Nebraska Ag Connection - Hosts Sought for Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference

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Hosts Sought for Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference
Nebraska Ag Connection - 06/19/2018

The Nebraska Extension's Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities (CEC) Conference team is seeking engaged communities to serve as hosts for the 2019 and 2020 conferences to be held in the spring of each year. Conference planners are anticipating hosting the CEC conference in Nebraska's Southeast region in 2019 and Northeast region in 2020.

Here are a few highlights from the 2018 CEC Conference held in Hastings:

- Over 90 speakers and attendees with representation from six states and most regions of Nebraska.

- Attendees spent approximately $9,400 at local food, hotel, and retail businesses over the course of the event.

- Conference received positive ratings with 98% indicating they learned something new and nearly 70% indicating that they will do something different as a result of the conference.

- All respondents to the evaluation said that holding sessions in downtown venues enhanced the conference experience.

This premier entrepreneurial conference is for all persons interested in building entrepreneurial communities throughout Nebraska and beyond. Key components of the conference include:

- The conference is a "Noon to Noon" conference, so many registrants will spend the night at a local hotel or B&B.

- All general sessions are held in a large venue able to accommodate all participants - most likely 100+ people.

- All breakout sessions are held in local venues (i.e. restaurants, retail stores, art gallery) with opportunity to meet the business owner.

- Networking and learning from each other is a key objective. The conference is designed for participants to have enough time between sessions to network and shop.

- Sessions are designed for participants to learn from each other, gain resources/information to take back to their communities and, as a community team, think differently about how to spur entrepreneurial growth.

- CEC content provides a holistic look at the entrepreneurial community. Sessions help a community create a sense of place where entrepreneurs want to live as well as build a supportive entrepreneurial culture.

More information, including basic community requirements for host communities, is available at: communityvitality.unl.edu/connecting-entrepreneurial-communities and an electronic application can be found go.unl.edu/cecapplication.

Only proposals submitted by the deadline will be considered. Deadline for consideration to host the 2019 (Southeast region) or 2020 (Northeast region) CEC Conferences will be no later than 5 p.m. on June 22

For questions, please contact the Nebraska Extension CEC Planning team members, Marilyn Schlake (mschlake1@unl.edu, 402-472-4138) or Jason Weigle (jason.weigle@unl.edu, 402-768-.7212).

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