Future Economy Council Meeting #11 (1/20/2010)

This was the 11th monthly meeting of the Future Economy Council and it was held on Wednesday, January 20, 2010. Click the link at the beginning of each segment to go to audio download site.

Intro - Terry Bledsoe opened the meeting by welcoming everyone, then Danny Hearn addressed everyone. Danny talked about the Town Hall event that will be taking place next Tuesday at the SALT block. The U.S. Chamber is spending money to educate people about free enterprise. The Chamber is talking about the need to create 20 million jobs in the next decade (7 million to make up for the recession + 13 million for growth). Scott Millar will be giving a forecast of what he sees happening in 2010. Danny will be making a presentation about the economic stability package, and Patrick McHenry will be there.

Photos copyright: ©2010 Pat Appleson Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Used By Permission

Danny next addressed everyone about the Master Capacity Builder series before turning the floor back over to Terry. Terry talked about various projects members of the group are working on. Houston Harris is working on the Creative Molecular Economy, Bill Parrish is working on the Future Forward Workforce, Thom Shell (myself) working on the Global Rural Network, John Brzorad on Master Capacity Builder training, Dewey Harris with Mobile Governance, and Jay Adams with National Commercial Real Estate Network.

Houston, Bill, Dewey and myself gave a topical overview of the beginning stages of each one of these efforts. Simply stated, the common threads are that we are defining concepts, sharing ideas, and assessing assets.

Rick went over the reasoning of these projects. What is being developed is to get one person behind each of these emerging ideas representing 10 to 15 States. They will come together around a set of ideas. By having these nodes, we can interchange ideas through various regions, thereby empowering each region.

Part 2 - Terry talked about an experience he had recently in which he had made a connection with a group in California. The participants were IT directors from Billion dollar companies. The discussions revolved around Pattern Based Strategy; which looks at Weak Signals and Trends, moving forward with it and adjusting paths as you go through. Catawba County has been doing this, without knowing it, for years.

Rick stated that connections with other places are at the heart of helping bring back ideas to the local community and be a part of a large idea, this is an important part of leadership.

Terry introduced Houston Harris for a discussion about a Branding Campaign. Danny Hearn stated that we've got to make the stability plan simple so that the community will understand it. The itinerary is 1) Jobs 2) Branding/Marketing and 3) Workforce Development. Danny believes that Houston has a wonderful concept. He also stated that we have assets like Pat Appleson who has a studio that rivals any Radio-Television studio he has ever seen that can do filming and so on for the website.

Part 3 - Houston gave a metaphor for the area comparing it to someone who is lonely and needs a companion. We need jobs. We need a reason for people to come here and work. We don't have enough people living in the area. People are moving away from here and leaving us behind. He compares what we need to do to someone that is visiting a dating website. The people in this room have decided to stay here. What do we do to expand our network?

This Branding is about defining our personality (profile). If we put our profile online, what are we trying to attract? This is much like what is done on a site like match.com. Decisions have to be made. What image are we looking to project? We should be honest. What are our political slants? What is our ethnic origin? We need to think, not only what is going to attract someone in the region. There are many people out there and we want to get them into the relationship so we can find out what we like and what we don't like and adjust our message accordingly. To be able to adjust our message accordingly, we need a system that allows us to have quick and speedy responses. Some people might only be attracted to the area for one reason (low taxes or ready/trainable workforce). We don't know what is going to create an attraction. We have to put the message out there. We will have people in charge of each of the signals to say what we stand for.


So what is the Greater Hickory Metro? What is the personality? What are we trying to say to make that connection. Houston displayed the graphic below. Each swirl can develop its own swirl and nodes. The connecting nodes allow us to interconnect. What do we do with the crossroads to allow that to happen (find the common ground). The more overlaps, the more energy.



We need to stop thinking regionally. We want the effect to be regional, but we can't be thinking just regional. We need to think outside of the region with the benefit being that the results are inside the region. We are empowering the region through National (and International) connections.

Below is a paper that demonstrates the theoretical implementation and structure of the Branding Entity and the body of people they will answer to. This body needs representatives of the major players in the area. That will allow these groups to connect in the best, most efficient, ways possible. This allows everyone to create a tactical map as well.

Below is page 2 of Houston's presentation. The silos represent live, work, and play industries. These representatives will be people who have the time, energy, and sphere of influence to represent these interests. This will mostly be a review team. We need action. This needs to be a working body. They will pass the goals off to a development team to develop the tactics. Think about people you know that can be effective in developing these pieces.
Part4 - Danny asked about there possibly being more components than live, work, and play. Houston stated that there are subcomponents. What he doesn't want to do is create so many buckets that the visitor will be overwhelmed. We need to make it simple for them, so that they can see it and get it without thinking, because the minute a visitor thinks we have lost them.

I asked about the definitions and paradigms of each one of these. I work in the restaurant/ hospitality industry; so what I consider work, someone else would consider play. Maybe if we can list some words topically to define live, work, and play, people would understand it better and it wouldn't be an arbitrary process where one person considers live to be one of the other two or a combination. Houston stated that we need to think about it from not our own position, but from the position of the person we are trying to attract. If we are trying to attract someone else, what do we try to say that will help attract that person. If an individual doesn't like what we are projecting, then we move on to the next target. What are we trying to attract? who are we looking for?

We are going to have a limited budget, so where do we put our energy. The work silo should probably get the most budgeted emphasis, because it will help the other processes. It creates jobs, which creates demand, which creates the need for people to move here, which creates the need to build more restaurants and attractions (play). Jobs will be the drive.

Houston described a portal website that will be one of the major cornerstones of this initiative. People will see it and be directed to Live, Work, and Play. It will help get you to information that is already available. It will not replace information (he doesn't want to take ownership or replace information). He hopes that this will inspire entities that are linked to it, to better organize their information. Everyone will have a logo (button) that will be a unifying thread. This gives you a membership to a larger group, while still respecting the individual brand. This creates a force and energy. You don't have to explain as much. It keeps people from having to think too much. This is about one-on-one dialogue.

