Final Event Report and Next Steps

Wahkiakum – Naselle Business Fair

April 18, 2009

 

This report has been prepared for the Lower Columbia Economic Development Council, Cathlamet, Washington, the support team and business community as part of the production of the Wahkiakum – Naselle Business Fair produced by Be Cause Business Resources, Inc., Longview, Washington and North Bend, Oregon.

 

Summary.A business fair was held on April 18, 2009 in the Norse Hall, Puget Island in rural Southwest Washington. The event was staged for the local business people of Wahkiakum County and the neighboring town of Naselle in Pacific County. Purpose of the event was to encourage communication and collaboration during a time of severe economic stress. Twenty-seven ofthe approximate 160+ businesses in the district were represented (17%). Eight of these 27 and a ninth business owner that could not attend the event are making initial steps towards forming one or more interest groups that could further the development of their business ventures through shared learning. The Business Fair was made possible by a $5,000 grant from the Washington State Microenterprise Association.

 

Background.On February 24, David Goodroe, director of the Lower Columbia Economic Development Council, and John Anderson, president of Be Cause Business Resources, Inc., North Bend, OR, signed an agreement for John’s firm to produce a business fair to stimulate communication, cooperation and collaboration by local business owners. Kate Packard works with John in the firm.

 

During March, the event program was created, speakers were engaged and promotions begun. EDC research, including a database of 160+ business entities in the EDC district and a survey of 56 businesses that had expressed their management needs, was used to design the program. The EDC district consists of Wahkiakum County and the unincorporated town of Naselle. Naselle is located in adjacent Pacific County but is close to several small communities in western Wahkiakum so it has been included in the Lower Columbia EDC.

 

David said desired outcomes from the Business Fair included “just getting local businesses together to talk more” and ideally to facilitate the creation of entrepreneur clubs or interest clusters. A group of about eight farmers and bed and breakfasts on Puget Island began a Food and Farm Network in 2006 that sponsors a once-a-year Food and Farm Summit and a weekly Farmers Market from May to October. David dreamed of one or more additional groups of businesses forming like this for mutual support.

 

Preparation. The EDC sent an announcement of the Fair by email and regular mail to all businesses in their district. A press release was sent to the Wahkiakum Eagle weekly newspaper on March 10 that ran in the March 19 issue. Newspaper ads were run for the next four consecutive weeks (March 26, April 2, 9 and 16) leading up to the event with changing copy urging businesses to attend. Posters and flyers were produced and distributed throughout the district by John and Kate. John and Kate interviewed approximately 100 of the 160 businesses by visiting and phone calls.

 

The Norse Hall on Puget Island was contracted to hold the event. The price of attendance was established at $5 per person if reserved by April 10 and $10 thereafter. The nominal fee was charged so business persons would value the event; the registration was below cost to insure that no one would be excluded because of price.

 

Exhibitor registration was $20 before April 3 and $35 thereafter. Exhibitors included: Bank of America; Bank of the Pacific; Be Cause Business Resources Inc.; Cathlamet Library; Columbia River Reader; Thomas Doumit, Attorney; Toastmasters International; Wahkiakum Eagle and Wahkiakum West. Sharon’s Pizza and More, a local restaurant, contracted to provide continental breakfast, lunch and refreshments for $9.50 per person. First-class speakers from the wider region were engaged. The five speakers were briefed in reports, conference calls and personal meetings.

 

During the last half of 2008, several restaurants had closed in the district. While the Fair was being planned, other businesses closed including the bookstore and a café, and the wine shop announced its closing.

 

In the weeks leading up to the Fair, John posted announcements on www.LowerColumbiaEDC.organd built a collaborative series of web pages for discussion groups, an online directory of businesses in the district and other resources. Invitations were sent to about 60 businesses who participated in the EDC survey of business needs conducted in August 2008 and registrants to the April 18 Business Fair. By the time of the event about 20 had joined the online group. As of May 9, 2009, in preparation of this report there are 49 pending invitations and 27 active members. This site has been developed to provide local businesses with asynchronous collaboration resources to augment meetings and phone conversations.

 

By April 18, 53 business owners had made a verbal commitment to attend. There were 30 business people who attended the Business Fair as participants. These 30 participants represented 23 business organizations, all but one of which is based in the EDC district. Another 30 persons attending were exhibitors, speakers and support staff including the EDC, Chamber of Commerce and other community leaders. In this second group of 30 persons attending, there were five additional Wahkiakum area businesses represented, for a total of 27 local businesses attending the event. Another 22 businesses said they would attend but did not.

