30. Social Media Is Not That Serious: Ag Comms, Event Coverage & Taking the Leap with Kyler Hardegree

He was there at 3:30 in the morning on opening day and didn't leave until 1 a.m. He writes 90 pages of copy for a 208-page publication, sends up to 14 news releases a day during the show, manages 60 sponsored social posts across the run, and does it all with a team of four. Oh, and he started the whole thing 13 months ago. Kyler Hardegree is the communications assistant at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo — one of the largest livestock shows and fifth largest rodeos in the world — and this episode pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to pull off a 23-day event when you're the one holding the camera, writing the captions, pitching the media stories, and building the content calendar all at once. If you've ever wondered what a career in event communications or ag media actually looks like day to day, this one is for you. In this episode, we cover: Growing up on a West Texas cotton farm and cattle ranch and finding photography through a 4-H contest rivalry with his twin sister Judging livestock at Howard College and how it shaped his eye as a photographer How a professor quietly forwarded him a job listing that wasn't posted publicly — and how he beat out his best friend and twin sister for the shot Why he chose to get his master's at Texas Tech and what grad school actually taught him that undergrad didn't Winning a national research conference studying AI use in agricultural communications The full scope of his job: social media manager, on-staff photographer and videographer, news media liaison, copywriter, and more What goes into planning a 23-day event that draws 1.2 million people annually How he builds a content calendar months in advance — and how he stays flexible when an ice storm shows up The strategy behind 60 sponsored social posts and how he decides what actually gets posted Shooting freehand vs. the full production crew — and why both have a place Capturing content during the show that fuels an entire year of social posts Why he wishes someone had told him earlier: social media is not that serious Investing in camera gear that invests back into you Connect with Kyler: Instagram: @kylerstonephoto Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo: fwssr.com