Convention Events
With so many amazing events and general sessions waiting for you at the 82nd National FFA Convention, it’s hard to know where to begin! Opening ceremonies, national officer retiring addresses, award presentations, luncheons and dinners, FFA band, chorus and talent programs, guest speakers, auctions—all of these make the national FFA convention an experience of a lifetime. Careful planning will ensure a successful convention to remember. Go here for a schedule of events. Times and dates on the schedule are subject to change. For an updated schedule, refer to the 2009 Convention Guidebook, available during the national convention.
Convention Sessions
Opening Session - Lead Out Loud
Wednesday, Oct. 21 - Conseco Fieldhouse
- 4 - 5:45 p.m., 1A
- 7:15 - 9 p.m., 1B
Thursday, Oct. 22 - Conseco Fieldhouse
- 8 - 10 a.m., 1C
National Officer Reflections, National Advisor’s Challenge, Band and Chorus Grand Entry
Keynote Speaker: Mike Rowe
Mike Rowe has had more jobs than you. In fact, Mike has had more jobs than anyone. As the creator and executive producer of Discovery Channel's Emmy-nominated series Dirty Jobs With Mike Rowe, Mike has spent years traveling the country, working as an apprentice on more than 200 jobs that most people would go out of their way to avoid.
Dirty Jobs is entirely unscripted, and Mike doesn't cheat; he actually does the work, with a sense of humor rarely portrayed in such professions. In fact, the notion of depicting hard work as noble and fun is central to his personal mission. On Labor Day 2008, Mike launched a website called mikeroweWORKS.com, where skilled labor and hard work are celebrated in the hope of calling attention to the steady decline in the trades and bolstering enrollment in trade schools and technical colleges.
Second Session - Lead through Action
Thursday, Oct. 22 - Conseco Fieldhouse
- 2 - 4:30 p.m.
Retiring Address: Nessie Early; State Association Membership Awards, Models of Innovation Awards, National Chapter Awards
Third Session - Lead and Empower
Thursday, Oct. 22 - Conseco Fieldhouse
- 7:30 - 10 p.m.
Retiring Address: Riley Branch; Sponsor Recognition
Speaker: Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant is chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Monsanto, a company 100 percent devoted to agriculture. Monsanto is focused on applying innovation and technology to help its farmer customers increase yields while conserving more precious resources including water and energy. Under his leadership, Monsanto has increasingly relied on building partnerships to achieve commercial, environmental and social humanitarian goals. The title of Hugh’s speech is "Producing More With Less. Are You Ready?"
Fourth Session - Serve Out Loud
Friday, Oct. 23 - Conseco Fieldhouse
- 8 - 10:30 a.m.
Retiring Address: Laila Hajji; Distinguished Service Citations and VIP Citations, Honorary Degree Ceremony
Keynote Speaker: Harvey Alston, sponsored by MTD as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.
Harvey Alston's unforgettable words of individual responsibility for achievement have improved spirits, spurred growth and changed lives. His powerful, soul-searching presentations uplift audiences to a higher standard, and to a level where they strive only for the best. Alston believes in solitary achievement, shared accomplishment and the dignity of human beings.
He has the courage it takes to remind people that life is only what they make it, that self-respect does not come with the job but is brought to the job by people who do the best they can do, with whatever work is available to them.
Fifth Session - Lead with Purpose
Friday, Oct. 23 - Conseco Fieldhouse
- Noon - 1:30 p.m.
Retiring Address: Regina Holliday; Officer Advisor and School Recognition, NAAE Greetings, National Officer Candidate Introductions, Agri-Entrepreneurship Awards
Sixth Session - Succeed Out Loud
Friday, Oct. 23 - Conseco Fieldhouse
- 3 - 4:30 p.m.
Proficiency Awards
Seventh Session - Risk Out Loud
Friday, Oct. 23 - Conseco Fieldhouse
- 7 – 9 p.m.
Retiring Address: Hannah Crossen; Creed, Extemporaneous and Prepared Public Speaking CDE Awards; Agriscience Student and Teacher Recognition; Agriscience Fair Recognition
Keynote speaker: Josh Sundquist, sponsored by CPS as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.
