| Suri Network News |
Winter 2020
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We are making great progress on our Suri Simply Stunning branding campaign. The board recently applied for a trademark registration for the brand mark and are awaiting official approval.
Many Suri Network members have already applied to use the mark in their products and farm marketing materials. GO TO THE Suri Network website: https://Surinetwork.org/Suri-Simply-Stunning APPLY: https://form.jotform.com/33403033456142
Suri Network Strategic Plan
The board presented an updated Strategic Plan at the 2019 Symposium. Following that, we met several times to fine tune the plan and to also develop specific action plans for 2020 and thereafter. Below is the link for the final Strategic Plan.
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President's Letter Dear Suri Network Members: We want to first thank you for your continued support of the Suri Network. This is your Suri Breed Association and the board is honored to work with you to support our overall mission of advancing and growing the Suri alpaca industry. We have exciting news to share with you. The board has been busy this winter working on a variety of new events and educational opportunities for you. We met several times in January to finalize our updated Strategic Plan (that we presented at the 2019 Symposium) and develop the 2020 plan based on the Strategic Plan priorities. As a result of these meetings and member input, we are planning something new and different for our 2020 Education Plan, Fleece show and Symposium. First off, we are moving our annual Suri Symposium to a new venue and time of year. Summers are such a busy time for alpaca farmers, so we are planning the next Suri Symposium as a two-day conference on February 27 and 28, 2021 in the fabulously fun city of Las Vegas!! Save the date on your calendar. We will be communicating more about venue and agenda for the all new Suri Symposium 2021 later this month. So... what about the popular Suri Network All Suri Fleece Show you might ask?? Well, we are excited to announce our Fleece Show will be hosted at the New Era Fiber Mill in Gallatin, TN the week of July 13-15th, 2020. Thank you to Karl and Jan Heinrich for hosting the fleece show this year. See the rest of the newsletter for more information about this year’s show! And more exciting education news…. Since we are moving our Symposium to February 2021, we are planning a series of distributed educational events in 2020! Our educational focus this year is the “March to Marketing”. See more about these opportunities in the rest of the newsletter! On other business, in January, we announced that Suri Network and AOA have reached an agreement to allow AOA to license the current and future Suri Network Suri Breed Standard. It is exciting news that AOA is planning to adopt both a huacaya and suri breed standard for their membership. We are happy to work with AOA to advance this important AOA initiative. We have lots of new and exciting things planned for 2020. There are many opportunities for our members to work on various committees and activities for the year. We will soon be announcing and soliciting members for these committees. Please consider volunteering! We look forward to working with you to continue to grow the Suri alpaca industry. Warmest regards, Sue King President
The MARCH to Marketing for Suri Network Members! The Suri Network is planning a series of distributed events in 2020 that will replace the 2020 Symposium. These events will focus on marketing techniques that will help members promote their farm/ranch, animals and products. The 2021 symposium will resume with the focus of helping participants create a comprehensive marketing plan. BUT the largest Suri Fleece Show is STILL ON. We are planning a mail in fleece show the week of July 13th, 2020! Stay tuned, more info to come soon. Goal: Understand how Marketing, Branding and current Suri Network programs work together to enhance your business and all aspects of the Suri industry. The following are examples of ways to help members meet this goal: · Tools for marketing with a hands-on learning approach · Opportunity for farms to educate alpaca owners, potential owners and youth activities. · Maximize tools and programs for selling products, raw fiber, services and alpacas Method: · Deliver and train on how to use tools that will assist membership to reach targeted audiences via social media · Craft on-farm events to benefit 101 Alpaca training, Youth opportunities and Agritourism · Final training to connect tools and SN programs to create the big picture at SN Symposium 2021 so you can personalize for your farm. First up: “Boot Camp Digital” (BCD) Boot Camp: Specializes in creating digital and social media marketing training programs for small business owners. Suri Network is offering this training as a cost-effective way to help you learn about social media marketing and learn ways to help members market their farm, animals and products. Participants must sign up by of February 29, 2020 and have a year to complete. For more information and to sign up for the great social media training, go to: https://surinetwork.org/page-1860228
2020 Suri Network All Suri Fleece Show We are excited to announce the 2020 Suri Network All Suri Fleece Show will be hosted at the New Era Fiber Mill in Gallatin, TN the week of July 13-15th, 2020. Thank you to Karl and Jan Heinrich for hosting the show this year. We hope to once again be the largest Suri fleece show in the country. The show is two weeks earlier than last year, so plan with your shearer to get those beautiful Suri fleeces ready for the show. This will be a mail in show held the week following the AOA National Fiber Extravaganza. It will give you the opportunity to enter your Suri fleeces in both national Suri fleece shows and have them judged by different judges. Our fleece judges this year will be the outstanding Suri judges, Cheryl Gehly and Wade Gease. We will also be having the popular spin off and fiber arts competition as well as cottage fleece. Don't forget to enter your spin off fleeces into the cottage fleece competition for a chance to win the prestigious Cottage Breeder Cup award. Breeder Cups will be awarded for both Regular fleece and Cottage fleece. Since most SN members won’t be at the actual show (other than volunteers), show winners will be announced via live feed by the judges on social media after the judging is complete. Stay tuned for more information on the fleece show and opportunities to volunteer in the SN fleece room at New Era Mill. |