This site will not convert sales or guarantee a relationship. It just starts the conversation. This gives you the opportunity to decide the level of bandwidth appropriate to your conversation (interaction).
Photos copyright: ©2010 Pat Appleson Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Used By Permission

Part 5 - This will help entities to front-end load the relationship. The flow is Suspect > Prospects > Full Relationship. This is a contact funnel. John Bates brought up points about the networking graphic Houston introduced. The strings won't have the activity islands where they are intersecting yet, as you put the council together, you need to have people that are synthesizers who can see where the strings intersect that are potential islands. Houston responded that that is why this is bigger than one person. Mr. Bates stated that there is a tendency that when a person represents a string that they focus on their own interests. A third party will say, "you two are talking about the same thing."

Houston stated that that is a component of transparency, which allows connections. That doesn't mean they are always valid. These are all puzzle pieces. These are three dimensional functions where all of the pieces are connected like a star chart. This is a cluster.

Taylor Dellinger said he had two thoughts. One, do we know what people (or industry) outside of the area think about us? Houston answered that he doesn't think we do know that. Taylor stated that to have an effective marketing campaign, we need to do some research to see what people from other communities think about us. What do they like and what do they not like. A perception survey. Houston stated that from a marketing campaign that you can paralyze yourself by worrying too much about what they think about us, because your real energy should be focused on what you want them to think about us. At the end of the day it is about our profile (persona). It is our job to get that out. It may conflict with what they think, but it doesn't matter as much that they link together.

John Bates stated that if they conflict, then we will have (to dedicate) some energy to overcome that preconception. His preconception before he moved here was furniture and Nascar. Houston said, while the knee-jerk might be to think about how to change that, maybe we should focus on how to enhance them. The energy to tear down the house might be wasted. I stated that this is about positive self-esteem and we can't talk about what we don't want to be, because that puts us into a negative context and we spend all of energy focusing on what we don't want to be and we never get around to what we want to be. That is what we are trying to project to these other people. We are trying to attract somebody so that we can become more complex.

Ken Elliott stated that we need to look at Nascar and furniture like facets. We need to bring the other facets (of the community) up. Once people look at us more intensely, then the other facets come forward.

Terry stated that we have been quick to limit ourselves to labels. He talked about his teleconference from the other day. When he stated he was from Hickory, these people (who were from a very technical background) were like "who, what, where." When he mentioned Commscope, they knew exactly what he was talking about. When he mentioned Catawba County they said they had heard of it before. When he mentioned Apple, they were like, "Oh Yeah." Terry stated that he wasn't sure we could pick a label. Houston stated that we shouldn't. Houston talked about the last City Council meeting and that they were talking about creating another group (Hickory Small Business Task Force) to report to the EDC, that is doing the same thing as the FEC, he couldn't recall the name. He was asking himself why do we need to keep creating all of these groups?

I mentioned that when I look at my web log from my blog, I start thinking about why is this person looking at my blog?

Part 6 - We need a contact to find out why this entity is looking at the site. Does it have to be the business or government entity, that because of natural curiosity tries to find out why this person is looking at our site? Or can we have a connection to go to to ask why this entity is looking at our site? Sort of like a Private investigator.

Houston stated that there will be a component like that. The Chamber is an Authorized visitor center, more people visit us from online that by any other method, if you get here and you fill out this form, then it comes right into the Chamber's network as a visitor's center. This becomes a filter or controller to direct the question to the right person. This gives the Chamber a reason to help with that. That can help with Customer Relations Management or Visitor Relationship to where everyone will have access to it. This will help create connections through Business Intelligence and queries to show who may have visited certain pages. The tools are there. We just don't want the technology to drive it. We want to drive the technology.

Taylor asked about the funding for this sort of project and hours and time. This has been attempted before and we still don't have it. The city and county managers stated that they would grant seed money for this. Businesses will also be need to help fund it. Houston stated that the structure needs to be planned, before we go forward. He is worried that the plan will come together, but no action will be taken on it.

I asked if businesses were going to have a button on the site. Houston stated that he believes that it will be more like an online directory where the business can purchase a listing, but he doesn't want that to be the only funding source. I stated that you don't want buttons cluttering up the site. Houston stated that this is not for the purpose of being a Yellow Pages. He envisions it more like being a Rotary Soccer Event donation. The business isn't doing it with the intent to generate business. It is a donation (method) to facilitate this function -- doing something good. The entry fee will be so low that it will help pay the hosting cost. The business goes in with the idea that this will not generate business. It is about showing that we are all on the same team. It is about the bigger picture.

Part 7 - Danny talked about some money coming from the Tourism Authority, because of a hotel-motel one-cent tax increase, which states that a certain percentage has to go marketing. It was stated that the decision makers believe that their only concern is putting heads in beds. I asked if they (the decision makers) don't understand that people aren't going to make a choice to move here based on a website. They are going to have to actually come here to make that decision -- that puts heads in beds.

Pat Appleson stated that someone has to tell them that the website exists before they can do anything. Have we addressed that? Houston stated not in this. That is on the fourth page. This site is about search engines and cross-linking. Pat talked about the State of Michigan's marketing plan. That is similar to what we need to do. Pat also wanted to address our new brand, "Greater Hickory Area," are we still going to call it that? Steve Ivester stated that we are calling it Greater Hickory, but it is clearly just Catawba County. No conversation here has gone beyond Catawba County. We have converted people in the Unifour to focusing on what Greater Hickory is the better brand, but we are clearly just focusing on Hickory. What about the people in Caldwell and Burke? What is the plan here?

Pat stated that he doesn't care about them. He then talked about why he moved here from Miami. He stated that we need to get out of the state and ask why they would want to move here. He talked about the lack of coordination of local governmental websites. He then talked about the problems he had with licensing his business. He was impressed with this material, because he believes that this proposal will address the issues that affect small business.

