Exploring Innovation: A Conference on Community Development Finance

May 9-11, 2011 - St. Louis, MO

Exploring Innovation: A Conference on Community Development Finance will be held on May 9-11, 2011 in St. Louis MO. The conference is sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. For more information, go to http://stlouisfed.org/community_development/events/?id=256.

National Business Incubation Association Fifth Annual Summit for Advanced Incubator Professionals

January 30 - February 1, 2011
Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa
Las Vegas, Nev.

NBIA's Fifth Summit for Advanced Incubation Professionals provides a unique opportunity for experienced incubation leaders to discuss, debate and exchange ideas about innovation, entrepreneurship and business incubation.

Attend the summit and you will have the opportunity to:

• Inform. The strength of the summit is its participants who share their expertise in all things incubation. Past summit attendees say the new ideas they acquired at the event are invaluable. Your innovative ideas will add to that value!
• Learn. The summit gives you the opportunity to learn from other high-level professionals with proven track records of success. You'll come away from the event with a variety of tools to improve your program.
• Interact. No need to go it alone when dealing with the challenges and opportunities of business incubation. The summit gives you a chance to network and brainstorm with other industry veterans who share your experience and skills. This event is not for amateurs!
• Relax. Located a few miles outside central Las Vegas, the beautiful Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa is set apart from the distractions typically associated with Las Vegas. But no worries: The shows and excitement of the Strip are only a short shuttle ride away.

For more information, go to http://www.nbia.org/events/summit2011/

Putting your business on the digital map

Driving customers to your business through mapping

This 3-hour course will explain the importance of getting your business listed accurately in a variety of online databases, and will teach you to update and manage your listing on the most important sites. Make sure your digital storefront is visible to potential customers everywhere digital maps are used!

Sponsored by the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension

For the various training dates available go to: http://extension.unh.edu/GISGPS/documents/PBM10.pdf

National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship: The Community College Role In Economic Vitality

The NACCE Conference is a place where entrepreneurially minded community college professionals gather together to identify opportunities and create positive organizational and community change. Through entrepreneurial leadership, entrepreneurship education, and student business incubation programs attendees will learn how their community college can make an impact in their community's economic future. http://www.nacce2010.com/Overview/Overview.cfm

10th Consumer Issues Conference - Unlocking the Digital Marketplace: Legal and Ethical Issues

The Consumer Issues Conference is a long-running annual event that focuses on a consumer issue. This year the focus is Unlocking the Digital Marketplace: Legal and Ethical Issues. Keynotes were by Susan Linn (Consuming Kids: The Hostile Takeover of Childhood) and Patrick Murphy (Ethical Implications of the Digital Marketplace), and concurrent sessions and workshops are also available. There were vendor and exhibit booths available. The conference was September 30 and October 1, 2010 on the campus of the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The deadline for submissions were Friday, 16 July. Submission guidelines and presentation tips are attached. Conference details are at www.uwyo.edu/consumerconference

National e-Commerce Training Workshop

The National e-Commerce Extension Initiative

The purpose of this invitation only training was to familiarize 20 Extension professionals with the full set of online educational resources and tools that the SRDC has helped produce as part of its coordination of the National e-Commerce Extension Initiative. Each five-person regional team is now in the process of developing a plan for delivering the appropriate set of e-commerce training programs to Extension colleagues and others in their respective regions. If you are interested in getting involved with your regional team, or have workshop ideas for e-commerce learning modules, please contact Shannon Lane Turner for further information.

