Business and community leaders gathered Monday for an all-day conference to discuss the multiple challenges the city faces amid economic uncertainty.
The Carson City Chamber of Commerce put together the event at the Carson Nugget, featuring a list of speakers who talked about different areas of interest to the business community.
Ian Hill, president of The Changing Point, gave a motivational talk about mastering the power of change.
"I'm here because I believe our community has a tremendous opportunity," Hill said. "Nevadans always take on difficult and challenging times and find a way."
Hill talked about how the country has undertaken a fundamental shift in context, but not content.
"The content of what it takes to be great hasn't changed for 2,000 years, and won't change in another 2,000 years," Hill said. "What changes isn't the content, it's the context. If we as business and community leaders don't understand the changing context, if we are operating under an old context, we probably won't succeed."
The context that has changed, according to Hill, is that the people are more in control of their lives, and instead of being consumers, they are prosumers, people who both consume and produce.
"We have a user-driven society," Hill said. " 'American Idol,' 'So You Think You Can Dance,' Facebook, MySpace. If your business is still functioning in a top-down approach with your employees, if you are still functioning as a 'you'll do what we say' with customers, those days are gone."
Hill stressed that the citizens of Carson City need to take action to move the community forward, by fixing the things that are wrong and helping to educate the upcoming generation.
"If you believe something, then get off of your big, fat couch and go put it into action," Hill said. "Drugs, gangs, alcohol abuse, poverty all threaten to destroy our community."
Jeff Brigger of NV Energy detailed how the company teams with economic development agencies to bring new businesses to Nevada. Their award-winning Web site is a great resource for businesses looking to move to Nevada, with a tool that will show what properties are open for lease or purchase, and the demographics for each area.
Brigger said one of the business segments NV Energy was focused on was clean energy, and not just for power generation.
"We are looking for the job creation part," Brigger said. "The generation will come, but we are looking for manufacturers right now."
And while the general economic outlook may not appear too rosy right now, Brigger said companies still are inquiring about moving to Nevada.
"Interest is still very strong," Brigger said. "A lot of companies are still picking up the phone to call us."
State Sen. Mark Amodei gave the audience an overview of the upcoming legislative session, saying that Election 2010 is already underway as lawmakers posture in the face of a very difficult fiscal year.
Amodei said this coming legislative session will be one of the most challenging in many years, with a lot of downsides because of the financial pressures of a $600 million shortfall. He said he doesn't think they can close the budget gap with cuts alone, that they will have to find more revenue sources.
"Our job is to collect as much revenue from businesses as we can, but still make them happy to be here," Amodei said.
Other speakers included Linda Ritter, who spoke about Carson City issues on behalf of Mayor Bob Crowell; Shawn McElmoyl of Wells Fargo, who talked about how his institution has weathered the financial crisis; Dick Castner of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who detailed national business issues; and Dr. Carol Lucey, president of Western Nevada College, on the importance of educating the workforce.