Houston stated that yes this will address Pat's issue, but we (the FEC) can't address it here. It will take the Council that runs the Branding entity to do that. Pat stated that the EDC doesn't come to him and he understands that. Houston stated that as part of the plan we can't make a determination here. Should it be radio spots, he doesn't know enough to say yes or no. The Branding entity will look at the budget and determine how they get the most traction to get the most people looking at us.

Terry closed out the session.

Future Economy Council Meeting #10 (12/17/2009)

The following FEC meeting was held at the Chamber of Commerce on December 17, 2009.

Part 1 - Terry Bledsoe introduced Norma Owen and members of the FEC introduced themselves. Terry talked about wordle and the image it produced from the text of a grant proposal submitted last summer.

Terry turned the session over to Danny Hearn who made a presentation about the FEC's role in the Stability Plan put forth by the Chamber and the EDC. He announced that the Beaver Foundation gave $5,000 to the FEC. He also thanked Kevin Spencer for a $1,000 donation that helped get the FEC off the ground. Danny went into the Master Capacity Building schedule.

Danny next went into the stimulus/stability package and the things that have happened in the last year. He stated that we have a lot of good things happening, but a lot of times people aren't discussing things with one another. This is all about having 3,4,or 5 things that we can be on the same page about, going forward. (We have presented this previously).


Part 2 - Danny Hearn talks about Scott Millar's strategies for 2010, such as the branding of the Apple-Google data Corridor. Once again he addresses the Manufacturing Solutions Center. He also goes into the aspects that were discussed by Hickory's Small Business Job Growth Team.

Jay Adam's discusses the Small Business Job Growth Team and that the consensus is a thought that the committee be reformed with people from outside of Hickory. What is reformed will serve Hickory, but it will be a system that other communities can duplicate. He states that he isn't concerned with overlapping of activities of entities. He believes there should be interaction and he resists the segmentation he has seen in the past.

Steve Ivester said he has discussed an idea that the city has a unique interest in the Greater Hickory concept. He sees a person being hired to Work with the EDC to push that concept and that branding. This would develop a regional outreach.

Danny Hearn says that the City of Hickory has to drive this and communities in Catawba County have to be comfortable with us. We need to invest in events happening in other communities in our region. Further thoughts were expounded about Hickory's centrifugal force and other communities not wanting to get lost in that. There was also a statement that Hickory has done things in the past that created this animosity. It was also stated that the City of Hickory is not the place to advance ideas in the four county region. They do not advance outside of the box ideas. Where is the sense of urgency.

Part 3 - Steve Ivester talks about how he was excited by the possibilities of the Appalachian State Partnership, but others stated it was nothing new. He stated that at the Intra-City visit he didn't come away with that feeling at all. He thought it was something new and exciting. Dr. Jane Everson stated that was part of the frustration of moving slowly. It took 5 months to put up billboards in this area to promote Appalachian's interests in the area.

I stated that I would like to see people from Burke, Caldwell, and Alexander county come in and visit with this organization (the FEC). We are less formal than our local halls of governance. That is where the abrasiveness comes in. Doug Rongo stated that he believed there were more people in Catawba County who were upset that Lenoir got Google than there were from Caldwell County when Maiden got Apple. People in this room don't care where businesses locate.

Harry Hipps stated that he is astounded that we don't have deeper relationships with Charlotte. We are talking about it here and they are doing it there. We aren't going to outCharlotte, Charlotte. Jay Adams stated that we could be the best part of Charlotte. Harry stated that he doesn't understand why we aren't looking that way. We need more initiatives and contacts looking that way.

Jay Adams discussed the heavy traffic patterns in Charlotte. Charlotte could be a great incubator for us. Ivester stated that Charlotte markets itself effectively. Jay stated that we aren't taking advantage of our advantages. He was amazed that Charlotte wasn't looking up Highway 16 for relief. Houston asked if that made us like people looking for scraps. Doug Rongo asked about the quality of life of people commuting in their cars 2 1/2 hours every day.

Terry Bledsoe asked about the role of the FEC ande how it fits into the roles the Chamber has. Houston asked if the FEC can be the lubrication to accomplish these goals and if so can we extend an olive branch to the outside counties to allow them to be a part of this group if they would. Terry stated that he believes this committee has the freedom to do a whole lot of things. We just don't have the financial resources to do a whole lot of things. We can extend welcomes and rebuild bridges. I stated that that may open up more avenues to those needed revenues.

Part 4 - Rick Smyre addressed the group. He stated that one of the key issues is that we are shifting into systems and constant change. Connection is important. This group is transformational connectors. Interlocking networks must be comfortable with new ideas.

Systems of change allow a shift of reality. Realities must be dealt with in the long run and short run. You can't quantify things that don't exist. When you build a national network, it is for the purpose of branding an emerging idea. Houston Harris's business is designed around the Creative Molecular Economy. He went into the tree economies again (Industrial, Creative, Organic). We have to have connections because of the complexity. This helps to build an emerging brand. This is a bottom-up development. In a systems age, a brand is not just one thing.

Ideas that help a community shift over often come from outside of the community. By 2040, 40% to 50% of people will work out of their homes, right now that is 9% to 11%. Economic Development will be different. During the transition time, we must begin to attract creative people to the community. We need a workforce that will help us deal with increased technology.

Part 5 - Norma Owen from Dallas, Texas is involved in what is called the Future forward workforce. She made a presentation to the group. She stated that she was glad to hear the term resiliency used. Her focus is within developing human capital in an area.

In Wake County, they developed a program rooted in career transition. What she saw happening is that technology was changing so fast that they were having to rapidly reinvent themselves. She saw three levels of people being able to cope with the changes happening. Level One meant people had to become globally aware. Some high level (qualified) individuals had no idea about the changes that were going on around the globe that were changing (had effect on)their work locally. The second level allows people to become contract aware. You are no longer an employee, people will have more of an entrepreneurial mindset. People must know how they can contribute to creative businesses and help them compete. The third level is about self-awareness and being able to brand yourself. She creates systems that allow people to take advantage and cope with the changes that are happening. People don't know how access what is available.

