Over 525 people attended the Center for Rural Affairs' fourth annual Marketplace entrepreneurship conference at the Ramada Convention Center in Kearney.

"Marketplace is a tremendous event, the turnout today demonstrates that rural Nebraskans have their eyes on the horizon and are looking for ways to create a better future for their families, their communities, their farms, ranches and mainstreet businesses," said John Crabtree, Media Director for the Center for Rural Affairs. "It is exciting, particularly in the current economy, to see entrepreneurs and civic leaders gathering to learn from each other about new ways to overcome the challenges rural communities face and bring their hopes and dreams to fruition."

Bridget Lynch, Director of Member Services for the Greater Omaha Chamber, started the day on the topic of Networking. Lynch's session, Networking - What is it? - focused on how networking, sales and marketing work together. She provided the crowd information on how to set primary goals and increase their circle of influence through productive connections.

"The networking at Marketplace has been exciting. I've made business contacts and met a wide variety of service providers, and I'm learning about opportunities for my business and entrepreneurship opportunities for my community," said Marcie Kitt, owner of Huskerland Tour & Travel in Cambridge, Nebraska. "I hope to use ideas I've learned about here to expand my travel agency business and hopefully bring some information back to Cambridge and other communities in the area about the potential for entrepreneurship to positively impact communities in Harlan and Furnas counties."

"Marketplace has youth oriented learning opportunities that make the conference rewarding for young people. I attended a teach-in about the 6 characteristics of ethics that helped me and other young entrepreneurs learn about the fundamentals of working together and with the customers and the community," said Shandell Gunther, the General Manager of School House Graphic Products (http://sites.arnold.k12.ne.us/shgp), a student-run graphic sign business at Arnold Public Schools.

Teach-ins were held throughout the day providing over 40 training opportunities in 10 tracks including; business development, technology 1 & 2, financial, community development, marketing, agriculture, women business owners, youth, and Hispanic business (with sessions available in Spanish). The University of Nebraska Extension's BIT Mobile, a traveling hands-on computer lab, provided the setting for the technology sessions in a heated, fully-equipped mobile facility parked right outside the Ramada lobby.

"I was invited by South Dakota Farmers Union to attend Marketplace, and I also hoped to learn about proven strategies that successfully encourage entrepreneurship in Nebraska and whether those strategies can be applied to rural South Dakota," said Scott Sandal of Yankton, South Dakota. His business, DataVator, is a technology company that provides data backup and storage as well as site selection, facility design and data center management for rural communities.

"At Marketplace I spent a day and a half learning from scores of experts about how entrepreneurial development strategies can help rural communities create even more of the kind of high quality, high-tech jobs that my company, DataVator, will create in my community. Rural South Dakota would be well served by adopting some of the best ideas that Nebraska has on promoting entrepreneurship in rural communities," Sandal concluded.

MarketPlace 2011 will also be held at the Ramada Inn in Kearney. The dates are Tuesday, Feb. 22 and Wednesday, Feb. 23. Mark your calendars now!

See more details about the Nebraska MarketPlace 2010 conference.