Josh Sundquist is a Paralympic ski racer and nationally known inspirational speaker. He has been featured on CNN and in USA TODAY and has spoken to 
hundreds of thousands of people across the country. At age nine, he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and given a 50 percent chance to live. He spent a year on chemotherapy treatments and his left leg was amputated. Doctors declared Josh cured of the disease at age 13 and he took up ski racing three years later. He trained for the next six years and in 2006 he was named to the U.S. Paralympic Ski Team for the 2006 Paralympics in Turino, Italy.
As a writer, Josh has been published in The Washington Post, Daily Guideposts and Current, Newsweek's college magazine. In 2003, he co-authored the teen devotional book Forty Voices: Stories of Hope from Our Generation.
Josh received a degree in business from the College of William and Mary and a master's in communications from the University of Southern California.
Eighth Session - Lead with Passion
Saturday, Oct. 24 - Lucas Oil Stadium
- 7:45 - 11:30 a.m.
Stars Over America Pageant, American Degree Ceremony
Session Nine - Lead Our Generation
Saturday, Oct. 24 - Conseco Fieldhouse
- 1:30 - 5 p.m.
Retiring Address: Paul Moya; National Officer Parent Recognition, Career Development Event Winners, Delegate Reports, Past National Officer Recognition, Election and Installation of National FFA Officers, Convention-in-Review Show.
Keynote Speaker: Andrew McCrea
Andrew McCrea is the host of a nationally syndicated radio feature, “The American Countryside,” a program that has won five Oscars for rural and agricultural broadcasting. He has interviewed hall of fame sports stars, Emmy and Grammy winners and even been body slammed by professional wrestlers! His broadcasting work has taken him to all 50 states and four continents to interview thousands of guests for his program. “The American Countryside” is unique in broadcasting because all of the interviews are done “on location.” Those travels provide Andrew with a wealth of experiences that he shares with audiences both over the radio and through his keynote speeches. McCrea is a past Missouri state FFA president and a past national FFA secretary. He and his family reside in northwest Missouri, where they are the fifth and sixth generations to operate the family farm.
FFA National Agricultural Career Show®
Exhibit Halls A-E at the Indiana Convention Center
New Grand Opening Time!
Wednesday, Oct. 21, 11:30 a.m.
First Floor, lobby outside Halls D and E, Indiana Convention Center
Hours of Operation
Wednesday, Oct. 21,11:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 22, 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 23, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
More than 1,300 booths representing colleges, agriculture-related companies, fundraising companies, U.S. Armed Services, supporters to the National FFA and auto and truck manufacturers pack exhibit halls A-E. The Hall of States is located on the second level of the Indiana Convention Center. Exhibitors offer attendees a balance between information, education and hands-on training such as welding and computer-related technology. Chapter advisors are able to gather new material for use in the classroom after the convention. Students will discover numerous agricultural careers and explore opportunities in post-secondary job training and education.
Career Show in the Classroom
The FFA National Agricultural Career Show is full of information, and consequently, full of possibilities for classroom and real world applications.
- Ask students to find three exhibits related to a career field that interests them, gather information, interview the exhibitors and then present what they’ve learned to their classmates when they return to school.
- Urge students to collect business cards and handouts from a variety of career fields. In the classroom, they can make displays or posters for each career field, which can then be displayed at their school.
- Provide a service to the upperclassmen at your school by asking students to gather information on colleges and present what they learned to the senior class.
- Require each student to visit 15 company booths and make a list of three occupations related to each company.
Convention in the Classroom
Convention doesn’t have to end at the drop of the gavel on Saturday. How can your members apply what they’ve learned at home? Below are suggestions to help harness your students’ post-convention enthusiasm and channel it into their academic studies.
• Work with fellow faculty members to develop interdisciplinary assignments that may substitute for work your members missed while at convention. Students could write essays for English class about their experiences, develop expense reports for math or accounting classes or use information gathered at the career show and agriscience fair to prepare a presentation about scientific practices in agriculture for science classes.
• Ask agribusiness students to track their expenses while at the national FFA convention. Once they return home, students can develop expense reports for themselves or for the chapter.
• Ask students to collect ideas for chapter activities from FFA members across the country, then report on these ideas at a chapter meeting.
• The national FFA convention is a great place for scavenger hunts, photo hunts and signature hunts. Have students search for items and information from specific colleges, state FFA associations and agriculture-related businesses.
State Photo Schedule
The state photo booth will be located in Lucas Oil Stadium. Talk with your state FFA association for more information about your state photo.
The Convention website is sponsored in part by STIHL as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.
