Greetings everyone!

The FAM Tour is in our rearview mirror and I think we can label it a success.  The six Guild members were surprised by the quality of the sites within the region and the educational systems efforts in driving the workforce in cooperation with the business and manufacturing base.  The follow-up session Friday morning was filled with good input on the region, the organization, marketing suggestions and overall frank analysis of what the members heard and saw during the tour.  I know I've mentioned before what a privilege it is to host a tour of this sort, and the tour and feedback reiterated the value of getting these Guild members into the region and raising our visibility in their eyes when evaluating the needs of present and future clients.  I believe this is a fundamental responsibility of Momentum West and these tours will be a reoccurring offering of the organization.

Thanks to all that helped put this together.  The list is huge and not only includes the board, the economic development and tradeshow committees, but also numerous representatives from area EDC's, chambers, the WEDC, the higher education institutions in the region as well as many business and industry in the area.  Also, as this is not an inexpensive undertaking, thanks to the many sponsors outlined in last month's newsletter for your support.  We needed to raise $50,000 to come close to covering the costs and your participation and understanding of the opportunity presented by hosting a FAM Tour made it happen.

For pictures and news regarding the FAM Tour, please visit our facebook page!

Shifting gears, thanks to those groups and individuals that submitted letters of support for the Regional Business Fund.  These letters have been packaged with the Momentum Letter and sent. 

Next on the radar: helping develop a regional strategy to address the talent challenges facing the Momentum West region.  More to come as we move forward.

We're not very good at tooting our horns in the State of Wisconsin, but quickly I want to outline some of the activities of the organization you support.  Examples of recently completed and current initiatives of Momentum West:

• Development of the Gold Shovel Ready program to identify and aggressively market available shovel ready sites to developers, site selectors and brokers.
• Complete overhaul of website to effectively market regional assets and resources.
• Formulation and implementation of a social media marketing plan.
• Participation in state, regional, national and international tradeshows including MAEDC, the Site Selectors Guild Conference, and the Hannover Messe.
• Advocacy for the Confluence Project, RBF, Northern Wisconsin Engineering Consortium, River Falls incubator project, and participation in the Chippewa Valley Rally and St. Croix Rally.
• Hosting of a Site Selectors Guild FAM Tour, with six Guild members in attendance, to highlight industrial sites and industry sectors within the region.
• Work with the STEM Coalition, Manufacturing Works, and other regional entities to identify current talent attraction/development/retention issues, formulate a strategy to address these on a regional level and orchestrate a regional effort involving industry, the education system, area EDC's and other key entities in the region.
• Acquiring of the NWITA and developing a strategy on how to effectively educate, provide a conduit to available resources and foster additional exporting within the region.
• Offering of regular forums in partnership with the area EDC's, WEDC, Federal Reserve, Transportation Alliance and Office of Business Development with topics including exporting, regulatory issues, transportation, and the regional economy.
• Work with the UW Extension and Innovation Foundation to develop an entrepreneur roadmap of resources for the Momentum website.

Thanks,

Steve