 

The Event. The fair started at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning. After registering, participants were invited to fill out an “Everybody’s Business” quiz which tested them on their knowledge of their fellow entrepreneurs. More than one participant commented during the day that regardless of the fact that they are a small community, very few of the business owners know each other or know much about each other. The quiz was designed to get people talking to one another.

 

Sandra Suran CPA, The Suran Group, Wilsonville, Oregon, was the keynote speaker. Sandra serves on the Portland Federal Reserve and relayed the latest economic news from meetings with Ben Bernanke at the San Francisco Federal Reserve days earlier. She reported that the worst of the current decline may have been reached.

 

A quick lunch with exhibit time was followed by two simultaneous financial talks, one by Steve Rosvold CPA, KRM Business Solutions, Vancouver, Washington, and the second by Susan Hoosier, certified business advisor and Small Business Development Center director in Longview.

 

Marketing expert Jerry Fletcher, “The Networking Ninja” of Wilsonville, Oregon, was joined by Richard Erickson of the Cathlamet Bed and Breakfast, Villa at the Cape Horn, to discuss low cost and no cost promotion on and off line. Richard owned a Dallas advertising agency, served as Lower Columbia EDC director from 2002-05 and currently is on the EDC board.

 

A leadership class by Bob Metke of Longview concluded the classes. Mid afternoon, the entire audience broke into six randomly organized groups of about six or seven each and discussed different lists of six provocative questions. Each group then merged with another group to share their answers and practice brainstorming and collaboration. Their work was collected and is available for further community development and use.

 

Jerry Fletcher concluded the session with remarks about trust, the essential ingredient of successful business – trust between the business owner and customer, between business owner and vendor, and between the business owner and the community. He encouraged participants to continue working together to build trust and further their own business progress.

 

All sessions were recorded by both audio and video and they are being posted as they become available at www.bigtent.com/groups/wahk

 

A second “Everybody’s Business” quiz was collected after encouraging participants to work collaboratively to answer the questions. $50 gift certificates to local businesses were awarded to Valerie Windsor, manager of Bank of America, who won the first business quiz; and Rick Nelson, The Wahkiakum Eagle, who won the second business quiz. David Goodroe announced that Kim Hoover, owner of The Paint Pallet, won the raffle and a new computer. David handed out additional prizes and the event closed with his thanks to participants and organizers.

 

The total EDC budget for the event was $7,200. It was funded by the $5,000 grant from the Washington State Microenterprise Association, the EDC treasury and registration fees collected.

 

NEXT STEPS -Interest Clusters Begin. Six persons expressed interest in participating in the formation of ongoing groups at the conclusion of the event. A story was published in the Eagle on April 30 announcing the formation of interest groups. Their interests are as follows.

 

Name	Position	City	Main Interest	Other Interest
Tom Doumit	Attorney and member of the EDC board	Cathlamet	Financial management	Computerized accounting
Kayrene Gilbertsen	Skamokawa Vista Park/Port District #2	Skamokawa	Marketing Wahkiakum	Tourism Development
Jennifer Hanigan	Attorney, Hanigan Law Office & Wahkiakum Title & Escrow	Cathlamet	Marketing	Business development
Kim Hoover	Paint Pallet Interior Design	Puget Island	Marketing	Financial management
Mike Matthews	Matthews Cycle Works	Rosburg	Marketing	Business development
Rick Nelson	Publisher Wahkiakum Eagle weekly newspaper	Cathlamet	Financial management	Computerized accounting

 

 

 

Persons who have since expressed interest in participating in clusters are:

Name	Position	City	Main Interest	Other Interest
Cyndi Schrock	Partner, Schrocko Auto Body	Cathlamet	Computerized accounting	Business development
Earl Amos	Owner, Earl and Shirley’s Riverview Restaurant	Cathlamet	Computerized accounting	Business development
Hollie Longtain	Golden Ladder Interiors (did not attend the business fair)	Cathlamet	Business development	Financial management

 

Evaluations. Thirteen of the 30 participants (43%) and one of the 30 exhibitors, speakers and support persons completed evaluations. These fourteen evaluators rated the event at 4.37 out of a possible 5.0 for satisfaction. These evaluations are useful but are not statistically reliable; we did not obtain evaluations from a minimum of 60% of the participants.

 

Press Coverage.A press release draft was sent to David Goodroe, the Eagle and speakers Monday, April 20 for fact-checking. After feedback, a final press release with photos and cut lines was sent in later on Monday.