People must have capacities and capabilities of complexities that are way beyond just finding a job. There is a next level of digital literacy and awareness. There is a new way of networking interlocking networks. You have to be able to connect disparate ideas and be able to take them into a new arena. You have to exponentially increase people's ability to learn.

Rick then went into the tie-in of the Future forward Workforce and Master Capacity Building. The idea of the Future forward Workforce is to take it to another level and augment the assets we have in place. Norma talked about career transition and being an advocate for community resources. She stated that people were from all levels. Wake Tech funded the project in Wake County. They helped individuals become marketable.

Part 6 - Terry closes out the session.

Future Economy Council Meeting #9 (11/19/2009)

The following meeting was held at The Granary, which is Houston Harris's building that houses his businesses Pixel Space and InterOpsis. There are also other businesses located within this structure. The building is on Main Avenue across from Lenoir-Rhyne University.This is a beautifully restructured building. It is a wonderful metaphor for what Hickory was and what it can be transformed into.

Below I give a brief summary of what direction the meeting took. For specific details you will need to download the audio and listen. These are excellent, and in many ways, cutting edge discussions. I think that when we look back at these times, in the future, that we will see that many seeds were sown during these discussions and that these discussions bore the fruit of the future. But in the end, time will tell and it is our task to carry these ideas to fruition.

Part 1 - audio
Introductions were made. Terry Bledsoe had some opening comments. He talked about the Master Capacity Builder program. He stated that he believed the FEC has begun to mature and gave examples how. He talked about being at the Economic Development Corporation's meeting the previous week. At that meeting it was stated that 41.8% of all private investment in North Carolina in 2009 has come to Catawba County this year. He also had some information about business closings in Catawba County, in which he stated 6 businesses have closed in the last two years -- some people were stating that these were not valid statistics. Nathan Huret stated that the numbers show that businesses have reduced (employment), but not left. Steve Ivester stated that people are concerned, but not defeated. Terry stated that the EDC is focused on industry, but they are looking for other opportunities for development. Nathan stated that the EDC is looking for emerging trends and they would like for people to contact them with/about interesting opportunities and/or articles.

Part 2 - audio
Dr. John Brzorad talked about Agriburbia and introduces the topic. Rick Smyre addresses the positives of local food production. Doug Rongo and myself (Thom Shell) talk about the economic and capital infusion of foreign investment into the local area. Harry Hipps talks about new energy investment in our local area. Terry Bledsoe speaks about the Agricultural resource Center and saving local farms. Dr. Brzorad talks about building a relationship with the farmers in the area. Steve Ivester says we will have to change local zoning and tax policy. Houston Harris asks how do we support this? Harry Hipps talks about what is being done in Polk county and Nathan states that Rutherford county is doing the same thing.

Part 3 - audio
Houston Harris started talking about his businesses Pixel Space and InterOpsis. He stated that it is very difficult to say what they are. They touch IT, Marketing, sales, Infrastructure/Workflow deliverable engagements... He spoke about how he deals with part-timers and free-lancers to do the job. He needs networks of people who have certain skills. They touch people and projects everywhere. He explains the global nature of his business.

Pixelspace is about interaction architechture. They create brochures, create IT projects consisting of measurables, create web pages, resource mode. Houston's businesses operate in a 24-hour environment. They use traditional and new media channels to get messages out and create interaction points. Ultimately they have to identify who they are talking to, how are they going to attract them, how are they going to inform them... Once they identify prospects, then they turn to sales.

Part 4 - audio
InterOpsis is about what a company's web operations should be doing. How to increase web presence, increase conversions, generate leads, improve visitor experience, are you setting the right tone, are you communicating with your customer properly. Houston stated that they use many analytical software tools for measurables to find the "sweet spot." You need high level stakeholders to buy into this in order for it to be effective. InterOpsis does not require you to use Pixelspace.

Houston talks about how his building "the Granary" works. He wants to fill the gap for people who need a a professional space, but don't want to break the bank (affordable). He states that it is not an incubator, because they aren't subsidizing businesses. They are a communal (shared space) arrangement. This building allows people to have a personal space to have meetings, without having a huge expense.

Part 5 - audio
The Granary - The goal is 3 phases. Number one is to get the exterior upfitted and get more parking. Houston's companies are an anomaly, because only about 10% of his clientele are from Hickory. The Granary will be home to multiple diverse businesses, but he currently has space available and will be further developing the building as needed. Houston also talked about his dealings with the city on grants and on license fees. He stated that Entreprenurs work in the gray area and the city operates in a process of black and white.

Part 6 - audio
Steve Ivester spoke about the semantics of manufacturing and Value Added Goods. Value Added Services are as valuable as anything else. Danny Hearn stated that we want to identify and create more Houston Harris's and Michael McNeely's. How do we go about that? Houston spoke of mentoring and stated how important it is to be around people with experience. He talked about collaboration and connections and developing skills, being open and sharing. He wants to be able go see people face-to-face and sometimes that is hard to do in a global operation, such as his.

He had some excellent ideas about the bandwidth of personal communication and relationships and chemistry. I stated that there is a lot of fear around here, because the new world is not built around structure, so people feel a sense of loss. Houston agreed, but also stated that creative people don't like structure and they need to have someone with structure around them to keep them focused. I stated that I believe that the (regimented) structure is going to have to be broken down. Houston says that he believes that it is going to break down automatically, life does that. It's about learning to adapt and being willing to adapt. Terry stated that what Houston stated about face-to-face interaction and the global world seem to be conflicts, how does he do this? Houston stated he just does it. He does what he has to do. I asked about the effectiveness of teleconferencing. Jay Adams talked about learning to listen and choose your words carefully. You figure it out as you go and it's hard to capture what the techniques are. Houston said a lot of it has to do with the age of who you are communicating with. The younger person trusts the new system and the older guy wants to look you in the eye and see if you are full of it.

