Develop This: Economic and Community Development

Strategic planning for your community is great, but if you can add in a layer of futurist thinking, you can put together a very meaningful plan that gets ahead of the curve.  Marty Vanagas is back to give us some tips for layering in this futurist thinking.

In this encore episode, Dennis gets some advice from Marty for starting this 'design thinking' for your organization and your community.

Some basic tips include:

-Be specific with your questions of the future.  Determine a good focal question to begin the discussion.

-Imagine coming into your community for the very first time.  What do you notice?

-Look at the environment around you and scan it for trends.  How will those trends adjust in the future?

-Challenge old ways of thinking. 

Bespoke Futures Blog

KEDGE Futures Training

In this encore episode recorded in late 2019, Jason interviews Ron Starner, Executive Vice President of Conway, Inc. and Site Selection Magazine.  Ron was on location at the Mid America EDC Conference in Downtown Chicago to provide his annual update to attendees on the results of the consultants survey.

Ron talks big data, his affinity for the Midwest, and the value of building and maintaining relationships over the long haul.

Mid America EDC

Connect with Ron Starner

Site Selection Magazine

Conway, Inc.

In this episode, Dennis interviews Michael Southard, Director of Economic Development for the Choctaw Nation Economic Development Partnership in Durant, OK.

Mike has over 25 years experience in economic and community development and is an IEDC award winner and serves an IEDC Accredited EDO.

His service territory is over 11,000 square miles, and Dennis digs deep with questions on rural America, misconceptions, the economic development career path, and anticipated future challenges.

Choctaw Nation Economic Development Partnership

Connect with Michael Southard, CEcD

This week's guest knows co-host Dennis way too well because she works with him on a daily basis.

Dana Millard is the Economic Development Project Director for Lee County Economic Development Group. 

Dana’s responsibilities include being the lead on Workforce Development and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs, organizing events, generating communications and heads the business retention and expansion campaign throughout Lee County region. She currently sits on the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council for SE Iowa and connects education with industry to build a talent pipeline.

In today's episode Dennis and Dana will discuss the ways in which the organization has adjusted its delivery of programs during the pandemic.  Tune in for lots of ideas and tips.

More about Lee County Economic Development Group

Connect with Dana Millard

Knowing that 2020 has been a crazy year, how should organizations look at budgeting for 2021?

In this episode, Dennis and Jason quiz each other on estimating revenue, spending reserves, slashing programs, considering layoffs, and a number of other topics relevant in today's uncertain environment.

In this episode, Dennis interviews Brad Barth live on stage at the virtual Main Street Summit in North Dakota.

Brad serves as the Executive Director of Forward Devils Lake Corporation and talks fishing, COVID-19, and living in a lifestyle community.

More About Devils Lake

Connect with Brad Barth

What in the world does lemon water have to do with this business of economic and community development?

In this episode, Dennis and Jason wax poetically about goals, personal development, and forming good habits.

In the current environment, economic development and community leaders are spending a lot of time on triage – trying to keep existing businesses and programs afloat, working with greater urgency, and managing with fewer resources.

The depth of our uncertainty feels bottomless. Even with the promise of a vaccine, a full economic recovery feels dauntingly distant.

In this episode, Dennis chats with Tom Stellman and Tracye McDaniel of TIP Strategies on the pressing questions in stategic planning.

1. What can leadership do right now?

2. How do we confront an uncertain future?

3. How do we communicate when there is so much discord?

4. How much can I really influence the future under current circumstances?

5. Can I be creative if my budget is shrinking?

6. At the speed at which things are changing, can I rely on data?

7. Should community wide economic recovery be my primary objective?

8. Is it even possible to plan ahead anymore?

Connect with Tom Stellman

Connect with Tracye McDaniel

Check out TIP Strategies

About Tom Stellman

As CEO and founder of TIP Strategies, Inc., Tom has national and international experience in economic development and workforce analysis. Tom is the lead author of TIP's Texas Automotive Profile and has spoken extensively about automotive supplier attraction strategies. He also developed and launched the highly successful Invest in Texas Alliance, a marketing initiative targeting domestic and international growth companies which generated over $3 billion in investment leads and facilitated the location of 15 companies.

Tom's recent projects include developing a talent-focused strategy as part of a WIRED-funded initiative for a 26-county region in Kentucky and Indiana; crafting diversification strategies for military dependent communities in Texas (Fort Hood and Sheppard AFB) and Tennessee (Fort Campbell); preparing an economic development strategic plan for Hinds County (Jacksonville), Mississippi; and creating marketing strategies for suburban communities along the expansion of the President George Bush Tollway in the Dallas area.

Prior to establishing TIP, Tom was director of the Office of International Business for the Texas Department of Commerce. He led a 10-person staff charged with promoting the state's exports, marketing the state to foreign investors, and facilitating communication between foreign investors and economic development organizations statewide.

About Tracye McDaniel

Tracye McDaniel, as president of TIP Strategies, Inc., brings a global perspective to local strategies. Throughout her thirty-year career, Tracye has advised and supported five governors in all facets of economic development. She has led marketing efforts in over 51 countries. Tracye is a trusted advisor to CEOs, nonprofits, public organizations, and private enterprises.

Prior to joining TIP, Tracye was the founder and CEO of McDaniel Strategy Ecosystems. She has served as president and chief executive officer of the Texas Economic Development Corporation and TexasOne, an independently funded and operated 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to marketing the state globally for business attraction, retention, and foreign direct investment.

Before that, Tracye was Founding CEO of Choose New Jersey, one of a few economic development organizations in the country wholly funded through private sources. While there, she shaped the state’s brand for economic development marketing as well as its business retention and recruitment strategies. Tracye was also one of the founding creators of Opportunity Houston at the Greater Houston Partnership where she served in the role of Executive Vice President and COO.

Tracye is a widely recognized strategist with C-Suite level experience in all facets of the organizational development, corporate engagement, economic development, and the travel marketing industry. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin.

Dennis and Jason recently returned from an appearance in North Dakota.

In this episode, they share insights gained from travel, share a new definition of rural, and pontificate on the unique perspective of sustainable real estate development from North Dakota's Governor Burgum.

The links referenced in the show were not immediately available, but will be posted here once available.

Dennis and Jason recently joined the North Dakota economic development community at the 2020 Main Street Summit.  Although the bulk of the conference was virtual, Jason had a chance to interview North Dakota's own Governor Doug Burgum.

This episode was recorded in front of a small live audience and live-streamed all across the state.

Governor Burgum enjoyed incredible success during his career in business and plays a very active role in economically-sustainable development as governor.

Special thanks to the Economic Development Association of North Dakota and the North Dakota Department of Commerce for hosting the podcast at this year's event.

More about Governor Doug Burgum