Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium hosted by Oklahoma State University. It’s an online event on October 13, 2020.
What is the Symposium about?
The Symposium is meant to raise awareness, attract resources and stimulate research toward solving grand challenges facing rural communities. And goodness knows we have some grand challenges.
I’ll be facilitating two community round table discussions where you can share your challenges, opportunities and success stories.
Who can participate?
Yes, Oklahoma State faculty and students will participate, but it’s open to all of us. Rural community members from across the U.S. and around the world are invited to connect and learn about the latest discoveries, trends and approaches for rural renewal.
Corporate partners, non-profit organizations, government and tribal leaders, and anyone with a passion for rural people and places are invited to participate. I think I fall into the “anyone with a passion for rural” category.
What will the event be like?
There will be invited speakers, oral and poster presentations by researchers, round table discussions for community leaders, networking opportunities, and award presentations.
The students from the Rural Scholars program will describe their studies and present the findings of their work in actual rural communities. Their projects include deconstruction (how best to remove dilapidated structures) and comparing ag technology between rural Oklahoma and rural China.
Other speakers will cover rural issues including:
- broadband access
- health systems
- water resources
- infrastructure and economic development
- education and youth leadership development
What virtual platform will it use?
The event is using Whova and Zoom. I just participated in another event using this same setup, and it’s user friendly. Here’s a screenshot of a discussion session from that event:
This was the SMTulsa conference on the Whova platform with Zoom streaming. It made it easy to connect for group discussions and speaker presentations.
You don’t need a Zoom account to participate.
How much does it cost and where do we register?
You are invited to register and join the Symposium no matter where you live. I’d love to see you at the community round tables!
The cost is US$25.
The schedule is online, and you can register for the Symposium here.
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