MAKE Smoking History Wagin Woolorama is on today, Friday, March 6 and tomorrow, March 7, and media liaison Diana Blacklock has instigated the Ask Me A Question vest sponsored by Planfarm Academy.
"Each section will have someone wearing a vest so there will be about 25 people available for visitors to ask about anything relating to that section and there will be a few others around the ground available for general questions too," Ms Blacklock said.
"It is a way of encouraging people to ask questions to learn about what is really happening in the judging rings and events and it identifies the people who are best to ask and have the knowledge to help.
"I believe this level of interest and engagement would be across all the various sections and it will make Woolorama more user-friendly, engaging and informative to our visitors and add to their Woolorama experience."
Planfarm is one of the show's newest sponsors and company business manager Colin Rose said the vests were a great idea and an opportunity to continue their sponsorship and promote farming as a business.
"It is a new initiative and ties in well with our Planfarm Academy that offers farmers the chance to ask questions of their own," Mr Rose said.
"The academy was developed so that farmers could increase their educational background in different facets of farming."
For instance, people who lacked an agronomy background had somewhere they could learn about this area of farm production.
From Ms Blacklock's experience at her first Woolorama, she was curious about things happening in the Merino judging arena but was too intimidated to ask anyone what was going on.
"If someone was explicitly there to answer questions, I would have gone up to them and found out more," she said.
"As a media person, I have been able to get up close and personal to the competitors and have been able to ask lots of questions.
"As I've learnt more about what was happening, I became much more engaged in the event and consequently stayed longer to watch the proceedings.
"This ability to ask questions increased my understanding and appreciation of rural life and how scientific and diverse farming is."
