‘Rurban Round Up: Rural Policy Summer School, Rockin’ the Farm, Rural Small Business Trends, De Niro’s Emails, and More
Posted on | January 10, 2012 | No Comments
While I enjoyed a slightly extended Christmas break this year, a slew of interesting items came through my inbox … read on to find out more about:
- Governing for Sustainable Rural Futures: The International Comparative Rural Policy Studies Summer School (June 21 – July 6, 2012), Quebec – Bringing together international graduate students, researchers, and practitioners to discuss relevant rural development policies, case studies, and best practice examples.
- Rock the Farm (February 4, 2012), Edmonton, Alberta – An agricultural industry conference for young producers (18-35).
- STEP UP Mentorship Program – A Canadian on-farm learning placement program that matches those considering a farming career with an experienced farm manager to learn critical aspects of farm business management in a hands-on setting.
- If brevity is the soul of wit, it should also be the soul of email correspondence. Having problems? Think: how would Robert De Niro answer an email? An amusing – and relevant - article on email etiquette and business correspondence from Entrepreneur.com.
- Rural Small Business Trends 2012 by Becky McCray, Small Biz Survival.
Tags: mentoring > policy > Rock the Farm > rural > rurban > small business trends > summer school
Merry Christmas 2011
Posted on | December 20, 2011 | No Comments
Have a blessed and safe Christmas season … see you in the New Year.
Recommended Holiday Reads
Posted on | December 14, 2011 | 1 Comment
With a little luck, I plan to curl up in a corner with tea and cookies to enjoy some books this Christmas, even though I rarely make it through the list of titles I’ve stacked throughout the year. Here’s a glimpse of some holiday reading … for yourself, for friends, or just for fun.
Enjoy!
For Entrepreneurs
Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman is the intriguing story of Yvon Chouinard, the founder and owner of Patagonia Inc. Born in Maine, the son of a Quebecois handyman, Chouinard moved to California as a child and grew up to be an expert rock climber. Patagonia had its origins in the climbing equipment Chouinard developed for himself and friends. Eventually, Patagonia expanded from selling outdoor gear to clothing and other related items.
But, the more successful Chouinard became, the more he became concerned … leading him to introduce initiatives like “1% for the planet,” which has seen Patagonia forge an alliance of businesses dedicated to donating at least one percent of their sales to environmental causes; it’s the story of a lifetime of living, and growing a business, out-of-the-box.
The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators is a book based on the premise that to think differently, you have to act differently.
With research done by authors Jeff Dyer, a professor of business strategy, Hal Gregersen, a leadership consultant, and Clayton M. Christensen, 
author of previous related bestsellers, they share how creative thinking or creatively rethinking basic skills like networking, experimenting, observing, and even asking questions can lead to new ideas. “Thinking outside the box,” they cheerfully state, “often requires linking the ideas in your area of knowledge with those of others who play in different boxes.”
For Fiction Lovers
Part novel, part history, but entirely fascinating is Jeff Guinn’s The Autobiography of Santa Claus. Beginning with Santa’s origins, Guinn tracks down legends, lore and more, combining them into a tale that shares the fantastical story of Santa Claus for Christmas lovers everywhere.
Matchless, by Gregory Maguire (of Wicked fame) takes the classic holiday story of The Little Match Girl and adds another dimension – that of a young boy, Frederik, whose yearnings are the catalyst towards a better future for himself and his family. 
Using his storytelling magic, Maguire’s rendition is easily a new holiday classic.
For Family
Every year, every church holds some sort of Christmas pageant, and every year everyone knows what to expect: angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, Wise Men. The story doesn’t change, and it can get a bit routine. So it was with the pageant at Second Presbyterian Church in Barbara Robinson’s The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. But then the Herdmans got involved, and no one knew what to expect – except, perhaps, disaster.
“The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world,” says the young narrator. “They lied and stole and smoked cigars (even the girls) and talked dirty and hit little kids and cussed their teachers and took the name of the Lord in vain and set fire to Fred Shoemaker’s old broken-down toolhouse.” Read this story and expect to be delighted.
The imagination that gave us Hobbits, Middle Earth, elves, orcs, and battles also brings whimsical letters to life in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Letters From Father Christmas.
Did you know … that the North Pole Bear (NPB) helps Father Christmas (FC) prepare for Christmas? Unfortunately, NPB is a bit of a klutz and often hinders as much as he helps. His misadventures include crashing through the roof of FC’s house along with overflowing his bathtub and flooding the room below that was full of gifts ready to be delivered; a fun and amusing addition to Santa lore.
