Editor’s Note: “The Economic Development Side” originally appears in the Pine Bluff Regional Chamber of Commerce’s weekly member e-newsletter. It is written by Rhonda Dishner, the Economic Development Alliance’s executive assistant.
Play ball! That phrase is well known at the ball park. But it was more like “on the ball” last week as a small group of Arkansas’ state and community economic development professionals and utility company executives watched Major League Baseball action at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
As the Cubs took on the St. Louis Cardinals on the diamond on Aug. 11, the economic developers were high up in adjoining box suites alternating between watching the game action and networking with a sizeable group of site-location consultants representing some of the top business recruiting companies in the country.
It was the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s 2016 Chicago Marketing Event, and it included participation by Gov. Asa Hutchinson and AEDC Executive Director Mike Preston, along with several AEDC senior staff members. Among the limited number of community attendees who were part of the networking “action” was Lou Ann Nisbett, president of the Economic Development Alliance for Jefferson County.
AEDC team members were “suited up” in their blue Arkansas, Inc. polo shirts, and community representatives could wear community-branded clothing. It was a combination of marketing talk and marketing walk as their game plan for the evening.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The objective of the site selector event was to develop and strengthen relationships with consultants in the Chicago market area, with the goal of attracting projects and jobs to our state. After the trip, AEDC will send consultant information to each community participant for follow-up communications.
Nisbett’s attendance at the event was part of the Alliance’s own 2016 marketing plan to contact or reconnect with major league “players” in the site-location field. She notes that the resulting contacts are essential to cultivating relationships that could score home runs for the community — well after the ball game is over.
The trip also provided an opportunity for a private meeting in the Chicago area with a prospect who has been communicating with Nisbett for several weeks about a potential major project for Jefferson County.