Youth Market: Rural Entrepreneurship Experience

2010 eXtension Entrepreneur and Their Communities Webinar Series

This webinar highlights the Youth Market 4-H project, which was designated as a Program of Distinction in 2009 by National 4-H Council and also received the Annie E. Casey Family Strengthening Award. The project's overall goal is to incorporates a youth component into the county effort to improve the economic status of families in Garrett County, Maryland, a rural Appalachian area. Youth market goals are focused in two areas. First, a classroom experience - youth gain knowledge and skills through participation in a youth track at the annual rural enterprise conference. Second, a vendor experience where youth develop a successful small business. The Youth Market Program was developed to provide young people and opportunity to learn about entrepreneurship and have a "real-life" experience of selling at a market. Participants develop life skills, gain money management experience, and explore new product markets. Youth working under the guidance of 4-H leaders and mentors from the adult farmer's market will increase their chances of success in their small business initiatives. As youth experience success in their market endeavors they become contributing members of the household, the financial security of their family increases and as a result, the economic development of the region improves.

View Archived Webinar

Getting Your Community Ready for Entrepreneurship Development - Part Two

2010 eXtension Entrepreneur and Their Communities Webinar Series

The May Webinar focused on two innovative programs in Missouri that are focused on place-based economic development. The projects have taken very different approaches. One has taken a broad based community economic development and youth entrepreneurship focus while the other emphasizes local foods and tourism. Presenters discussed the challenges they faced, how they built their teams, developed their plans and the successes that they've had. These are two very dynamic projects that have gotten national attention for their unique strategies and community engagement styles.

View Archived Webinar

Getting Your Community Ready for Entrepreneurship Development

2010 eXtension Entrepreneur and Their Communities Webinar Series

Deb Markley and Greg Clary
Even before the current recession we have been reading and hearing a lot about entrepreneurs. And by all accounts, they may be the most important ingredient for a sustainable economy into the future. Yet, unlike a big manufacturer that comes calling seeking incentives to locate in our community, they are hard to identify ... and their needs are a challenge to understand, much less meet. If a community is going to make entrepreneurship development a part of its economic development portfolio (we'll suggest why they would want to!), how do they go about it?

View Archived Webinar

Enhancing Your Online Presence Series

2010 eXtension Entrepreneur and Their Communities Webinar Series

The 2010 eXtension Entrepreneur and Their Communities webinar series was announced. The first of the three part series on "Enhancing Your Online Presence" was scheduled for January 14, 2010 at 2 p.m. EDT; 1 p.m. CDT; 12 noon MDT; 11 a.m. PDT. The January session focused on Web site Usability Testing. Lana Johnson, CIT DEAL Lab, University of Nebraska explained the process of testing for how 'usable' your Web site is.

eXtension Entrepreneur and Their Communities webinars are on the 2nd Thursday of every month. All of our webinars are recorded and available for on-demand viewing but nothing beats the live presentation so mark your calendars and spend an hour a month learning with us! Please feel free to join us on the 2nd Thursday of the month at 2 p.m. EDT; 1 p.m. CDT; 12 noon MDT; 11 a.m. PDT.

All webinars are one hour long. Free and open to everyone, this session is part of a monthly series. The Web meeting room opens 10 minutes before the start time. Go to http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/ecop. Newcomers to online learning are welcome.

March 11 - Get Found! (View Archived Webinar)

Jay Jenkins, Extension Educator, University of Nebraska
Is your information getting lost in the sea of information available on the Internet? Are you lost in the maze of acronyms and vague meanings of terms like SEO, SEM, keywords, tags, page titles and subheadings? Participants learned how clearly written and properly implemented web pages get found.

February 11 - Analyze This (View Archived Webinar)

Vishal Singh, Instructional Multimedia Designer - Communications, Information and Technology, University of Nebraska
Google Analytics generates detailed statistics about visitors to your Web site. It provides you with a powerful Web site analytical tool that can help you improve your Web sites.

January 14 - Web Usability Testing (View Archived Webinar)

Lana Johnson, CIT DEAL Lab, Communications, Information and Technology, University of Nebraska.
Usability is the ease with which people can perform a certain task on an object or system to achieve a particular goal. Web usability testing allows us to observe what users do, where they succeed and where they have difficulties. Feedback from this testing can then be used to improve web designs and interfaces for better user experiences.

back to top

National e-Commerce Extension Initiative Fall 2009 Webinar Series

These Webinars were designed for Extension educators, economic development professionals and other interested parties who have a desire to work with local leaders, citizens, and organizations to build a strong, vibrant plan for introducing and effectively using broadband in their communities. The Fall 2009 Webinar Series spotlighted newly developed online learning curricula.

