The day before I wrote this paragraph, I attended a meeting at Ft. Riley.  Did you know they estimate there are 68 students in the USD 305 system with at least one parent working at Ft. Riley?  They are projecting to have 9,129 children of soldiers in FY 2011, and they anticipate that 100 of those students will be in USD 305.  Ft. Riley children currently attend 17 different school districts.  

Has there ever been an Olympic athlete from the Salina area?  

I was a co-presenter at the annual conference of our trade association’s national conference.  The American Chamber of Commerce Executives convention was recently in Pittsburgh, PA.  My co-presenter was discussing how chambers of commerce are an important way for business people to network together.  He said “If you want to understand how a chamber of commerce will look in 20 years, look at www.facebook.com or www.myspace.com today.” Someone in the crowd shouted “Ten years, not 20.”   The lights went off in my head because I had just been in a side discussion about how chambers of commerce will be relevant to the next generation of business people.  I emailed (from the site of the convention on my cell phone) Amy in the chamber office and she quickly responded with several great ideas.  This drove home the point that not only will styles of communication change in the coming years, technology will lead to changes in HOW that communication occurs.   

At the convention, I attended a follow up workshop about “social networking techniques” that other trade associations have found successful to help their members communicate with each other.  Based on the information gathered in the meeting, I expect that we will have some new initiatives in 2009 related to this topic.  It will take time and planning to be effective in our efforts to stay relevant and connected to the generations that send text messages like previous generations used their cell phones and like previous generations used landline telephones.  

The leader of IBM spoke to the convention and gave his perspective on the state of the world.  He is a big advocate of globalization.  A few days after the convention, IBM announced they are adding over 1,000 well paying jobs in America.  He encouraged us to avoid the mentality of being ahead by four touchdowns in the fourth quarter and then giving up.  He said there are those in our nation that are “anxious to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory” as it relates to the role of the American economy compared to the rest of the world.  He said that “globalization of the world economy has led to a rising middle class around the planet – and that is obviously good news for America in the long run.”  

An email I received from someone who works at a major factory on the east coast said (if children have ever been in your house, you’ve bought their product): “there are now new requirements that we address a total cost model when quoting new products. Factors such as transportation cost from China to America are now included in the total cost of the product. What this is doing is showing that the actual cost to manufacture goods in China is dramatically increasing and in some cases more than an American quote. Personally, I need to be ready to think outside the box, for example, I am costing several new products that in the past were manufactured in China.”  The email goes on to explain that these jobs are headed back to America.