By Dayna Ghirardelli, Executive Director
I’m not even going to start by divulging how many emails I have in my work and personal email inboxes. It is actually fairly obnoxious and, on some days, even gives me a tinge of anxiety. I’ve been trying really hard to stay on top of them by filing those that I think I will need to refer to at a later time or simply to archive. Or, highlighting those that are of importance, and I need to make sure I can find them fairly easily in short order. I’ve even found the “remind me” option where I can schedule when I want them to come back to my attention if it needs to be reviewed but now is not a good time. This said, I’m still guilty of buried emails. However, there is nothing more freeing than being able to simply push delete. In my personal email account, I honestly get over 100 emails each day! Taking January 23rd as an example, I received 149 emails. I filed three, four were from vendors whom I joined their email list, and the rest were unsolicited. I need to go in and “unsubscribe” to all of these, but the frustrating part is that I never subscribed in the first place! This process takes so long and, by all accounts, likely will only build back up, so maybe I simply change my email address altogether; however, that comes with its own set of struggles.
Within this long list of daily unsolicited emails are a few that are important. I try to identify them before doing a mass deletion, but there are times when I miss them and they end up in the trash. I appreciate those who have a scheduled cadence because I then know when to expect their email, so if I haven’t seen them I’ll e-dumpster dive and seek them out.
The fact of the matter is that email is an efficient and effective way to reach an audience. The Sonoma County Farm Bureau relies on bulk emails to our membership (which we refer to as an e-blasts) to keep you apprised of all things going on. We try to maintain a cadence of two days per week, dedicating Tuesdays to our “Farm Bureau Happenings, Community Workshops & Events,” and Thursdays to “General Interests and Funding Opportunities.” On occasion, there may be additional emails based on the urgency or importance of a topic. In any case, we rely on email as the primary mechanism for keeping you, our members, informed.
Understanding that emails can get buried, I am hopeful that you will take the time to seek out those sent to you by the Sonoma County Farm Bureau. Even a glance over each email we send will give you a sense of all that is going on including notifications of critical issues, our offerings of trainings and workshops, funding opportunities and deadlines, and other general interests as it relates to Farm Bureau, your membership, and agriculture. I know that, like mine, your email inbox can become inundated with unsolicited emails, so if you choose the route to a clean slate by changing your email address, be sure to let us know.