For Fun
Strictly for adults, Holidays on Ice by humourist David Sedaris can be counted on to give you a few chuckles this time of year. Here’s a taste of his trials as an elf at Macy’s department store:
“A spotted child visited Santa, climbed up on his lap, and expressed a wish to recover from chicken pox. Santa leapt up.”
“Lately I am feeling trollish and have changed my elf name from Crumpet to Blisters. Blisters – I think it’s cute.”
Finally, The Fat Man: A Tale of North Pole Noir by Ken Harmon tells the tale of a 1,300-year-old elf, fired by Santa after being framed for a crime. His path to redemption – through the grittier side of Kringletown – will take him on an unforgettable trip that mixes noir fiction and pop culture … you’d better watch out!
Planning a Small Town Seasonal Event
Posted on | December 6, 2011 | No Comments
Christmas is coming … with many communities gearing up to host their seasonal events. What are your goals? How can you make the most of sponsorships? Can you afford to market on a shoestring budget?
In small towns, events are as much about entertainment as they are about social interaction. They are a means of generating pride and a sense of place. They can also provide a way for money to flow into a community that would not otherwise have occurred.
First, it’s important to be realistic with your committee/group/stakeholders about your expenses and/or fundraising goals. How much is this event going to cost? And who’s going to pay for what? Managing expectations at the outset is vital.
Sponsors are looking for events to build on their business. Are there any new benefits you can offer such as allowing them to offer a service to the attendees (e.g. a bank/hair salon/etc. that offers participants a coupon for a free consultation or planning session)? Or can you offer them longer marketing visibility (i.e. offering visibility at a few different events or throughout a program’s duration)?
For raffle or auction items, try soliciting for services instead of just tangible items; this increases the value to the sponsor and the donor along with the possibility that the winner will use the business or service again … any type of unique experience (Dinner with Santa? A spa day? Landscaping or house-cleaning services?) will go over better than the typical gift basket.
And to maximize your marketing, look to Facebook or Twitter to help spread the word. On Facebook, there are different ways to promote your cause, with set-ups allowed for your organization or, specifically, for your event. In my opinion, it’s smarter to have a general group page (not a personal profile) for your organization and then set-up any events through there. Why? Because this page also allows you to include your mission, logo, any ongoing news, all of your event details as well as post pictures, link to video, etc.
Through Facebook, as soon as you have people start to join the group, their friends will see your organization in their “News Feed” and may be interested in joining themselves; they can also invite people to join.
Twitter can be another good – and free – tool to help market your event. Essentially, Twitter is a mini-blog, allowing users to post a maximum of 140 characters per “tweet” (i.e. post). This outlet is similar to Facebook, but rather than having “friends,” you have “followers.” The best way to take advantage of Twitter is to find and follow several local people (who will likely then follow you) and post replies to their tweets. This will gain you more followers, allowing you to get your event out there via low-cost social media marketing.
Finally, don’t forget to evaluate. Did you collect “hard” (i.e numbers) and “soft” (i.e. anecdotes) data? Did you meet your objectives? Evaluating your event is just as important as the planning as this forms the basis for organizing next year’s event.
Here’s to all the seasonal events out there … happy hosting!
Tags: Christmas > event planning > events > marketing > rural > rurban > seasonal > small communities
Tools You Can Use: Website Analysis, Infrastructure Deficit Calculator and Social Media Guidelines
Posted on | November 29, 2011 | No Comments
The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) has developed a ‘Smart Tech’ online resource centre to help small business owners understand what information and communication technology (ICT) is and how they can apply it to their businesses. Their FREE online assessments include a website review along with an analysis of the effectiveness of your business technology. Recommendations are made immediately, securely, and are available in a pdf-report format for easy printing. Click through to access these resources.
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As part of The Big Fix, a special series on Canada’s crumbling infrastructure, the CBC has developed a Municipal Infrastructure Deficit Calculator. The goal of this tool is to shrink the municipal infrastructure gap to zero dollars, without running a surplus. It allows the user to model different funding/revenue scenarios to illustrate what changes would need to occur to close the funding gap. To use the calculator, click here.
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The Government of Canada has finally released its social media guidelines for members of the federal civil service. This document outlines how bureaucrats should use public social networks to communicate with citizens and with each other, be it via sites like Facebook or those which allow multiple users to create and share information online. And while aimed at federal staffers, there’s plenty of information and policy direction provided that municipalities can adapt for their own uses. The guidelines can be found here.
Tags: canada > infrastructure deficit calculator > rural > rurban > social media guidelines > tools > website review
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Community development, growth and communication in the rural-urban fringe landscape.
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