Kala Gibbins and Bella King of Vian FFA attended the Oklahoma Farm Bureau FFA Communications Conference on July 25 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Edmond.

The one-day conference connected nearly 120 FFA members with communications skills and concepts that will help them share their events, activities and stories throughout the coming school year.

Gibbins and King participated in hands-on breakout sessions featuring communications concepts in the areas of writing, photography, graphic design and social media, which were each taught by professionals in the agricultural communications industry.

FFA members also learned the importance of sharing the FFA story from Oklahoma FFA Advisor Scott Nemecek. The event’s final session focused on strategies students can use to tell a consistent message and story throughout the upcoming year.

FFA members heard from Oklahoma broadcast journalist Storme Jones of News9 who shared tips on storytelling and helped students understand how to better work with the news media. OKFB President Rodd Moesel greeted the students and provided an overview of OKFB’s annual youth events.

Door prizes were awarded by a drawing from a pool of attendees who created a draft social media post, press release, photo or graphic design sample, putting to use the skills they learned throughout the day. Prizes included a smartphone camera stabilizer, wireless microphone kit, a video ring light kit and compact tripod. Door prizes were awarded to Sabrina Schultz of Welch FFA, Makenzie Canary of Guthrie FFA, Zoe Linhares of Broken Arrow FFA, and Brooklyn Matlock of Cyril FFA.

The 2023 conference was OKFB’s third-annual communications- focused event for Oklahoma FFA members, which is held each summer for FFA chapter officers throughout the state.