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Network Green YXX Session Four
Nothing like a global pandemic to throw a wrench in your well planned out in-person meetings. When this happens you pivot and adapt to make everything work. That is exactly what Alex and myself did. We spent hours figuring out the best way to facilitate Network Green meetings during this time. This started with trying to find an online platform that would be best suited to hold group meetings, they settled on Zoom. Trying to learn a new virtual collaborative learning platform was tricky, but we came out on top-well almost. It also meant modifying and adapting some of the youth projects so they could still be accomplished while working from home.
On April 4th, we hosted our Session 4 meeting via Zoom. So here's the things about Zoom. If you have never used it before, it can be a bit tricky to navigate. With help from a few YouTube tutorials and a quick look at the FAQ's on their website, we were up and running. We started off our session with a group check-in, to see where everyone was at with COVID-19 and how they were feeling about their projects. There was a unanimous feeling of stress, but also feelings of excitement to go forward with projects. I won't lie, it was heartwarming to hear youth were still eager to be here and excited about their projects. Alex and I couldn't have been more proud at that moment. With that, we welcomed our guest speaker Amir Maan.
Amir is the Operations Manager, Marketing Director and Experience Creator at Maan Farms. His passion revolves around agriculture and he is driven by innovation. Some of his notable accomplishments revolve around his ability to create, market and operate successful events/experiences. These events include The Scariest Corn Maze in Canada, Abbotsford Sunflower Festival, Dog Days, Fall Festival and The Dig for Gold Potato Festival. He focuses on being in complete control over the customer’s experience, ensuring that he provides more value than the customer expects; always leaving a smile on their face. As a son of a Farmer, Amir grew up around the farm and began to slowly fall in love with the agriculture industry. Focusing his efforts on strawberries, Amir has created a strawberry delivery system that provides over 50 stores with fresh same-day picked berries. Growing his family’s strawberry business from 2 acres to over 15 acres, 6 delivery vehicles and he has built relationships with some of the most well-known high-quality produce franchises in BC. Amir received his education at the University of the Fraser Valley, with a BBA in Agriculture Management and a 6-month exchange program at HAS, The University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. He is an avid risk-taker, continuously trying new things.
Amir came on to chat with Network Green about how his family has brought their farm from a normal farm into an incredible agritourism destination in Abbotsford. He talked about what goes into the farm on the farming side versus the marketing side and how they balance the two. Amir chatted a lot about how to sell ideas and concepts via social media and how to pivot a business by staying relevant. We got to hear his opinions on how to not fall into the oversensationalized algorithms of platforms like Instagram and instead stay true to the core values of your business. We also were able to hear how Maan farms adapts to new social media platforms and how they are working at staying relevant to all demographics. Amir answered some questions from the youth about their own projects with some incredibly helpful information. We are so grateful that he was able to take time out of his busy day to chat with us.
After the guest speaker, we tried to get back to a group chat and get into breakout rooms to work on group projects. Did it work? NO, but hey, that's life when you are working from home on a new-to-you platform. We'll get it next time. We pivoted from this by setting up office hours for groups to sign up for over the next week. We are excited to keep learning and adapting to every challenge these next few months throw at us. It has done nothing but make our organization stronger and more connected (literally we chat more now than ever!). In the coming weeks, we will be helping youth finish up their group projects and figure out the best course of action to implement projects and present them to the community. Network Green will also be increasing our social media presence via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and if we take a page out of Amir's book, we might even take a stab at Tik Tok. Our next meeting is on April 18th.