Houston talked about "Free Range Chicken thinking." He says he wants to be the oldest rooster in the yard. Their life is different from a coup raised chicken, they want to survive. They are lean, they have to move fast, they've got to find some food, they've got to run from that ax, eventually they will get caught, but the free range chicken has an attitude about survival. They adapt and try new things. Thinking is about finding those things and keeping your brain in this mode of what's new -- I can't be afraid of this.

Rick Smyre close - audio
What Houston has expressed is the Creative Molecular Economy. How does Catawba County we develop a brand as cutting edge to the rest of the country? We need to seed the concepts. Rick discusses this and ties in what we have said into the principles of developing connections, collaborative efforts, the creative molecular economy, and Master Capacity Building.

Future Economy Council Meeting #8 (10/15/2009)

This is the audio and a short summary of each of the segments that constituted this meeting. As usual this was a very good discussion.

Part One Audio Link

In Part One of this meeting Terry Bledsoe addressed the issues of Broadband and the Stimulus Funds (American Recovery Act). There is $4.7 billion available to be divided between infrastructure, public computing centers, and sustainable broadband adoption.

Question 1 - What is the definition of Broadband? 768 kb/sec

Question 2 - Are you only seeing the ones (bids) out of North Carolina? Terry explain that they saw the initiative pertaining to NC and the group of states that NC is associated with.

Question 3 - Is this going to be an enhancement of capacity or is it going to be about getting those with only landline access an increase to what the state calls Broadband? That is e-nc's main initiative, to get people some sort of "Broadband" access.

Question 4 - Do the authorities understand the need (in the near future) for increased capacity? There isn't a huge pot of funding available to alleviate the problem.

Question 5 - So we are going to have to do this on the local level? Most likely. Houston Harris stated that that isn't a bad thing. I stated that I believe we have more control that way. Steve Ivester stated that he had spoken with a CEO from Corning who stated that the municipality can build the system and bidding out access to capacity. This is the European model.

Question 6 - If someone wins an award are they obligated to spend the money by a deployment time or can they spend it as they wish? There is a requirement of deployment and implementation in two years.

*** Danny Hearn gave an intro about the Intra-City Visit, the visit to the Centennial Campus, the relationship with our local Manufacturing Solutions Center, the ASU-Partnership and a possible Millennial campus located here, Education Matters, and Relocation Marketing and Population Growth. Here is a link to the entire Intra-City Event Proceedings.


Part Two Audio Link
Part two starts out with Dr. Sid Connor discussing the beginning of the Millennial Campus. His explanation was excellent. Steve Ivester talked about the New Definition of Campus. Danny continued on with the Apple-Google corridor issue. Houston asked about ancillary businesses that can be related to Apple. Talked about the incubator and possible associations with this corridor. Danny says we can't wait to for the next big announcement. Growth can come from the Pixelspace's and Michael Neely's of this community. Further, Danny talked about the Manufacturing Solutions Center and introduced Terry's presentation of the FEC that took place at the Intra-City Visit.

Terry went over the presentation from the Intra-City Visit. Here is a link to Terry's Presentation made during the Intra-City Visit.


Part Three Audio Link
Terry continues on with the presentation. One question was about can you manage your people in 140 characters or less (Twitter)? Houston made an excellent point about the bandwidth meeting the need and you need to make sure that they match up. The more options and accessibility, the better.

We have a lot of talent here in Catawba County that we need to find out about and utilize. How many businesses started up in someone's basement or garage. We need to look at more than Economic Development to do this. What are we doing to encourage creativity? Is there a willingness and passion to learn factored into our culture? Something does attract people to Catawba County, what is it? How do we get some kids back and how do we raise incomes some?
Doug Rongo talks about "How do we change the ambition and skill of the workforce?"

Part Four Audio Link
The last segment starts out with Houston talking about options and opportunity. We got into an excellent discussion about underemployment and the step-up process. We have people who are working jobs that they are overqualified for. If they can step-up and find a job that better matches and/or utilizes their skill set, then it allows those unemployed people who have lesser skills ( lower qualified) to have a job. We need to create a step-up process, that is the reason I want to see the High Skilled jobs come to Catawba County.

Terry says that leadership needs to take the adice of sharing, partnerships, advice, and working together. They have the advantages and need to take all of this and move forward.

Rick Smyre talked about the Master Capacity Building studies and how it will be offered.

Future Economy Council Meeting #7 (9/17/2009)

In this meeting we split into 5 groups and dealt with various questions posed by Terry in an e-mail mail out sent to us a few days before the meeting. I have sequenced the audio in the chronological order in which the groups addressed the questions, topics, and weak signal issues posed to the council from issues we have been studying.

Future Economy Council
September 17, 2009
Discussion Group Topics

“There is a force for change that’s basically invisible using old ways of seeing. It’s a force we have to let collide with and even destroy our old ideas about how the world should be before we can hope to make any sense at all” Age of the Unthinkable, Ramo

The FEC is a group that is working to develop transformational leaders (master capacity builders) in Catawba County able to understand and utilize the skills of building capacities for transformation.

Objectives:

1) To develop new ways of thinking about the future
2) To be able to identify trends and weak signals
3) To be able to ask appropriate questions
4) To be able to listen for value and find new connections
5) To be able to connect diverse ideas and people for continuous innovation
6) To understand how to create "innovation networks"
7) To design and evolve parallel processes
8) To be able to identify and utilize new and emerging patterns
9) To be able to think systemically at a higher level of complexity
10) To be able take appropriate individual and team risks to develop new ideas and methods

Below you will find information presented at our August 19th meeting by Taylor Dellinger, WPCOG and Scott Millar, EDC. Please discuss that data with your group through the eyes of a Master Capacity Builder, keeping the objectives above in mind. The last bullet is a quote from the Age of the Unthinkable, please also discussion this quote and be ready to present to the group. -

Opening Statement Audio Link by Terry Bledsoe with Danny Hearn


Group 4 - Audio Link (4:55)

• Birth rate is generally flat.
• Quality of life is a big driver in any community.
• Still ranked last in educational attainment. Is that a factor of our schools, a young
population that is not returning here after college, lack of attracting business
requiring higher skills, what influences this factor? Will the fact that Apple is coming
here change this? If we continue to attract businesses like Apple will the
educational attainment level rise to match it? Is there a willingness and passion to
learn factor in our culture? Some feel that the reason educational attainment is so
low is that we are failing to retain our areas best and brightest.
• Part of the comment above was prompted by the fact that the Hickory MSA 18-44
population has only grown by 45 since 2000 while the 45 + population has grown
by 18,589.
• Scott Millar was quick to point out that there was a huge disparity between the
persons sitting in the room and the average worker in Catawba County.