Five publications in the Lower Columbia River area were called and sent the releases: the Longview Daily News, Columbia River Reader, Coast River Business Journal, Clatskanie Chief and the Eagle. The Eagle published a story about the event (April 30). No other stories are known to have been printed.

The Business Fair focused on providing support specifically to the EDC business community, therefore there was some reluctance to promote to a wider regional audience outside Wahkiakum.

 

NEXT STEPS - Regional Involvement.Many of the problems which the EDC district business community faces are similar to businesses from Tillamook to St. Helens in Oregon and from Kalama to Aberdeen in Washington. Timber, fishing, local property tax base issues, tourism, support of small manufacturing from state and federal organizations all affect local businesses but little can be done by one community or county.

 

Shopping local is a great concept but does the local population have enough buying power to support the local businesses? Online sales offers opportunities to rural businesses that are web savvy and grave threats to some small businesses which ignore the Internet. As the EDC district businesses increase their district-wide marketing, wider reach into regional markets could provide additional revenue sources.

 

We invited regional business leaders to attend. This could be done better in the future. The only regional leader to attend came as a result of two conversations with Mary McArthur, executive director of Columbia Pacific Economic Development District (COLPAC), headquartered in St. Helens. Their organization represents three and a half counties in rural northwestern Oregon. Carmen Kulp, business development officer, represented COLPAC and was one of the 30 event participants.

 

Other formal regional business leaders were invited from Pacific County, Clatskanie, Rainier and Longview. They expressed interest but did not attend. Building ongoing trade relationships, longer lead times and more formal networking could lead to greater regional business opportunities.

 

 

Suggestions for Next Time

1. Consider charging more for attendance, then offer discounts. A higher registration fee might have increased perceived value and commitment. An increase of $5 or $10 might increase the perceived value without penalizing entrepreneurs with tight budgets.

 

2. Accept credit/debit card payment and require payment prior to the end of early registration. Of the 53 who registered, 27 came. Of those 27, 23 had paid in advance. Of the 26 who registered but did not attend, eight had paid in advance. We knew prepayment was essential for attendance but in the final two weeks we focused upon securing verbal commitments. Taking a credit/debit card payment over the phone would have solved the dilemma of asking busy business owners to mail or drop off a $5 or $10 payment. Requiring payment in advance may have resulted in higher attendance.

 

3. Engage the assistance of a technician familiar with the technical equipment. Have everything set up in advance. We had a digital projector but didn’t have a dedicated computer for the projector. We didn’t have a dedicated technician. The first speaker, Sandra Suran, arrived with her laptop later than expected. John connected it to the projector but wasn’t truly familiar with diagnosing a projector set-up problem and it was more complex than plug and play. Technical problems with the projector-computer delayed the beginning of Sandra’s talk by 15-30 minutes which forced a collapsing of her keynote and what was intended as a separate class on collaboration; her speaking time extended 15 minutes into the lunch/exhibit period.

 

4. Make the classes longer. Classes were 35 minutes which was just too short. Classes should have been at least 45-55 minutes.

 

5. Make more time for better exhibitor exposure to participants. The time for lunch and exhibitors was reduced because of technical problems encountered early in the day. At least one evaluation mentioned participants wished to spend more time with exhibitors.

 

6. Have dedicated timers for each class to give signals to speakers indicating time remaining for them to conclude, then hold to the schedule.

 

7. Schedule the event so that it does not coincide with the last day of fishing season, or the opening day of the Cowlitz Farmers Market, or the close of tax season.

 

8. Adjust the thermostat before the event so that the space is warm and comfortable.

 

9. Consider making the event slightly longer if the amount of content is held constant. Perhaps it could go to 4:00 or 4:30 rather than 3:30.

 

10. Start planning earlier. Fifty-three days is not enough time.

 

11. Make a strategic marketing plan several months in advance to increase participation by business owners. Of the 160 – 170 business entities in the EDC district, twenty-four were represented. Overall, of 60 people in attendance, 30 were support people and 30 were participants. It’s wonderful that we had so much support, but what could be done differently to get more local business people in the room?

 

12. With more advance time, additional stories could have been put into the Eagle to heighten interest and attendance.

 

13. In the future, greater regional promotion could result in more local attendance and with leaders from neighboring counties, greater progress on regional solutions.

 

14. Enlist the help of local people of influence to encourage attendance. Missing were local leaders, both formal and informal. Find those individuals and enroll them in the importance of the event.

15. Ask all participants to introduce themselves. Speakers were introduced and we asked the exhibitors to introduce themselves, but we didn’t have the participants introduce themselves.

