Author: correllcoaching

The Who, What, When, Where and Why of TEDxICC

Published in Independence Daily Reporter April 20, 2016

On April 29, at Memorial Hall in Independence, Kansas, Independence Community College (ICC) will host TEDxICC, only the second TEDx event held in Kansas and the first by a Kansas community college.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design and according to http://www.TED.com;

“TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.”

ICC Associate Professor of Communication, Konye Ori, had help organize a TEDx event in his previous life at a community college in Indiana.  He volunteered to prepare the application to TED to host a local, independently organized TEDx event in Independence.  The primary requirement to host a TEDx is to provide a day of diverse speakers all with “ideas worth spreading”.  We received our approval  and a planning committee was formed  adopting a theme of “Rethinking Tomorrow”.  Another requirement is to make high quality videos of the presentations for upload to the TED web site and posting to YouTube.  We’ve hired a professional production company to do the recording to make sure the quality is top notch.

We went to work finding speakers; some we knew and some found out about our event on the TED web site.  We have a great lineup of 13 speakers for the day, each agreeing to present their “idea worth spreading” in 13 minutes or fewer.

Our TEDxICC presenters are not paid; they participate for the exposure and to include a TEDx presentation on their resumes.  It is not our job, as organizers, to make sure the content fits within any particular “view” of “rethinking tomorrow”, but rather to present a day of diverse topics for consideration by those in attendance and those viewing the videos afterward.

The best answers for change come after listening to several points of view and using our critical thinking skills to build our path to the future.

Come and join us for a day of “ideas worth sharing” on April 29 from 9:00am to 3:00pm at Memorial Hall in Independence.  Students are free but need to register; tickets for non-students are $30.  See http://www.indycc.edu/tedxicc for the link to register and list of presenters.

Entrepreneurial Mindset: The Greatest Rural Opportunity

Published in the Independence Daily Reporter April 13, 2016

The greatest opportunity for our rural communities is an entrepreneurial mindset.  When everyone in a community has “the mindset” problems are solved, markets are fulfilled, jobs are created and communities grow. In Independence, I attribute the creation and development of Fab Lab ICC to an ever-growing circle of entrepreneurial thinkers.

Such was my message as a panelist on Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Kansas Rural Opportunities Conference in Dodge City recently.

When I began developing the Successful Entrepreneur Program at ICC back in 2006, I looked at entrepreneurship only through the lens of small business ownership.  But, in about 2010, I began to realize that “entrepreneurship” is a mindset, a way of thinking that everyone needs.  I began to realize that rural communities need to become more entrepreneurial in the way they think about the problems and challenges of the new economy.  In my 5- minute introduction, I presented a rapid-fire list of “Top 10 Tips to Develop Entrepreneurial Mindset” in a community.

  1. Become a community of entrepreneurial thinkers
  2. Informal weekly entrepreneurial gatherings, such as the Entrepreneurs Brown Bag Lunch and Breakfast series in Independence and Coffeyville.
  3.         Become a Network Kansas “E-Community”
  4. Gap financing for start-ups and existing businesses
  5.         Don’t spend big money on consultants or business recruiters
  6.         Initiate Entrepreneurial Mindset training for community members
  7. “Ice House” entrepreneurship program for community members and college students
  8. “Youth Entrepreneurs” for high school students
  9. “Catfish Tank” challenge for elementary and middle school students
  10.         Invite youth to come home
  11. Give high school graduates a mail box as a future welcome home
  12. Develop your own “Shark Tank” scenario
  13. Instead of consultants, use your use funds to sponsor start-ups
  14. Learn about SBIR/STTR grants for small for-profit entrepreneurs
  15. Some very small mom/pop operations have been successful
  16. Kansas Small Business Development Centers can help
  17. Work with Network Kansas to offer the “Economic Gardening” initiative to established businesses ready to grow to the next level
  18. Promote the beginning steps of business succession planning
  19. Help businesses “tune up” and stay responsive to the market long in advance of preparing to sell
  20. Build a Fab Lab or other Maker Space
  21. Every community has enough money to support one when people realize what it will mean for community pride and the local economy

As good things start to happen in these “entrepreneurial mindset” communities, businesses and individuals from outside become interested in coming to town to become a part of the action.

Moratorium on Spending Money on “Experts”

Moratorium on Spending Money on “Experts”

First published in the Independence Daily Reporter April 6, 2016

We should put a moratorium on spending any more money for “experts” in the following areas: 1.) Community branding, 2.) Business attraction, 3.) Community market studies. For all the money we’ve spent—and I think it may be upwards of $200,000 in the Montgomery County area—for these “experts” in the last 20 years we have little to show. We can do better.
Community Branding – These “experts” tell us to clean up our towns, fix our streets, and to make sure our way-finding signs clearly show visitors and new people how to find our businesses and attractions. Usually, they tell us we need a “theme” to attract visitors, but that we have to determine the “theme” ourselves.
Business Attractions – These “experts” tell us they have the connections to attract all manner of businesses to make our communities thrive again; manufacturing, restaurants and shopping. They can even find a grocery store to come into a small town that hasn’t been able to support one for years.
Community Market Studies – These “experts”, depending on how much we pay them, use all many tools, i.e. credit card transactions, surveys and polls to tell us how much “leakage” we have in money that our citizens are spending away from home.
It’s time to think about things differently in how we attract people and businesses to our area and quit spending money on these “experts” while we’re doing it. A friend of mine nailed it several years ago when he said “The best way to attract people and businesses to a town is be entrepreneurial and innovative and develop the local economy from within.”
If you think of the really “hot” areas of the country regarding economic development; Austin, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Northwest Arkansas and others, you’ll notice many don’t have “themes”. They have entrepreneurs and innovative people that are doing all kinds of cool stuff. The cool stuff first attracts people looking for the “experience” and then businesses who want to get in on the action.
The best “theme” for any community or area is to become known for the innovative entrepreneurs that solve problems in new and creative ways. This movement starts by developing an entrepreneurial mindset in all of our commercial, private, public and government institutions. Everyone in an area can learn to be innovative and entrepreneurial. Once that starts to happen, we can create the solutions ourselves without spending another $200,000 on “experts”.