Feb. 8, 2006 – Community leaders and economic developers can learn more about innovative approaches to help existing businesses remain healthy and strong at a one-day workshop on Feb. 28.
The “Taking Care of Business” workshop, presented by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, will provide a close-up look at the solutions and resources communities are using for successful business retention and expansion programs. The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Conference Center of the Moore Norman Technology Center South Penn Campus, 13301 S. Penn Ave. in Oklahoma City. Registration begins at 8 a.m.
“Keeping local businesses strong and assisting them to grow is vital since up to 85 percent of new jobs are created by existing companies, rather than new companies that are recruited into our communities,” said Vikki Dearing, business solutions director for the Commerce Department. “Plus, recruiting businesses can cost many times more than jobs created by retention and expansion programs.”
In addition to hearing the best practices of Oklahoma communities, attendees should also gain an understanding of business retention and expansion basics, hear of a partnership model used in Georgia, and learn of resources made available by the Commerce Department and other providers.
Registration is $35 per attendee and includes continental breakfast, lunch and all workshop materials. Attendees must register their information by Feb. 23. The registration amount may be paid in advance or at door.
Greg King, a leading expert on business retention and expansion, will deliver the keynote on Georgia’s Business InSight Partnership. King helped develop the statewide collaborative initiative which focuses on efficiently delivering resources to existing business and industry at the local level.
King, a certified economic developer, is currently a strategic partners officer with Georgia Tech. He has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Oklahoma.
Other speakers at the workshop include David Meyers, Ponca City Development Authority executive director, and Ann Gaines, Bartlesville Development Corp. business retention and expansion manager.
Breakout sessions will include creative business financing, new ODOC Web site resources, organizing your existing industry team, e-Synchronist business survey information and interpreting the data, going global and expanding your markets.
The Commerce Department encourages all who support existing business and industry – such as community leaders, economic developers, chamber officials, workforce professionals and education professionals – to attend.
To register or see the workshop brochure, click the appropriate link below. For personal assistance, call Christy Davis at 405-815-5345.
- Improving Rural Housing: turning blighted dilapidated houses into new homes - May 7, 2021
- Are marijuana shops good or bad for small towns? - April 22, 2021
- Downtown is your town’s core: How to make your case - February 22, 2021
- Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns - December 10, 2020
- In an economic crisis, spend your brainpower before your dollars - November 25, 2020
- Video: How to fill empty car dealership buildings for the holidays - November 6, 2020
- How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here - October 20, 2020
- The Idea Friendly Method to surviving a business crisis - October 6, 2020
- Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13 - September 26, 2020
- Cheap placemaking idea: instant murals - September 11, 2020
