Nettles is a designer, writer and communicator, and since 2016 has served as the manager of Design and Production at GROWMARK, Inc., a company that supports a large midwestern and Canadian agricultural cooperative. Before GROWMARK, Greg operated his own design and branding business for 19 years, serving clients such as McGraw-Hill and Caterpillar. He lives in central Illinois with his wife, Gail, and has two sons, Jarrod and Seth. He graduated from Northern Illinois University’s Visual Communication program in 1992. | |
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Session: Today’s History Through Yesterday’s Eyes: Capturing Co-op History Session: Hiding in Plain Sight: Using a GoPro for unfiltered storytelling Speaker: Frank Cost |
| Frank Cost is the James E. McGhee Distinguished Professor in the School of Photography at Rochester Institute of Technology. The professorship was created in the late 1960s by the photographic industry to study emerging trends in consumer photography and prepare graduates to become innovators in the industry. That mission continues to the present day, although the leading industry players in consumer imaging are almost completely different from the original founders of the professorship. Cost has been photographing professionally since 1975 and has authored both textbooks and experimental photobooks exploring new forms of graphic expression enabled by digital technologies. He has taught a wide variety of courses in the field of visual media for more than three decades. | |
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Session: Applying Disney’s Five Principles in Cooperative Communications Speaker: Phillip Duncan |
| Phillip Duncan’s professional journey spans everything from being in a boy band to becoming a co-owner of Experience Global, which specializes in the intentional stewardship of guest, patient, and employee experience. Their extensive client list includes everyone from Advent Hospital System to the Washington Nationals and TSA. Phillip is a best-selling author of Insperience and specializes in Employee Engagement, Purpose Excavation, Conflict Resolution, Change Management and much more. Phillip studied Communications and Public Relations at Libscomb University and currently lives just outside of Nashville, TN with his wife and four sons | |
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Session: Sustainability Session Speakers: Kelsey Billings and Justin Darisse |
| Kelsey Billings, Director of Government Affairs and Sustainability, has been with NCFC since 2010. Kelsey is responsible for the biotechnology, sustainability, climate and workplace safety issue areas of NCFC’s public policy agenda. Kelsey was born and raised in Bloomington, Illinois where she found her calling to agriculture through family farming and 4-H.Justin Darisse, Vice President of Communications, has been with NCFC since 2001. Justin runs the organization’s efforts to put a farmer’s face on cooperatives with the trade media and general public. He also coordinates NCFC’s internal communications and outreach efforts with its members, and supports NCFC’s government relations team. | |
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Session: Themed breakout + How to do it for our coops for client or team members events Speaker: Rebecca Binsfield |
| Becky Binsfield is the Client Education Consultant for Compeer Financial’s 45,000 clients across Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Prior to joining the Farm Credit system, Binsfield worked at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. There she directed the Alice in Dairyland program and working with farmers on financial and transition planning. Her college days in Marquette, Michigan taught her to love the beauty of the Great Lakes almost as much as she loves Wisconsin cheese. Binsfield lives with her partner and 2 children just 30 minutes from her family’s dairy farm outside of Madison, WI. | |
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2020 CCA Virtual Institute Registration Form