A group of women from across the state recently participated in the Tennessee Farm Bureau Women's Boot Camp. The day long training sharpened public speaking skills and gave tips on how to be more effective on social media.

Thomas Capps

Farm Bureau women learning how to tell their story better. Hello, and welcome to Tennessee home and Farm Radio. I'm Thomas Capps.

Kaitlyn Boyd

It's important for the folks who are doing that farming day in and day out to be the ones to share that message.

Thomas Capps

It's often said that communication is key and just about anything that we do. That's especially true in sharing the story of agriculture. A group of women from across Tennessee recently enhanced their ability to effectively communicate their story by participating in the Tennessee Farm Bureau women's communication bootcamp. The day long seminar focused on improving public speaking skills and tips on being more effective on social media. American Farm Bureau Federation Leadership Training Specialist Jordan Healey taught the public speaking portion and believes it's critical people in the ag industry know how to communicate their message.

Jordan Healey

So these public speaking boot camps, mini boot camps, whatever you might call them, allow our participants to have that firsthand experience from going from their first presentation to their last presentation, and really building up some confidence and showing that hey, they do have the ability to talk and share their stories with others.

Thomas Capps

The ladies that participated like Rebecca Boyd of Polk County feel they can now apply what they learned.

Rebecca Boyd

It's important for me to be here because I want to take back better skills to grow our Farm Bureau women's group, and have a better public speaking for agriculture.

Thomas Capps

Leigh Fuson of DeKalb County is also thankful to have gotten to participate.

Leigh Fuson

I like to push myself to get out of my comfort zone a little bit but just learning how to communicate with the public, our consumers, maybe people that don't have an agricultural background learning to connect with them, and communicate with them better share our story a little better.

Thomas Capps

Kaitlyn Brundige of Martin, Tennessee is only a junior in high school, but she says it's never too early to start sharpening her communication skills.

Kaitlyn Brundige

I really enjoy the communications side of things and I wanted to learn a deeper side of it and I wanted to get more out of it. I'm gonna go home and practice what I've been taught here.

Thomas Capps

For Tennessee Home and Farm Radio, I'm Thomas Capps.