Online Consultant Course

Michael Darger or Patricia Love

Description: The Business Retention and Expansion Consultant course will give you the training and tools that you need to coach a community through a successful business retention and expansion visitation program.

Audience: The course is designed for

• economic and community development professionals
• local leaders
• community development educators and consultants

Objectives: The course will prepare you to work with communities on the six major phases of successful BR&E visitation programs. By the end of the course, you will be able to

• train volunteer visitors
• complete firm visits and collect quality data
• conduct a warning-flag review of surveys
• help the community develop action plans
• report results to communities
• develop effective implementation strategies

Research Basis of the Course: The developers (George Morse, Patricia Love, Michael Darger) of the course have combined direct experience in consulting or performing research for 60+ communities in two states and two Canadian provinces. They have combined experience with over 100 BR&E programs using the Community Leader BR&E approach in their years as state directors of BR&E in Ohio and Minnesota. In addition, George Morse, Ph.D. authored a book on BR&E, six journal articles, and the educational materials used in the course. He was a founding member of BREI, Business Retention and Expansion International.

Certificate of Completion: Participants will receive a certificate of completion from the University of Minnesota Extension Service.

Comments From Former Online Students:

"This course expanded on my previous knowledge of economic development. It has opened my mind to different ways of doing BR&E." — Anonymous course evalutation, 2006

"Patricia Rocks!" — Anonymous course evalutation, 2006

"I thought the field work (practice visits) were very useful. Without having done the visits I would not be feeling as comfortable about doing a BR&E program in my community. Useful info and experience was gained." — Anonymous course evalutation, 2006

“This is not an important program. It is an essential program.” Tim Campbell, Extension Agent for Community and Economic Development, Pikeville, Kentucky, January, 2003.

“Bottom-line, the fact that (it) is done via the Internet. Cost savings of not having to travel is tremendous.” — Anonymous course evaluation, 2004

“The availability of the online course at University of Minnesota enabled me to participate in a course which was both affordable and convenient. The flexibility to move at one’s own pace, the assistance provided by the instructor, and the electronic communication among participants made the experience enjoyable as well as informative. We have since initiated the BR&E visitation model presented in the course and are receiving only positive feedback from both community volunteers and participating businesses. For any “place-bound” practitioners seeking a good, solid training and support, I would certainly recommend the online course.” – Donna Betts, Northeast Oregon Economic Development District, April, 2004

“The quality of the materials is excellent and will undoubtedly be revisited many times to come.” — Anonymous course evaluation, January, 2003

“A great strength of the BR&E Visitation program is its history of practice and the various studies of its practice. The framework of the coursework and the interactiveness of the instructor really encourage one to take advantage of that.” — Anonymous course evaluation, January, 2003

Instructors: The course instructors are internationally recognized for their work on Business Retention and Expansion. Patricia Love is an economist and former director of the Minnesota BR&E Strategies Program. Michael Darger is director of the Minnesota Business Retention and Expansion Strategies Program. Both have taught the BR&E consultant course several times and have consulted with numerous communities on BR&E.

Prerequisites: none

Format: The course requires more than just reading information on the Web and completing online exercises. Several sources of information and learning techniques will be used, including

• Online notes for each unit
• Online readings for each unit
• Printed materials included in your binder
• The option to work in small groups via email on some assignments
• Large group discussion via the course e-mail list
• Visiting a firm in your community
• Reports of interviews with experienced BR&E consultants

The course is based on the belief that you will learn more by doing than by just reading and interacting with the instructor. Thus, there will be opportunities for you to interact with a business in your area and other participants in the course and to get some advice from experienced BR&E consultants.

Units:

Unit 1 Getting Started gives you the chance to become familiar with the course before tackling the content. For some of you, this will be your first time taking a Web-delivered course. You will also have the opportunity to introduce yourself to other course participants.

Unit 2 Overview and Introduction to BR&E covers some of the basics about the course and BR&E. For example, we will cover the course purpose, materials, agenda, format, and expectations. We will also look at what is BR&E and what is a BR&E visitation program.

Unit 3 Is BR&E For Our Community? looks at how you might start a program or help a community decide if a BR&E visitation program meets its needs. We also examine the goals and objectives of successful BR&E visitation programs and look briefly at the major steps involved in a BR&E visitation program.

Unit 4 Volunteer Visitor Training and Practice Visit to a Firm goes through all of the steps involved in training volunteer visitors. We will also review the method used for training. You will conduct a firm visit and report back on the experience.

Unit 5 Warning Flag Review discusses an approach for addressing short-term or immediate concerns of businesses. You will review a survey and identify red-flag issues.

Unit 6 Survey and Research Reports reviews some tips concerning the BR&E visitation survey and the research report. We address what a report should include and who should analyze the survey results.

Unit 7 Task Force Retreat explores some ways to move from the results and analysis to setting priority projects or a plan of action. We will also go through the steps of a process that has been very successful in helping communities both set priorities and start the implementation of key projects.

Unit 8 Community Meeting and Implementation Strategies addresses the last couple of steps in a BR&E visitation planning process:

• The implementation resource meeting(s)
• The community commencement event

We will also look at some tips for successful implementation of projects.

Unit 9 Leadership Team and BR&E Consultant reviews the roles of all of the key people in a program and who does what when. We also will discuss some tips on

• Who to include in the process
• How to select firms to visit
• How to keep everyone motivated

This unit also addresses how you might start a program in a community. As part of the unit, you will read short reports from interviews with experienced BR&E consultants.

Unit 10 Wrap-Up, Review, and Course Evaluation wraps up the course. We review some key points, answer any remaining questions, and discuss what everyone plans to do next. We will also take some time to evaluate the course.