Upcoming Webinars:

A Beginner’s Guide to e-Commerce: Easy Tools for Profit
October 29, 2009 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. (Central Time)
Dr. Kimball Marshall
View Archived Webinar

Web site Basics: A Primer for Hispanic Small Businesses
November 19, 2009 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. (Central Time)
Dr. Brian Whitacre
View Archived Webinar

Marketing Food Specialty Products Online
December 3, 2009 2 - 3 p.m. (Central Time)
Rachael Carter
View Archived Webinar

Electronic Retailing: Selling on the Internet
December 10, 2009 2 – 3 p.m. (Central Time)
Dr. Julie Sexton
View Archived Webinar

For more information visit http://srdc.msstate.edu/ecommerce/webinar.html.

back to top

Missouri 4-H Youth Entrepreneurship: Cultivating “Cloverpreneurs” in the Show Me State

November 12, 2009

On Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 2 p.m. EDT; 1 p.m. CDT; 12 noon MDT; 11 a.m. PDT the eXtension Entrepreneurs & Their Communities webinar topic was Missouri 4-H Youth Entrepreneurship: Cultivating “Cloverpreneurs” in the Show Me State. Steve Henness is Extension Associate with the University of Missouri Extension 4-H Center for Youth Development. Steve provides leadership for 4-H programs and events in Youth/Adult Partnerships and Youth Entrepreneurship. He directs the MU Extension Youth Enterprisers Program, a statewide AmeriCorps*VISTA project placing full-time adult volunteers in assignments to build community entrepreneurial capacity. As a teen, Steve operated his own lawn mowing business, and as a 4-H leader, now supports youth in discovering “green” market opportunities in their “green” 4-H Clover experiences.

Topics covered:

• Introducing entrepreneurship as a 4-H project area
• VISTA/national service programs
• 4-H youth/alumni entrepreneurship stories
• Youth business startup guides
• Summer camps
• County/state fairs

View Archived Webinar

back to top

Economic Gardening

October 8, 2009

On Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 2:00pm (EST);1:00 p.m. CST; 12:00 p.m. MST; 11:00 a.m. PST the eXtension Entrepreneurs & Their Communities Webinar topic was Economic Gardening. Chris Gibbons, Director of Business/Industry Affairs in Littleton, CO led the discussion. In 1989, the Littleton City Council decided to focus their economic development efforts on investing in local businesses rather than the traditional approach of luring businesses to Littleton from elsewhere by offering incentives and tax breaks. Chris Gibbons, director of the Business/ Industry Affairs office, has developed and refined this economic gardening approach over the past 20 years. The conversation discussed over two decades of Economic Gardening.

View Archived Webinar

back to top

e-Commerce 2008 Webinar Series

As part of the National e-Commerce Extension Initiative, a Webinar series, began October 27, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. (CST). The hour long Webinars were designed for Extension educators, economic development professionals and other interested parties who have a desire to work with local leaders, citizens, and organizations to build a strong, vibrant plan for introducing and effectively using broadband in their communities. The archived e-Commerce 2008 Webinar Series topics are as follows:

Connecting Rural Communities Webinar
October 27, 2008
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. CST
View Archived Webinar

Internet Strategies to Improve Farm Business Management Webinar
November 11, 2008
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. CST
View Archived Webinar

Helping Artisans Reach Global Markets Webinar
November 20, 2008
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. CST
View Archived Webinar

Strengthening Competitive Advantage of Rural Businesses with e-Commerce and Experience Economy Strategies
December 16, 2008
10:00 - 11:00 a.m. CST
View Archived Webinar

back to top