• Documentation
• Implementation awareness
• Meeting participation
• Meeting facilitation

Josh: Feel free to chime in to make sure we got a good starting point of what was discussed at the F2F.

• Documentation: Everyone agreed having the booklet ready for the QC activity was a bigger piece. We also talked about documentation on the website around connections (which members have connected to who), and had a conversation about Marilyn sending emails out/subscribers updating info so we know who the contacts were and what messages they used. Is this maintained/updated on website, could that be a source for populating QC book/documentation.
• Implementation awareness: Along the same line as documentation. At conference there was a gentleman from BASF who was new and sat in for Darlene, and was asking where he could find the documentation. We've talked about the Wiki in QC calls; we need to make sure the information is out there, up to date, and easy to get to.
• Meeting participation: At the last annual conference, the group felt as a whole there could have been more participation. I know we had challenges around Covid and who could travel/be there. General consensus that we could be more prepared in getting folks aware of what we're trying to accomplish, make sure we have the right contacts from every company. Some weren't getting the communications, do we have the correct distribution list? This would allow us to have the right people there when we want to have a QC session.
• Meeting facilitation: Marilyn had done a lot of work with connectivity. Natasha and Randy Fry were very active and involved, and Natasha continues to be involved in the activities. What I heard out of the annual conference is that maybe this group (committee/task force/whatever it's called) needs to have more meetings throughout the year. This is where you can provide some input - maybe this is more of a long-term group to prepare for some of these activities/implementation exercises such as QC. Greg, I remember you saying there could be opportunities to educate some of your customers at meetings and such. There are other things out there.

2022 Implementation Priorities (Brent Kemp) 20 minutes

The group brainstorms and lays out priorities to support the current year.

• Planning for a quick connect
• Identifying additional implementation opportunities 
• Planning for improved capabilities documentation
• Identifying volunteer opportunities to support all of the above
  • Recurring meetings
  • Staff liaison
  • Organizational support capability
  • Other

Natasha: I guess the consensus I got from annual is that we kinda failed at the QC there. This sucks because I think we were doing well and had momentum in getting folks there. The next one needs to be better than we've ever done it before - communicate better, get the right people on the phone, get people scheduled before the meeting. How can we do it better/bigger and make sure people attend? We've talked about MYM but my heart goes to annual and making it something people want to go to. I continue to hear about fertilizer conference where they set these things up over a month in advance, everyone knows where they're supposed to be at what time, it's all scheduled out. When you get the momentum ahead of time, we might not have as many failures. I don't know how best to get that commitment ahead of time; someone has to spearhead those conversations well in advance of the meeting. We didn't have the attendance, we didn't have the sessions. I don't want it to fail/fall off because of our last meeting so we need to do an extra good job moving forward.

Josh: I don't think it was a failure, i think it could have been a better success, and I hear the sentiment, and I understand; You had a lot of skin in the game.

Greg: I agree; we had our times and participated/talked to multiple vendors. If we have one who comes out of it with something good, I can't say it was a complete failure. The biggest knock I get about AgGateway is that you get together and talk, but there are no tangible actions. That's why I'm involved, to connect who needs to be connected so we can plan and move forward in transacting data. Natasha, I agree we need to do it better and have a good presentation; it starts with the documentation Josh was talking about. If we are all filing out the form/survey, we need an easy way to get the info posted/published. I don't think it's fair for you to have to translate/recopy it all into the Wiki - is there another tool that would make it easier to gather/publish the info on the site? I will try to talk with our retailers and get them involved. It's important and we need to push through at the retail channel, as well as the distribution channel. that's where we found the most success, when Bayer or Winfield comes to me and says it's important, let's find a partner/retailer, let's push and get it done. We need the other manu/dist to get involved. We need to push from both sides. I don't have the answers, that's what we need to address.

Ann: I agree with what everyone has been saying, especially doing it bigger/better and be able to move forward with it. I don't think we can get it set up and do everything we need in time for the MYM.

Josh: Those are good comments. Brent, I think that gives the background of where we're at.

Brent: I think we go back to the documentation of who's doing what and how do we capture that. Greg pointed out there are a couple things we've tried: Marilyn calling people and sending emails/spreadsheets was somewhat successful. In 2019/2020 we tried a self-service option for having members put in their own page in the Wiki and update it that way - it was somewhat successful. I don't know that we've gotten 100% with any of that. Some of the conversations we've had over the course of the last 6 months have highlighted connectivity/interoperability we didn't even know about. This goes beyond some of the things we don't track - how do we record it, is this worthwhile to extend/expand, and that becomes a bit of a challenge too. I think one of the things this group can help with is brainstorming/socializing a documentation/info collection process & tool. It may not be the Wiki, spreadsheets, or email and that's fine; it may be that we go through 2-3 different things between now and then. The other thing I've heard is a real focus on annual being the time/place for QC. I think that's fine, it gives us more runway to make it bigger/better and schedule things out. What I would ask is, what does this group think about a real heads-down planning and responsibility divvying-up activity at MYM? Or is MYM an opportunity for a trial run where it's an internal, small group/table top exercise to prepare for annual to see what works/doesn't work/what needs to change? Do you have an idea of what you'd like to accomplish at annual.

