Stop, Collaborate, and Listen

Stop, Collaborate & Listen
Webinar on September 11, 2024

Watch the webinar here!

Since I have 17 years of writing under my belt, I told Downtown Colorado, Inc. that I could write my own webinar summary of “Stop, Collaborate & Listen.” I’ve done public presentations over the years, and sat on various tourism panels, and now I do a lot of public speaking. However, this was my first webinar, and I won’t lie. It’s weird to talk to a computer screen. As I spoke all I could see was my slides and a little video box of me laughing at my own jokes.

It went well, thankfully, and I was even told that I looked like I’d been giving presentations for my entire career. This was great feedback as I wasn’t sure if laughing at my own jokes in lieu of a live audience was acceptable.

I preach a lot about Love Where You Live. In fact, that’s the title of the presentation I gave a plenary speaker at IN THE GAME in Durango this past April. As I’ve road tripped around Colorado and beyond, I’ve experienced a lot of apathy among a town’s residents. I’ll love the town I am visiting, but locals are indifferent.

This isn’t just a topic for HeidiTown Consulting, I believe strongly that our communities can become stronger when our residents love where they live, and there’s even evidence that this is true that I’ll write about later.

With the message Love Where You Live in mind, this presentation, Stop, Collaborate & Listen, is about how you as community managers, the movers, shakers and doers can create places to love.

Let’s talk about ROE, no not Return on Investment, that’s boring (I know some of you love spreadsheets, but I do not). I believe the topic of ROE needs to be top of mind in everything we do as Main Street managers, Visit directors, economic developers, etc. People are emotional beings and at the end of the day we’re all in this for the people, right? Whether it’s business owners, residents, or visitors, we want them to love our town.

I’ve seen different equations for ROE, but this one is from consultant and business owner Molly Alexander from Austin, Texas, and I like it!

The equation is Joy + Trust + Belong = Return on Emotion.

We must create spaces in our communities, in our downtowns, and in our stores that make people feel joy, that people trust and feel they belong to and in. Most people make decisions based on emotion; decisions about where they will go (travel) and what they will buy. So, this equation, Joy + Trust + Belong is incredibly important.

And why is it important for people to love where they live? I alluded to this earlier in the article, but Soul of the Community, a study done over three years and published in 2010, showed a connection between people loving their community and the success of that place, dollars and cents.

Emotion is powerful, but we all know that dollars and cents are the true motivator when it comes to municipalities. So, this is a good source when working towards getting that funding to improve the lives of those within a community whether it be a beautification project or a new library.

In Stop, Collaborate & Listen, I give an example of where cities are working towards fostering the love of their residents. Greeley’s Got It Campaign in Greeley, Colorado for instance. I also talk about Lenexa, Kansas, where the I Love Lenexa slogan, around since the 1990s, has been turned into bumper stickers and t-shirts. It’s now as common as sliced bread.

Something that’s struck me as I’ve moved into economic development from working in the tourism industry for years, is the lack of communication between the two. Everyone seems to work in the silos. It’s not just tourism and economic development. This led me, at the direction of Kat Correll, director of Downtown Colorado, Inc. to investigate and in turn shed light on Advance Longmont.

This organization, formed in 2014, brings together economic development organizations and economic development adjacent organizations in Longmont to a monthly meeting. This prevents things like recreating the wheel and it inspires conversation and creation. It also means that people know one another on a personal level, something that is even more important in this “work at home” world.

I also spoke about reconnecting to your purpose. Whether you’re a main street director, economic developer or small business owners, it’s easy to forget your purpose. But you, as a member of DCI, Inc. reading this blog post, are in the business of helping our towns succeed and you’re in the business of people! And that’s important work!

You can grow as apathetic about your job as residents can about their town. And if you are apathetic, you can be sure a citizens of your community will be too.

As the doers, we’ve got to Stop, Collaborate & Listen, and we’ve got to Love Where We Live. We’ve got to realize we’re all working for a common cause and it’s easier if we’re on the same page of the same book. And most of all, it’s easier to accomplish anything in a community if the residents love it.

Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer is owner of HeidiTown Consulting, and the Mayor of HeidiTown.com, a blog about festivals and road trips in Colorado and beyond. She can be reached at [email protected], or call her at (970) 213-2354.