| Sen. Robert Bennett will bring his rural business conference back to Price on March 25-26 |
Sen. Bob Bennett is pleased to be returning to Price for the seventh annual Rural Business Conference on March 25-26. The conference was in Price in 2005 and that was one of the most well attended and successful conferences. “You have terrific facilities in Price. We were pleasantly surprised how everything just fit. The conference has moved around the state from the southern border to the northern border and most places in between. We are going back this year to a more central location in Price,” said Sen. Bennett.
Sen. Bennett is excited to hear from David S. Taylor who is the group president for Global Home Care Proctor and Gamble. His company is moving a major plant to Box Elder County. Sen. Bennett says Taylor will outline the things his company found to be attractive about Utah and why they moved their plant here.
Small business owners looking to expand and just interested parties are encouraged to attend the conference. The fee for the conference has been kept at $25 so it is affordable to everyone and basically just covers the two meals served at the conference.
Sen. Bennett said the scope of the breakout sessions is far reaching. One breakout will include information on getting a business presence on the web and pod casting. Small business finance is always important to small businesses and will be covered in a breakout session.
One breakout Sen. Bennett hopes will be of major interest to Southeastern Utah will be on the future of coal. Dr. Darren Mollot will lead the “Future of Coal” session at the conference-Dr. Mollot is the Senior Technical Advisor for the Office of Planning and Environment at the U.S. Department of Energy. His research at the U.S. Department of Energy focuses specifically on coal. At the conference he will give an overview of current and projected demand for coal in the world economy as well as the United States. The discussion will then focus on what is being done to make the zero carbon emissions coal power plant a technically and financially viable option in the US and world.
Another speaker sure to be helpful will be Donna Fisher, she will talk about networking and how sometimes it’s not how much you know, but who you know. She will show conference goers how to work this to their advantage.
Another aspect of the conference will help small businesses increase their bottom line.
Sen. Bennett said they formerly held their conference in Salt Lake with big businesses, but since moving it to rural Utah he feels they have had more of an impact on small business owners and the conference tailors the presenters to a rural audience. The needs of those in rural Utah are much different than those along the Wasatch Front.
Speakers and presenters will offer real-world advice to rural business owners on acquiring new customers, increasing productivity, and applying new innovations.
Sen. Bennett will teach one of the breakout sessions. He will discuss his Healthy Americans Act legislation co-sponsored by Sen. Wyden (D-Ore.) and the effects of health care on small Utah businesses.
The business expo will run throughout the conference on March 25 and 26. More than 50 businesses will have booths to share information about services they can provide to small businesses.
Breakout sessions
*Got Money? A Guide to Small Business Finance
*Small Business, Big Sales: Increasing your Bottom Line
*Progress in Health Care Reform: A State and National Perspective
*The Future of Coal
*Locally Owned, Globally Minded: Exporting to New Markets
*Innovations in Marketing: Small Business Podcasting
*Not What You Know, But Who: Effective Networking
*The Changing Landscape for Natural Gas in the West
Register for the conference at www.ruralutah.com or call Senator Bennett’s office at (801)524-5933.
The Emery County Progress along with the Sun Advocate are sponsors of the conference along with 23 other business partners.
Registration opens at the new Events Center at the fairgrounds in Price on March 25 at 5:30 p.m. A reception and the Business Expo runs from 6-7 p.m. The registration and buffet breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m. on March 26 with the keynote speaker David Taylor at 8 a.m.