Upcoming APEN Online Events

July 2026: Finding your feet in ag extension APEN Conversation with Ebony Faichney - 23 July
August 2026 — Webinar
September 2026 — APEN Conversation (details coming soon)
October 2026 — Webinar (details coming soon)
November 2026 — APEN Conversation (details coming soon)

2026 APEN Conversations

APEN Conversations are member-only virtual discussions held on Zoom. Each session brings members together to explore a topic in extension practice, sharing experiences, asking questions, and learning from each other. They run every two months from May to November, and they're free for all members.

Upcoming sessions are listed below. Log in to your member account to register.

APEN Conversations - July 2026

Finding your feet in ag extension
Facilitator: Ebony Faichney
Date: July 2026 — date to be confirmed

Agricultural extension is about far more than technical expertise. Extension professionals are communicators, facilitators, relationship-builders, problem-solvers and trusted connectors — often wearing many hats at once, particularly in regional and remote areas.

In this APEN Conversation, Ebony Faichney will lead an interactive discussion exploring the realities of modern extension work, the challenges of building confidence early in your career, and the value of developing your own authentic style in the field.

Registrations are open

About the Facilitator

Ebony Faichney

Ebony is an extension professional based in Mareeba, far north Queensland, working closely with the horticulture sector. With experience across government, peak bodies and her own business, she brings a grounded, farmer-first perspective to her work. She is almost a decade into her career and has navigated extension through a period when the role itself has been shifting and the title is increasingly hard to find.

2026 APEN Webinars

APEN webinars are online learning sessions on Zoom, running every two months from June to October. Each session features a presenter working in extension, with time for questions and discussion. Webinars are free for members, visit the members area to access your complimentary registration code. Non-members are welcome to attend for $40 + GST.

Upcoming webinars are listed below.

APEN Webinar - August 2026

Reaching the other two thirds

Only 33% of your audience are turning up to your events. What now?

How Beef + Lamb New Zealand leverage digital technologies to extend extension activity

Wednesday 19 August 2026
2pm NZST | 12pm AEST | 11:30am ACST | 10am AWST
One hour, online

About this webinar

You plan the event. The content is good, the venue works, the invitations go out. Then a third of the people you were trying to reach turn up.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand have built their digital work around that reality. Not as a replacement for getting people in a room, but as a way of extending extension activity to the farmers who were never going to make it on the day, and to the ones who came and needed something six weeks later.

Three of their team walk through how the pieces fit together: website, CRM, e-diaries, microsites, SEO, and the interactive tools they use to make a digital experience feel personal rather than generic. They also open up their social media analytics, including the parts that haven't worked.

What's covered

Why people don't, or won't, come to an event
Case studies in successful engagement at a distance
B+LNZ's digital ecosystem: how the website, CRM and e-diaries integrate, the role of microsites, their SEO strategy, and how interactive digital tools create more personalised experiences
How social media fits inside a broader communications strategy for connecting with farmers, stakeholders and rural communities, what the analytics say is working and what isn't, and where the biggest opportunities sit
The opportunities and the risks in AI as a 'remotely personal' extension approach

Your speakers

Abigail Richards, Senior Communications Advisor

Senior Communications Advisor, leading communications for the organisation’s extension programmes, social media strategy, and internal communications. A passionate storyteller, she enjoys connecting people with information through clear and engaging communications.

Zowie Ransfield, Digital Content and Website Manager

Digital Content & Website Manager. With over 10 years’ experience in the digital space, she specialises in digital strategy, website development, search engine optimisation (SEO) and email marketing. Zowie is passionate about creating user-friendly online experiences and practical digital tools that help farmers easily access trusted information and resources.

Aaron Meikle, Head of Extension, Products and Innovation

Head of Extension – Products & Innovation. 25 years after starting with New Zealand’s then Wool Board, when faxes were a key extension tool, he finds himself looking after all sorts of exciting technology but still working on the same problem: what do people want, and how? This role is curator of B+LNZ’s portfolio of extension products, resources and tools, and is focussed on how information travels, rather than what that information is.