 

 

Comments Received in Contacts Made After the Event

 

“I loved it. I met people I had never met and got to speak to people I had never spoken to before.” Cyndi Schrock, Schrocko Auto Body, Cathlamet

 

“It was good. I enjoyed it.” Jennifer Hanigan, Attorney, Cathlamet

 

“Forming groups like the farmers may be difficult. The farmers live in proximity year-round, meet regularly, and have strong leadership. It may take specific efforts by a facilitator or coach to get other groups started and maintained. Entrepreneurs must see enough progress to justify the time investment. It will take concerted effort over an extended period of months to change behaviors and result in new positive habits.” Jim Newcomer, Consultant, Lake Oswego

 

“I’m a retired teacher and in teaching you go in the room and you shut the door and do your thing, and don’t bother me. I was kind of enthused about the idea of businesses pooling their talents and their ideas and linking together. It’s not something I’d thought of. . . . I was enthused about the notion that we could get together and brainstorm and in some way join our businesses to fight the battle. . . . It had never crossed my mind.” Mike Matthews, Matthews Cycle Works, Rosburg

 

 

Rural Economic Development Resources

 

Rural, small community, and small business economic development research was reviewed including Vital Economy, Sirolli Institute and the Main Street Program.

 

Vital Economy Inc., Riderwood, MD worked with the Clallam County EDC in Washington’s Olympic Peninsula from 2002 to 2004. They organized local businesses into industry clusters which mapped their assets and developed opportunities. We read the 85-page report produced by Vital Economy and had several discussions with a colleague who is part of the Vital Economy Team. We also spoke with the current EDC director in Clallam for feedback about results five years after their ambitious project.

 

One Vital Economy method we recommend to the Wahkiakum interest groups is to map the economic assets and needs of the district and surrounding market places to search for opportunities to increase revenue and trade. One possibility discussed is renewing tourism development methods specifically towards Geo-tourism, Eco-tourism and Agri-tourism from Portland, Seattle and regional traffic on Washington State Road 4 between Interstate 5 and Coast Highway 101, and ferry traffic from Oregon State Road 30 between Portland and Astoria. The Food and Farm Network has been building agri-tourism as a number of local farms are doubling as bed and breakfast facilities attracting city dwellers who want to experience life on a farm.

 

Dr. Ernesto Sirolliof the Sirolli Institute is working with a number of Oregon rural communities. Sirolli moved to the United States in the 1990s and wrote the book “Ripples from the Zambini” about his work in Africa and later Australia. The Sirolli Institute has done rural development projects in British Columbia and Minnesota. Sirolli bases his work on E.F. Schumacher’s classic work “Small is Beautiful” (1981). We have read Schumacher, read Sirolli, researched his projects and have spoken with the Sirolli Institute director about the Wahkiakum project.

 

A key Sirolli concept that we encourage the Wahkiakum clusters to consider is his “trinity of management.” This principle says that small organizations require three different skill sets to be successful: sales, operations and organization. Entrepreneurs typically excel at one, are possibly adequate with a second and terrible with the third. Successful entrepreneurs partner with those who have the skills the entrepreneur is missing. “The most that you can achieve, when you learn to do something that you hate, is that you will become mediocre. In business you cannot be mediocre.” Ernesto said.

 

Main Street Programis a third key method we suggest interest groups to consider. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C. is the sponsor of the Main Street Program. One of the support persons who attended the Business Fair is Wendy Kosloski who is on the board of the Longview Downtown Association. I attended a recent Washington State Main Street training with Wendy and a group of city, chamber and downtown officials. Wahkiakum businesses could learn from the 100+ member Downtown Association and the Washington State/National Main Street projects.

 

Four major principles of the Main Street approach are: organization, promotion, design and economic restructure. The Wahkiakum interest clusters might review how 1,600 Main Street Projects in 44 states are increasing the value of their local assets with increased labor dollars circulating within their communities and less dollars leaving town. Besides stimulating the local economy, these projects build tourism, pride and support new ventures.

 

These are valuable first steps to encourage existing and new small business owners to rely upon the fundamentals of customer service, product innovation and differentiation, customer satisfaction, business planning and financial management to guide their efforts and reach their personal goals.

 

 

Note – See other files accompanying this report:

LCEDC Business Fair Report: Participant Evaluations – LCEDC Business Fair Evaluations.doc

Let's Get Talking: Small Group Questions – LCEDC Business Fair Small Group Results.doc

Evaluations – 14 files – LCEDCEvaluationApril1809_1.jpg and so on.