My wife, Carla, and I arrived at Carey Ridge Elementary School in Westfield, Ind., a half-hour early. We were one of a half-dozen cars in the parking lot. Our granddaughter Avery was participating in a third grade program honoring veterans for Veterans Day.

“You always get us some place too early,” I grumbled to Carla. My minister hadn’t yet preached the pre-Christmas sermon about how grumbling is a sin.

“You want a seat at these things, you come early,” she responded.

“Oh, come on, it’s just a kids program,” I said.

Carla just smiled. She had attended a program here before. I had not. Like clockwork, at 6:10 before the 6:30 start, cars flooded into the parking lot. It reminded me of the scene in “Field of Dreams” where cars rumble up the gravel road in the middle of Iowa cornfields to the theme of “build it and they will come.” By showtime, the combined cafeteria-auditorium was packed, standing room only. Plus, the stage was filled with dozens of excited third graders.

Carla was right. Put their kids on stage, and parents, grandparents, even aunts and uncles — they will all show up. It was the “why” that got them there. Their connection to the program was personal: supporting their young child or relative.

Transfer excitement to ag meetings

Steve Isaacs, Extension farm management specialist at the University of Kentucky, would not be surprised by this example, or by the overflow crowd for an elementary school program. The organizers incentivized people to come. They motivated them. Why come? To see and hear your own children honor America and veterans. That gets blood flowing, even today.

“I hear many people complain about not having many people at ag meetings, and talking about how they spend time in the meeting figuring out how to get more people there. It’s a common problem,” Isaacs told those attending the Indiana Farm Bureau State Convention in Fort Wayne, Ind., recently. “They’re saying the wrong things, and they have the wrong goals.”

Isaacs noted that if your goal is just filling seats, you won’t be successful. “Your primary goal should be giving people a reason to want to come and get involved,” he said. “If you give them reasons to get excited about what you’re doing, they will want to join, and membership and empty seats will take care of themselves.”

The key as you set out to build involvement in an ag group or cause should be about your purpose, he added. “It’s the ‘why’ that matters,” he said. “Why should people come? What is the purpose of the group or meeting? If you have the ‘why’ right — why you are doing something — and make it clear, people will come.”

Want to ignite a fire under your ag group or inject excitement into meetings? Isaacs got it right. Just like the teachers at Avery’s elementary school, figure out why you want people to come. What do you want them to do? Focus your purpose on whatever that is, and people will respond. Give it a try.