…The moment you hand power over to other people, you get an explosion of curiosity, innovation and effort. When you spread power instead of hoarding it, you discover benefits that you couldn’t have imagined in advance, and that sometimes run contrary to what you might have expected.

***Relevant Input - (Nathan) - Discussion centered around the younger demographic and how these group members ended up here. (Andrea) - Discussion of a 4 year major University. (Karen) - Flat Birth rate in some segments, but not in others. If a person has a lot of education, they tend to leave. Those that don't have education tend to stay. The lack of opportunity for those with more educational attainment is having a negative impact on those without educational attainment.


Group 2 - Audio Link

• In general, manufacturing jobs are making up a smaller percentage of the workforce
and services is making up a larger percentage since 1990. We still have a larger
manufacturing base than most of the country.
• Poverty rates are increasing, up 32%. Average weekly wage $662.
• Foreclosures have tripled since 2000.
• What did Apple like about the area?
o Our manufacturing attitude
o Culture of a hardworking workforce
o Quality of life
o Large track of land devoted to data centers, power, water, fiber.
o Could hire people from the area
• Scott Millar was quick to point out that there was a huge disparity between the
persons sitting in the room and the average worker in Catawba County.

…The revolution under way around us isn’t something we can choose to be a part of or not. It is largely unavoidable. Today there’s no choice. We’re participants, like it or not. It’s not as if we can wake up some morning and decide, “Okay, today’s the day I’ll start mashing up my life.”

Your life is already being mashed for you. The Internet, your derivative-laced retirement account, chemical compounds that sit in our food or our clothing, all of these are expressions of an unstoppable, infectious genius for combinations. The new tools we’ll need come from accepting that mashup energy changes the ecosystems around us and, as a result, changes us.

The nature of these networks is often not apparent until, awkwardly, they shift and fracture the world we thought we understood. It’s also been called a “risk society.”

***Relevant Input - (Dr. B) Talked about the need for an education base - particularly k-12. Talked about population outflow of people with valuable skills. (Taylor) addressed the American Community Survey and its importance. The ACS last year showed that 4 year degrees dropped, while the population increased. That is a red flag that says skilled labor is looking elsewhere. In 2000 we were 12th (in the state) in 4 year degrees, now we are 14th. (Dr. B) Do people choose to leave or have to leave?

(Steve Ivester) - Discussions at L-R have stated that computer students are out of here unless there is some sort of internships. (Group Discussion) about surveys and information to assess the situation.

Group 3 - Audio Link

• Diversification is a key to moving forward but it should be noted that in 1999,
Catawba County was thought to be a model for diversity. Could our success in the
1990s been the real cause of our decline? We were diversified and at full
employment in the 90’s and could not attract new business here because we did not
have the resource of a workforce to offer. Did that limit our ability to grow and
transition to modern industry from old school manufacturing (furniture and
textiles).
• From The Age of the UnThinkable : “ The world is not being paved over by a
smooth, universalized system. And that very ability to evolve systems that fit the
needs of different peoples and cultures and to encourage real diversity in thinking
will help us solve many of the problems we face.”
• Scott Millar was quick to point out that there was a huge disparity between the
persons sitting in the room and the average worker in Catawba County.

…Many of our problems today aren’t the result of too little information. Instead, they come from the challenge of sorting through a huge, and growing amount of data, all constantly changing, and much of it irrelevant or misleading.

***Relevant Input - (Steve Ivester) - The Monoculture of Furniture, Textiles, and Cabling.... Manufacturing... The Culture that one doesn't need to finish high school. Skilled workers aren't expecting their children to get an education... No fertile ground for entrepreneurship in the Monoculture. Education has to be part of the recruiting process. Educational programs need to be consistent with area needs. Charlotte Brand vs. Upper Catawba Brand (Peers vs Competitors). Take advantage of our manufacturing strength.... Apple and Target are opportunities. Import Substitution.


Group 5 - Audio Link

• It has been stated that our proximity to Charlotte helps our economy. Is that true
or are they actually hurting us?
• Hickory has lost its identity. We use to be known for furniture but no longer. How
do we market ourselves?
• There are a lot of vacant buildings in the area. What do we do with them? Does the
existing manufacturing buildings help the EDC or have they become a limiting
factor in our ability to grow? For economic development, is it better to have the
older manufacturing facilities or a clean piece of property? It was also mentioned
that just because a building is ugly, doesn’t mean it is empty. Many older buildings
are being used for storage.
• Scott Millar was quick to point out that there was a huge disparity between the
persons sitting in the room and the average worker in Catawba County.

…The fact is we can’t know if what didn’t work yesterday will work today; we can’t
predict the impact of our attempts to make change, and that is why we have to
keep trying. It’s tempting to feel that the forces at work now are so big that there is
no point in action at all. But in fact, the opposite is true. Even small changes can have
an impact on our future, and this is why we all must get involved.

***Relevant Input - (Dan) We need to be a lot more regional. How do we connect to work as a region or a group? If you are the best, they will find you. Need to be known as an open and connected region. We need to be using Ken's web conferencing and web sites. We need to be using Applachian partnerships conference rooms. (Ken) We tend to revert back to comfort and that works against us. Technology can open us up and help us compare with Charlotte. Creates a global economy.

