WRPP Conference well-attended at Odessa

Washington Rural Pathways to Prosperity (WRPP) held a conference in Odessa and ten other locations throughout the state on Friday, November 15, at the Any Occasion Banquet Hall. The keynote speaker, Becky McCray, nationally known as a leader in the process of identifying and creating a small business eco-system was broadcast on a live webinar simultaneously at each of the 11 locations. McCray, participants and local facilitators could interact during the webinar and then continue their discussions and exercises at each meeting. The meeting in Odessa had the second largest attendance of all the meetings in the state.

McCray has co-authored Small Town Rules: How Big Brands and Small Businesses Can Prosper in a Connected Economy. The book provides strategies for communication and customer service with clients and consumers. She also writes the Small Biz Survival blog "because she believes small town entrepreneurs have a lot to teach other businesses, and when local entrepreneurs prosper, they help their small town prosper, too."

Other facilitators who attended were Margie Hall, Executive Director of the Lincoln County Economic Development Council, Alan Stanford representing the Small Business Development Center, who previously worked for 37 years in the banking industry, Professor William Kelley, a specialist in small town planning from Eastern Washington University, and Bridget Rohner, Lincoln County Extension Director.

Hall noted there will be follow up on the event and a summary of feedback and ideas that came up at the other ten sites across the state. An action plan will result "so that everyone can see what rose to the top as a few of the steps necessary to 'Lower the barriers to entry so more business ideas will be tried."