A Futurist's View of Rural Development, and more

Blandin Webinar Series: Realizing Our Broadband Future

Here’s a chance to listen in on some really smart people discuss some important issues for Greater Minnesota and Rural America.  I worked with Dr. Delore Zimmerman when I was an Associate at the Center for the New West and executive director at Traill County Economic Development Commission.  Bill Coleman is in the thick of the Blandin Broadband Initiative, working to bring the benefits of connectivity to all of us.  Ann Treacy, Bill’s co-author at the Blandin on Broadband blog, does an excellent job translating it all into kitchen table English.

Come and join the fun online at the Blandin Broadband Webinar Series, alternate Tuesdays in October and November.

October 6, 2009

A Futurist’s View of Rural Minnesota

Presenter: Delore Zimmerman of Praxis Strategy Group, Grand Forks, ND

If you are interested in rural community and economic development trends, this webinar is for you. Delore Zimmerman will provide guidance for rural community leaders about development trends and the steps communities must take to increase their investment attractiveness.

The role that technology plays in increasing economic vitality will be presented both in theory and practice, and Delore will include information about successful regional economic development strategies.

Delore is a strategy consultant with twenty-five years of domestic and international experience working with local and regional economic development groups, companies and universities. He co-developed the High-Performance Community Initiative while a Senior Fellow at the Denver-based Center for the New West and has spearheaded its development and deployment for 10 years.


October 20, 2009

Broadband Best Practices in Greater Minnesota

Presenter: Bill Coleman of Community Technology Advisors, Mahtomedi, MN

Broadband is an essential asset for community and economic development. Greater Minnesota faces many challenges in keeping up with larger metro areas in Minnesota, across the country and around the world.

Community leaders are faced with navigating a whirlwind of dynamic technologies, policy discussions at the federal and state level, and funding through the ARRA stimulus programs as they wrestle with the the challenge of ensuring world-class broadband infrastructure and services and motivating the adoption of new technologies by businesses, institutions and citizens. This session will provide an overview of community best practices for network deployment and broadband-based economic development.

Bill Coleman has been helping communities make the connection between broadband and economic development.  He specializes in helping communities accurately assess their situation, devise improvement strategies and implement projects.  He brings equal attention to infrastructure and end-user technology adoption that leads to economic vitality.


November 3

Telling a Story with Social Media

Presenter: Ann Treacy, Treacy Information Services

Everyone has a story to tell, whether you’re recruiting people or businesses to your region, selling a product or preparing a presentation on future of broadband in rural areas. Social media tools such as YouTube and podcasts can help you establish your story, social networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn help you spread the word and ongoing blogs or Twitter can help maintain the story. We’ll talk about how to tell your story with social media.

Ann Treacy is a former librarian with 13 years of experience working with businesses and other organizations to get their message to prospective clients on the Internet. She works with resorts, realtors, manufacturers, nonprofits and others throughout Minnesota to develop Internet and social
media strategies to meet business goals.

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