Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Trade Show Attracts Industry

Trade shows are more than just a way to display goods and services. They are a way to attract business and industry to an area.

Flave Carpenter, Jr., who was the manager of Teamwork Arkansas' Trade Show Development group with Entergy, told the Clark County Industrial Council how Entergy uses trade shows to recruit industry to the state.

Meeting Thursday, June 19, the CCIC learned Entergy's Teamwork Arkansas staff would set up a booth at trade shows, but, bedecked in their red and white golf shirts, would visit other booths, identifying possible leads.

"We try to identify the ones most interested in Arkansas," he said. "We want to bring jobs to the state."

The trade show group uses target surveys to help identify which shows would be most productive and profitable to attend. Once this is done and arrangements to be part of a trade show are made, the group divides up the leads.

"We're not there to just hang out and have fun," Carpenter said. "We use a scientific approach and take community participants with us."

With the community leaders helping, the leads are divided and all are checked into. "It's a lot of work," he said, "but we're trying to make new contacts."

One of the first things the group does is to identify if a possible source has a project in mind. Then, they try and find a decision- maker.

Once this person is located, the group discusses the needs of this company so they can be addressed in a proposal. Carpenter said they try to have a letter on the contact's desk by the time the show is over and everyone has returned home. This is done, he said, to keep Entergy and Arkansas fresh on their minds.

Still, as many needs as possible are addressed during the trade show. This shows the lead how interested Entergy and the communities are in having them locate to the state.

He said about 10 percent of the leads pan out to something worthwhile. These are then separated into three categories, depending on the seriousness and status of the lead's project.

A time frame is obtained as to when the organization may be wanting to relocate or build elsewhere.

Depending on the time frame and specifics around the project, the decision makers are found to see what can be done locally.

The lower level leads are based almost entirely on relationships instead of potential projects.

Carpenter said a company may have no immediate plans to relocate, but this could change down the road. Because of this, Entergy and Teamwork Arkansas want to keep their names in front of the company representatives.

"This is a long term deal with Teamwork Arkansas," he said. "A lot of projects don't locate for three or four years and we have to stay in touch so we'll be remembered.

"Arkansas has a good competitive environment, but we're in a world market and are competing with everyone."

However, Carpenter has stepped down as manager of the trade show division and returned to community development. He is a certified community developer, and worked in this area with the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission, now the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

Part of the problem, he said, is the state has a negative connotation or none at all. The first thing the trade show workers must do is work to put a positive spin on Arkansas to their leads.

Another way this is being done, he said, is by hiring consultants to help promote Arkansas positively. "We're trying to establish relationships with them and get a positive perception of Arkansas. We're trying to build an image."

This, he said, is why trade show are so important. They are opportunities to promote Arkansas in a positive light.

Additionally, targeted audiences can be reached at these shows, and this helps attract industry to the state, thereby creating more jobs.

"We hit growth industries," he said, referring to biotechnical companies as one such entity because of its rapid growth, "in our target areas.

"But we're not looking at a lot of recreation and retirement industries even though there's a lot of money there. Other groups have targeted these areas, and we try to get the best bang for our bucks."

In other business, CCIC President Brown Hardman said the Dawson Cooperative situation is a "done deal" as the cooperative has signed papers for a new facility in the county. This, he told the members, helps keep 40 or 50 jobs.

Hardman also said the CCIC has been contacted by companies interested in possibly locating in the new business park along Interstate 30.