In the age of instant information and Web presence how can this breakdown in communications be possible? The Agricultural Relations Council (ARC), hosts of the Public Relations Track at the Agri-Marketing Conference & Trade Show, will spend some time with Stephen Schuster, Chairman & Founder of the Rainier Corporation and delve into the conclusion of the second Rainier Web-Index™ study. This study focuses on the use of the Web by the top 100 Fortune companies and was conducted over 100 days between March 4 and July 1, 2000 by Rainier, an international technology marketing communications firm.

The results demonstrate a clear requirement for large corporations to adjust their global Internet strategies to ensure that their public Web response capabilities are, at the very least, as effective as telephoning, faxing or writing to their national or international headquarters.

Steve Schuster is chairman and founder of Rainier Corporation (www.rainierco.com), a leading technology-marketing agency. Schuster has nearly two decades of industry experience marketing and designing high-technology products and services, and while at Rainier has been the creative force behind dozens of successful PR and advertising campaigns for the embedded systems industry.

Dr. Monty Miller is the owner of Performance Solutions which engages in training, development and organizational change initiatives. Miller has a doctorate in Organizational Change from Pepperdine University. His consulting focus is in two areas; creating development strategies and tactics for commercial organizations, and conducting post merger and alliance integration efforts. He has been professionally involved in agribusiness marketing and organizational development for 20 years.

Michael Friedman is executive vice president and partner of DWJ Television. In this capacity he works with a wide variety of companies, agencies and associations, including Christie’s, K-Mart, AT&T, and IRI. He has extensive experience in all forms of video and broadcast communications, including international teleconferencing and Web casting.

Steve Drake will serve as the moderator of the panel. Drake is the Executive Director of the Ag Publisher’s Association (APA): The Association of Leading Ag Media Companies. He is president of Drake & Associates, an association management company.

Candice Bowman is the marketing director for AgriClick. Prior to that, she worked for the Kansas City Board of Trade, Knight-Ridder Financial News, Vance Publishing and the Fort Myers News-Press where she held various editorial and marketing positions.

Larry Dreiling is the associate editor of High Plains Journal covering issues related to farm policy and rural development. He served as the president of the American Agricultural Editors Association and has received numerous journalism awards, among them the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Star Report Prize in 1998.

Greg Henderson is the associate publisher and editor of Drovers where he has worked since 1984. Raised on a ranch in the southern Flint Hills of Kansas, he remains actively involved in beef production as a part-owner of the family operation. He was recently honored with the 2000 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award.

Karen McMahon is editor of Farm Industry News having previously worked as product and new technology features editor. She was the managing editor of National Hog Farmer and has served as the president of the American Agricultural Editors Association.

Paul Queck is an account executive with Hickman & Associates. He joined Hickman in January, 2000 after a 21-year career with Farm Progress Companies where he was most recently executive editor of the eastern state farm publications. He is the immediate past president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists.