As a rural speaker, it's great to get occasional national media features.
Has there ever been a harder time for conferences? Between the economy and the expanding technology of distance meetings, you have to provide exceptional value to even get people to turn out. For conferences focused on rural and small town issues, it’s twice as challenging because of the distances involved. Plus, it’s tough to find speakers who really understand small town and small business realities. And most techie speakers have trouble translating new technology into plain language.
Talking small towns in New York City.
I help conference organizers provide useful information to audiences, especially small business people, small town and rural residents. My successes and my failures help me connect deeply with people, and share some of the ways that small businesses can survive and grow in small towns. Because I use new technologies in my own businesses and because I’ve taught hundreds of classroom hours on computer and business subjects, I speak from experience.
I am a small town business owner with a retail store, a cattle ranch, and a consulting business. Together, Sheila Scarborough and I developed Tourism Currents, for tourism professionals to learn social media marketing. I don’t just talk about business, entrepreneurship, tourism and rural issues; I live them.
Sharing tourism ideas with an engaged North Dakota audience
I’ve spoken at around 100 events, including entrepreneur conferences, business groups, small town conferences, tourism associations, and chambers of commerce, with audiences ranging from 10 to 600. My topics have included social media, small business, social networking and new technologies, business planning, and marketing. Based on your schedule, we can arrange a workshop, keynote, or a question and answer session.
Topics
You are welcome to suggest a topic of your own, or to work with me on a customized presentation. You can also select from my favorite topics.
Keynote:
Barry Moltz and I bring diverse business experience.
- The Whole World is Like a Small Town: Lessons from Rural Entrepreneurs
Our economy is more like a small town now, with tight lending and low consumer demand. Technology has made it easy for every one of your customers to talk to every other one of your customers, just like a small town. And society is more focused than ever on small neighborhoods and local business, just like small towns. When the whole world seems like one small town, small towns are the learning lab, and small town entrepreneurs hold secrets to business survival.
Barry Moltz and I also present “The Whole World is Like a Small Town: Lessons from Rural Entrepreneurs” as a duo.
Small Business:
- Getting Down to Business with Social Media Marketing
Everyone is talking about social media tools, but how do they work for small business? We’ll go through a four step process to create a living and working plan that brings social media marketing right into the heart of your business. - Small Business Ideas for Small Towns
What businesses work in small towns? I’ll bring a booklet of 20 great ideas, with a few bonuses thrown in.
Tourism:
Sheila Scarborough and I present tourism workshops.
- Finding Your Local Social Media Champions
You’ve developed your skills to spread the word about your destination online. Now, let’s find and support the army of people who can be your online champions. Online media makers of all kinds are out there: bloggers, video bloggers, Facebook and Twitter mavens on subjects like travel, parenting, sports, foods and your locale. Here’s how to network to find them, how to evaluate them to know which ones are the right ones to work with, and how to work with them differently than traditional media. - Charge Premium Prices and Visitors Will Thank You
Visitors are more willing than ever to pay a premium for good works. Social media gives you the room to stretch out and share the story of your good works, so you can earn those premium prices. Now that the online world makes everything like a small town, your small town survival skills become extra valuable online.
I frequently partner with Sheila Scarborough to present on tourism topics.
Videos of my presentations:
- 140 Conference Smalltown, “Why Small Towns Need Social Media“
- Social Media Tulsa Keynote, “The Small Town Secret to Social Media“
- SXSW, “The Whole World is Like a Small Town: Lessons From Rural Entrepreneurs”
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Getting the audience involved at the Social Media Breakfast at South by Southwest.
140 Conference New York City, “Bridging the Gap Between Towns of 1,000 and Cities of 10 Million” with Cody Heitschmidt
- 140 Conference Smalltown, “The Small Town Advantage“
- Social Media Breakfast at South by Southwest, “How Social Media and Business Thrive in Rural America“
Prices
My speaking fee for keynotes and major workshops in 2012 is US$3200 plus expenses. Webinars and distance presentations range from $900 to $1500. For presentations within just a few hours of Alva, Oklahoma, reduced rates are possible.
Next steps…
To open the conversation, stop by the Contact page and tell me about what would work best for you.
Or learn more about what we can do together, on the Media page.