Ann: I think that's a great idea for MYM, showing here's what we've got, here's what we need, so we know what we are going through at annual. MYM is also a great time for us to start networking and get commitments for people to come and sit down at annual. 

Scott: Following up on Greg's point, as we look at who's got the most to gain, follow the lead of the folks up the supply chain. I feel like we need a representative from the major manufacturers in this group to identify the structure, etc. I think it would be beneficial to get more manufacturers to help us steer this, so hopefully they will want to get more people connected to their environments. It's about momentum, critical mass, the more involved, it will continue to feed itself. Identifying the point person for QC to recruit and treat it like sales, target vs spray & pray like we have in the past.

Josh: Scott I think that's a good point. If we could get that accomplished before MYM, knowing who those contacts are ahead of time and having them participate in the group would be very beneficial; you could have a pretty productive session at MYM.

Scott: Absolutely, there's always change head-count wise, if someone is on the sidelines from a manufacturer and they step out or change roles, eggs drop. If we have someone named as a part of it and something changes, there is accountability to help transfer that participation. The more people who are connected/part of this, the more value they get out of their investment in AgGateway, the more participation we will see as an organization at conference. The whole process is a success story of ROI and reasons to get involved. As far as the tactics go/next steps, motivation to get more people involved.

Julie: Yes, we would love to connect more people.

Scott: Who do you think from your team today would be best suited for that? How do we message appropriately/get the word out?

Julie: I need to noodle on that a bit.

Scott: That's fair, that's the starting point; we need an insider to say this is how we accomplish it and do internal investigation, to let us know this is who we need to talk to

Josh: So the first step is to identify the folks to participate in the QC planning group. All the major manufacturers and distributors should be present here. Do we have a solid contact at the major ones, and a commitment to participate in an activity like that?

Scott: I think you nailed it. The other direction, if you're a prospective retailer and only 1/3 of your manufacturers will be there, the value drops dramatically. If you don't participate, you will see that your peers are part of this and that you're missing out on growth. As we saw when delta variant was kicking up, questions about annual in general, we saw some momentum drop because some of the bigger companies couldn't travel. We need a champion from each of the major manufacturers who are members today; get those folks behind this and beating the same drum. Yes they might be participating with competitors but that's part of the deal with AgGateway membership. Get them in the same room and it's value across the board.

Natasha: My manufacturers and distributors are there, even AgVance my Allied Provider is there. AP can bring in people too. I know when we presented AgGateway connections at AgVance conferences in the past, some retailers had no idea they had connections because they don't advertise/market it. Until manufacturers are reaching out and bringing he retailers in, i don't think it's just the emails or that Marilyn was calling. Somehow we have to entice those folks to get people to come. That's the challenge we've continued to go up against. Ann and I can't do it all.

Brent: We definitely hear that. From an AgGateway perspective, we are working with AP members to offer the communications, participate in conferences. Leslie and I are working on a member communications push where we are making calls and doing in-person visits where that's an option, ultimately with all of our members, and are making a big push for manufacturers and distributors we haven't seen in a while. What would be helpful for us is a sentence or two from you in your own words that we could put into a leave-behind on why it's important they participate in these kinds of activities. I don't know if we can make that an action or a request, but maybe it feeds the fear of missing out.

Ann: I think we could do that. Getting the AP on board and getting them to market this is huge. The ones who have the ability aren't marketing/selling this to the other ag retailers out there and saying "look at the options we have, look what we have the ability to do!" That's a shortfall on their part. If we could get them to bring their customers and push them for connections, but I don't think they're looking for that additional workload.

Brent: I hear what you're saying Ann. I've had conversations with some AP, and that's exactly what they're wanting to do because it's a value-add for their system. The impression I get is they want to share the message about interoperability/standards/services that allow them to connect. 

Long Term Ideation (Jeremy Wilson) 10 minutes

Group considers other areas of implementation and connectivity.

• Retail to field equipment/FMIS connectivity
• Post-farmgate connectivity
• Holistic group fostering and encouraging implementation

Brent: It sounds like we have some agreement, if we aren't sure what it looks like in practice. 

Brent: We would like to get your input on is good resources for collecting info on documentation. That's key to making sure we have good content to share whatever the presentation looks like: tools you use, contact names we should reach out to, etc., and we will be on the look-out for it. We will also make a plea in the coming or next newsletter to get that content updated.