Nov 22, 2021
PMA’s Virtual Town Hall Series cited in three international awards

Produce Marketing Association has shared that the Virtual Town Hall Series, which began in March 2020 and has continued as a weekly broadcast into 2021 has won recognition in three separate awards recognizing programming and creative initiatives over the past year.

The Virtual Town Hall Series received the Silver Award in the category of Strategic Program – COVID-19 Related in the MUSE Creative Awards.  The entries in the Muse competition are judged by a blind panel comprised of 46 jurors from 25 countries across multiple industries.

PMA was also recognized as the Best Non-Profit Campaign in the 2021 Impact Awards from the Internet Marketing Association (IMA). IMA’s annual awards recognize best-in-class creativity, expertise and results from practitioners across all industries.

Lastly, it was announced recently that PMA’s Virtual Town Hall Series was also recognized with a Gold Award in the Category of Strategic Communications by the MarCom Awards.  There were over 6,000 entries from throughout the United States, Canada and 39 other countries.

The Virtual Town Hall Series was launched in March 2020 and began as a way to bring together the industry around the critical and unprecedented challenges at the beginning of the pandemic. Every Wednesday at noon Eastern time, PMA would bring together experts and thought leaders from the produce and floral industry and beyond, in live events attended by 200-500 members each week. These sessions have featured 359 weekly volunteer speakers over the past 86 weeks, with more than 6,750 industry professionals attending one or more event. Each of the three awards recognized the Virtual Town Hall Series value to the membership and industry as a venue for sharing resources, insights and expertise among industry professionals.

“It’s an incredible honor to be recognized by the Internet Marketing Association, the MarCom Awards and The Muse Awards for the Virtual Town Hall series we launched more than a year ago to help our members and industry navigate the disruptions of the pandemic,” PMA CEO Cathy Burns said in a news release. “This type of acknowledgement is only possible due to the multitude of volunteer leaders and staff subject matter experts who shared their insights and perspectives to help move our community forward in uncertain times. Thank you to all of our town hall panelists and the PMA team in delivering new value and resources at a time when they were much needed by our members.”

The Virtual Town Hall has served as a venue to cover important topics like transportation challenges in produce and floral; diversity, equity and inclusion and the practices that help to ensure produce and floral remains a destination for the best and brightest talent; and insights or learnings from member attended events like SXSW and the Vatican Global Health Conference.

“The success of the series is not just in the consistency and duration of the series, which, thanks to our engaged members, has become a mainstay in our regular offerings,” said Director of Marketing and host of the Virtual Town Hall series, Scott Rutherford. “It is also in the depth and breadth of insights and expertise for the topics covered. PMA’s connection to the entire produce and floral global supply chain is one of the most valuable resources available to our members.  To be able to capture that insight each week in a sustainable and consistent manner as we have through our Virtual Town Hall series is a great example of the value of joining and being a part of this great community of experts and leaders.”

The Virtual Town Hall series will continue through the end of the year and all industry members are invited to register for any of the upcoming events. The sessions provide an opportunity to learn more about a critical challenge facing the industry at large, often followed by an opportunity to ask questions.

“The Virtual Town Hall series has invited dozens of industry leaders from across the supply chain to provide insights and resources for industry peers,” said Chief Content Officer at PMA, Dan Stark. “Behind the scenes, this work requires an incredible amount of coordination and communication both internally and with many of our industry volunteers. I’m very happy that our team members can receive this recognition and share it with all those who have participated as a resource, a speaker, or an attendee over the past 20 months.”

To register for the next Virtual Town Hall: Understanding and Working Within the EU Green Deal, or any of the future sessions, members are invited to sign up here.

 




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