Rick Smyre Comments - Audio Link - Critical Thinking is being redefined as we speak. Historically used to be Rational Thinking where you analyze information that already exists. New critical; thinking involves "How can you make connection between totally disparate ideas?" "Distributive Intelligence" - better build connections and understand the new culture. If you build these models and concepts of trying your young people and it's not what they see as important to their culture, then you are just spinning your wheels... You're looking to build an Economic Immune System.


Group 1 - Audio Link

• Since 2000 , the Hickory MSA has lost 35,000 jobs.
• Since 2000, Catawba County has lost 18,000 jobs.
• Current unemployment rate: 15.4% (New figure since meeting 14.6%)
• Wilmington has an employment change of 17.4% since 2000 as opposed to our
-18.8%. What are they doing differently?

Scott Millar was quick to point out that there was a huge disparity between the persons sitting in the room and the average worker in Catawba County.

…”I would warn against attempts to forecast novel technologies by the existence of building blocks already in place”, the economist Brian Arthur has written. In an era of new math, simply guessing at the shape of a combination of existing blocks tells you almost nothing about what might be built. The great thing about our future, and the terrifying thing, is that we can’t imagine what sums the new math will yield. This sense of so many possible combinations, of a limited dimensionality, presents us with a staggering level of complexity. Opportunities for spectacular innovation explode around us.

***Relevant Input - (Dr. Everson) - Strategies. Instead of moaning about the ones that have moved away, we have an opportunity to figure out a way to keep the college alumni here. We talked about Micro-Lending. We can target Appalachian and L-R students, who have stayed here, and give them small amounts of money and get out of their way. We need to let them go forth and do what they think is important. (Thom) - We hear about wanting to turn this into an entrepreneurial area and we have to build a bridge to that. It's not going to happen overnight.... having a Science Festival would be a tangible process. We have to have some tangibility or people will lose faith in us. This can help foster the entrepreneurial spirit and change our culture. People may want to then participate in our Renaissance.

Just what is Apple doing in Maiden?

The Following articles are mainly from the blog Data Center Knowledge. The online source is listed before the Linked article Titles.

Data Center Knowledge - Apple: Maiden iDataCenter Will be 500,000SF - The new North Carolina facility will be nearly five times the size of the 109,000 square foot Newark, Calif. data center Apple bought in 2006 to support its growing infrastructure. Apple also operates a data center on its Cupertino, Calif. campus, and has used content delivery networks from Akamai (AKAM) and Limelight Networks (LLNW) to distribute content to its users around the globe.

The new Apple facility will be the company’s East Coast operations center. A document filed with the state indicates the data center will “take advantage of 3 hour time change on the East Coast to facilitate communications between European operations/sales and California for data transmission.”

(Comment from Finance Geek Blog) - With Apple having already announced their plans to build its new $1 billion data center in Maiden, North Carolina, folks I have spoken to inside Apple told me that once the new data center is completed, Apple plans to have a more active role in doing their own content delivery.

Data Center Knowledge - The Apple-Google Data Center Corridor -Google and Apple may be having their tensions at the boardroom level, as seen in this week’s news that Google CEO Eric Schmidt will resign as a director of Apple. But the two technology giants are aligned in another area: the merits of western North Carolina as a haven for massive Internet data centers.

Apple’s planned $1 billion data center in Maiden, North Carolina is just 25 miles from a huge Google data center complex in Lenoir. The proximity is not an accident, as the Google project in Caldwell County prompted economic development officials in nearby towns to begin pursuing data center development.

Data Center Knowledge - Apple Moving Quickly on NC Project - Apple is known for keeping its new technology secret prior to launch. So it’s not surprising that the company has had little to say about its $1 billion data center project in North Carolina. The new iData Center may not get the fanfare of a MacWorld keynote when it launches, but one thing is clear: Apple plans to move quickly to the construction phase.

“It’s my understanding that they want to have bulldozers on-site in mid-August,” said Scott Millar, execurtive director of the Catawba County Economic Development Corp. “They’re moving ahead rapidly with permitting and acquiring the land, with the intent of hitting the ground running.”

Data Center Knowledge - The iDataCenter and the Cloud - Some of our recent reporting on Apple’s $1 billion data center in North Carolina is being discussed around the web this week, prompted by an piece by Leander Kahney at The Cult of Mac that examines the likelihood that the new facility will power cloud computing applications. There’s additional discussion at Wired, Fast Company, Mac News Network and Apple Insider.

Cult of Mac - Interview: Apple’s Gigantic New Data Center Hints at Cloud Computing - One of the leading theories about the size of the NC project is that Apple is planning future cloud computing services that will require lots of data center storage. Cloud computing is a hot trend, and I’d be surprised if Apple isn’t thinking hard – and thinking differently – about cloud computing. Many cloud enthusiasts say that cloud computing will eliminate the need for data centers. In reality, the only thing will change is the owner of the building. All the applications and data that are moving into the cloud will live on servers in brick-and-mortar data centers. The companies that are building the biggest data centers tend to also have the biggest cloud ambitions


Cult of Mac - Apple Hires Top Green Hardware Expert For Data-Center Ops - Apple is getting serious about getting green. To make sure that its massive new data-center is energy efficient, Apple has just hired a top eBay executive and leading expert in the “greening” of cloud computing facilities.

Apple has picked up Olivier Sanche, eBay’s Senior Director Data Centers Services and Strategy, according to the Green Data Center Blog. Based in San Francisco, Sanche has helped make eBay’s massive global operations carbon neutral since 2007. Most recently, he helped oversee the construction of eBay’s newest data-center, which will meet the highest green standards when it goes online in 2010.

Wired - Apple’s New Data Center Likely to Focus on Cloud Computing - Cloud computing huh? We noticed Apple’s iWork app was pretty lacking with no real-time online collaboration tools. A data center devoted to cloud computing would certainly fill that hole. But there still has to be something even bigger going on here, and your guesses are as good as ours. Add them in the comments below.

