COMMUNITY FESTIVALS WORKSHOP ONE OF MANY ATAC OUTREACH SERVICES
     AUBURN – “What a successful community festivals event you put together,” said Gayle Etheridge of the Alabama Rural Heritage Foundation in Thomaston, about the seventh annual Community Festivals Best Practices Workshop hosted by the Auburn Technical Assistance Center (ATAC) Jan. 26 at Auburn University.
    “I met some interesting people and retrieved a lot of good information during the day. I appreciate your doing such a great job for all of us who attended,” Etheridge added.
    Others from among the more than 40 workshop participants echoed similar comments.
     “I really regretted I couldn't stay for the entire day and I have the conference down for 2008 already,” added Shirley Flora, executive director of Keep Opelika (Ala.) Beautiful Inc.
     “Thank you,” said Robyn W. Andrews who attended with a group from the city of Daphne, Ala. “We really enjoyed the workshop, and the information was very beneficial.”
     The details involved with organizing and conducting a community festival can be daunting, but its annual one-day workshop is one of many services through which the ATAC serves the community through university Outreach.
    Formed in 1976, ATAC is an arm of the AU College of Business Outreach program. The center also is an affiliate of the Alabama Technology Network (ATN) and an Economic Development Administration (EDA) University Center.
    “ATAC provides business and technical assistance, customized training, and consultation in implementing value-added strategies to manufacturers and other businesses, not-for-profit organizations and government agencies throughout Alabama and the Southeast,” said Director Henry Burdg. “Our Community Festivals Best Practices Workshop is one of the programs we started to help Chambers of Commerce and other civic groups improve the outcomes of special events organized to promote their local economy.”
     A nationally recognized panel of experts in festival organization, development and management presented seminars on such areas as strategies and tactics for attracting attendance; securing volunteers and community advocacy; obtaining no-cost event publicity; promotion; working with limited budgets; building and fostering a reputation for the event; planning the right type of event for the location; and the economic impact of community festivals.
    Presenters included Carolyn Morris, regional director for the International Festival and Events Association; L. Wright Tilley, president and chief executive officer with the Macon, Ga. International Cherry Blossom Festival; Patti Culp, executive director of the Alabama Travel Council; John Wild, president, Auburn-Opelika (Ala.) Tourism Bureau; Lee Sentell, director, Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel; and Kathy Danielson, executive director, Foley (Ala.) Convention and Visitors Bureau.
    “Community festivals are estimated nationally to be a more than $25 billion economic engine, attracting a combined attendance of more the 405 million people to them every year,” ATAC’s Festival Event Coordinator Talitha Norris said. “Each year, we assemble a panel of experts in the field to provide festival planners with tools and information and the ‘how to’ to make their event as successful as it can be.”
    Participants in this year’s workshop attended from throughout Alabama, and Florida. However, through its association with the ATN, the ATAC also works with manufacturing industries throughout the state to provide training and expertise in the areas of Lean Manufacturing -- a philosophy that emerged from the Toyota production system and the Japanese automotive industry that is designed to remove waste and non-value-added elements from the manufacturing process.
    “We also conduct training in Six Sigma, a statistically based management paradigm designed to improve profits and enhance productivity,” Burdg said. “However, it is important to note that all of our training and services are designed by working directly with the company or organization to identify their specific and unique needs and to develop and deliver programs that meet those needs.”
Since its beginning, the ATAC has worked with hundreds of different industry and not-for-profit community and government organizations.
     “Economic benefits or impacts directly related to our work with those companies and organizations have been in the millions of dollars,” Burdg notes. “Moreover, because of our university Outreach mission and through our affiliations with the ATN and EDA, we are able to offer and provide highly valuable and effective programs that our clients consider to be an excellent value.”
     Alabama companies and not-for-profit organizations continue to heavily incorporate the services available through the ATAC in their annual strategic planning. Events such as the recent Community Festivals Best Practices Workshop bring participants from throughout the region to Auburn University. However, ATAC staff are inside manufacturing firms daily working with those companies to improve the skills and capabilities of their workforce – and more importantly – to keep jobs in the state.
    Auburn Technical Assistance Center was established in 1976 and is an affiliate of the Alabama Technology Network and an Economic Development Administration University Center. As an arm of the Auburn University College of Business Outreach program, ATAC provides business and technical assistance, customized training, and consultation in implementing value-added strategies to manufacturers and other businesses, not-for-profit organizations and government agencies in Alabama and the Southeast. 

CONTACT: Mitch Emmons, (334) 844-3881, emmonmb@auburn.edu.