Fast Company - Is Apple Shooting for the Cloud? - Hence you could draw one final conclusion, and take this as yet another hint that Apple's fabled iTablet is on the way. It kind of makes sense--the iTablet's probably not going to have the same raw computing power and local storage as a fully-fledged MacBook, so a cloud-based solution for iPhoto, Numbers and the like (and maybe even your iTunes library?) would make excellent sense. It's just a thought, of course.

Apple Insider - Expert speculates Apple's new data center to be for cloud computing - While Miller's cloud computing possibilities are speculation, as Apple has not announced its intent for the $1 billion server farm, it's also possible Apple is simply looking to bolster its current offerings. When MobileMe first launched in July of 2008, it was riddled with problems. As a result, Apple gave subscribers an extra 30 days of free service. MobileMe now comes with a 60-day free trial, while the cost for the service, with 20GB of online storage, is $99 per year.

Wikipedia - Cloud Computing - is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the "cloud" that supports them.

• It is service-based.
• It is scalable and elastic. I.e., it is able to add and remove infrastructure as needed.
• It uses shared infrastructure to build economies of scale.
• It is metered and users pay according to usage.
• Most importantly, of course, it uses Internet technologies.

Newsweek - Computing Heads for the Clouds - Supercomputers today are used mainly by the military, government intelligence agencies, universities and research labs, and large companies to tackle enormously complex calculations for such tasks as simulating nuclear explosions, predicting climate change, designing airplanes, and analyzing which proteins in the body are likely to bind with potential new drugs. Cloud computing aims to apply that kind of power—measured in the tens of trillions of computations per second—to problems like analyzing risk in financial portfolios, delivering personalized medical information, even powering immersive computer games, in a way that users can tap through the Web. It does that by networking large groups of servers that often use low-cost consumer PC technology, with specialized connections to spread data-processing chores across them. By contrast, the newest and most powerful desktop PCs process only about 3 billion computations a second.

The Hounds Layman Opinion - All of what these guys are saying is true. Yes, this will help to create flexibility and integration of computing. You will have a form of a Computer System at home. It will be like your Desktop today, but also full integrated with the controls of an Entertainment Center (TV, Stereo, Electronic Gaming), a Knowledge Center (Library, Spreadsheets, Word Processor, the Web), and a Home Management system (Electricity, Temperature Control, Lights, etc.) Then you will have your PDA (Iphone, Blackberry, or whatever comes next) that the Cloud (This network of Supercomputer servers) will allow you to keep in touch with your personal data at all times. In my opinion, the next Generation of PDAs will take the place of any need of a laptop.

The problems going forward in the near term are Disk Storage and Bandwidth. The Cloud helps to deal with those two issues. Remember the article I wrote a few weeks ago about the Exaflood entitled BROAD BAND!!! (There is a great video in that article)? Cloud Computing is the cheap and easy way to deal with these issues in the near term. On Demand High Definition Video is going to take up a lot of Bandwidth and Storage Space. Personal Hard Drive Capacity will continue to increase, but true High Definition Video will eat up a lot of space on those Hard Drives.

It will be easier and increase portability by having Movies and Audio parked on a remote server at a Data center, such as the one in Maiden. These facilities will also be needed to deal with the exponential World Wide wave of demand that is coming as more and more people gain accessibility to computers. As one can see there is a need for this Data Center and I believe the ancillary benefits to this area will be tremendous.

Future Economy Council Meeting #6 (8/19/2009)

The following is audio of the meeting on Wednesday morning. It will be posted until the next meetings audio. At that time I will make this audio at an on-line storage site where you may go and download it.

My reason for doing this. It is easier than typing the minutes, you will get the general context of the discussion, and this is the whole meeting in mp3 format. I have broken the meeting up into shorter segments. You may want to use the equalizer on your player and lower the High frequency (treble) audio range. There is some hiss in the audio.

Thank You Taylor Dellinger for your presentation and for joining the group. It will great to hear you address the FEC with a statistical and analytical context. Thank You Scott Millar for your presentation about what the Economic Development Corporation is all about.

©2009 Pat Appleson Studios, Inc.- www.appleson.com

Segment 1 - Terry Bledsoe calls the meeting to order and Introduces Taylor Dellinger. He shows a Power Point presentation about Job Number data, speaks about the role of Manufacturing in the area and how it relates to the current numbers. He then moved into a segment addressing our population. Taylor's Power Point Presentation.

Segment 2 - Taylor Continues on and talks about "Growth Driven by Jobs" and speaks about Wilmington, North Carolina's growth. Scott Millar makes a statement that Hickory may have been hurt in its efforts to diversify, because we were at full employment in the 1990s. Houston harris asks "What has Wilmington Done?" "How do we work towards getting all of our entities on the same page?" Dewey Harris addresses Wilmington's assets and being the Principal City in its MSA. Jay Adams asks, "Is Charlotte sucking energy away from Hickory?"

Segment 3 - Taylor addresses losses by job sector, other Economic Trends, Poverty, and the foreclosure issue in the area.

Segment 4 - Taylor addresses Educational Attainment and Retail sales in the area.

©2009 Pat Appleson Studios, Inc.- www.appleson.com

Segment 5 - Scott Millar begins making his presentation to the group. He recommends the book Talent is overrated. Scotte then goes on to define the Mission of the EDC, its positioning in the Metro, what the plan of attack is, and how being part of the Charlotte Reginal partnership is a good thing.

Segment 6 - I ask the question about the possible use of existing Brownfield sites for Multi-Jurisdictional Parks. Kevin Spencer asked about the Marketing of the area by the EDC to potential industries. What do potential industries like and what do they want that we don't have here?

Segment 7 - Scott Millar talks about Branding and Identity. Collaboration and Integration of Entities. Scott talks about Data Centers (Apple and Google) and how it will help with Marketing and Identity. Steve Ivester asks if this is going to bring connectivity to the region.

Segment 8 - Scott talks about the possible pursuit of Alternative Energy, Biomedical Equipment, and making stuff. Terry closes out the meeting.

©2009 Pat Appleson Studios, Inc.- www.appleson.com