Exploring great ideas from good people

Leadership Cape, an annually revolving group of up-and-comers from various business and education organizations throughout the community, sets out every year to come up with new concepts that will make Cape Girardeau a better place to live and visit.

Some of the ideas presented at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee were -- like Trae Mitten said in his ESPN SportsCenter spoof -- as cool as the other side of the pillow.

Four presentations were offered: ideas for the 2003 Lewis and Clark bicentennial celebration; the formation of a sports commission; the development of a Web site to link area business leaders with teachers and students; and a ready-to-go marketing program for the Career and Technology Center.

"We've been doing this for four years and several ideas have been implemented," said Jeff Glenn, director of membership development with the chamber. "You get good people together and you really can come up with great ideas."

Glenn said a speaker's bureau Web page has been established as well as an online community calendar. Leadership Cape has also introduced concepts for a skateboard park and a water park. The projects have been added to the city's capital improvement project list.

Lewis and Clark

One Leadership Cape group researched an activity to augment what's already planned to commemorate the 1803 journey of explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. The Cape Girardeau Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission has been working on a program since 1999.

Leadership Cape examined the possibilities of recreating a horse racing competition, which was one of the activities the explorers participated in when they visited Cape Girardeau. The group looked for adequate space for racing near the river, potential riders to participate in the race, costume sources for the participants, authentic activities and games for children to play during the races and an affordable picnic lunch which families could purchase. The picnic lunch would be wrapped in sacks, tied to a stick and include a jug of cider. Lunches would cost about $25 for a family of four.

The site of the old shoe factory on North Main Street looked promising for the celebration, the group reported, but permission from the owners would have to be secured.

Sports commission

Giving a presentation in the roles of sportscasters, two members of another Leadership Cape group showed the benefits of forming a sports commission, a group that would be dedicated to capitalizing on the economic and public relations impact that sports can have on a city.

The commission, which would organize and help attract sporting events, could be set up as an independent, nonprofit organization, a division of the local convention and visitors bureau or under a government agency.

According to literature provided by the Leadership Cape group, the Greater Louisville Sports Commission, in its first year of existence, used $200,000 in funding to generate $21 million in bookings on future events.

"Most sports commissions do bring in a lot of dollars," said Morris Seligman, who helped Mitten give the presentation.

Seligman said some structure for attracting sports events already exists with the university, the city's parks and recreation department and private organizations. But a commission would offer a more centralized structure, he said.

Linking business, education

The third group discussed the concept of a Web site that when created would involve area businesses with education: ResourceNet.com.

The group's Internet proposal would help students and teachers as sources for education by allowing teachers to contact business leaders to speak in classes and by allowing students to obtain materials for papers or homework.

The site could also help students learn how to manage personal finances.

Cory Crosnoe contacted several school principals and teachers in the area who gave support to such a site.

Marketing for CTC

The fourth group said programs offered at the Career and Technology Center often go unrecognized by the business community and the media. So it put together a marketing package and presented it to Rich Payne, the CTC director.

The package includes a publicity checklist to be used in promotions, a computer-aided, PowerPoint presentation related to the CTC programs, radio and television spots, a Web site addition, a sample press release, a letter to the business community and a sample newspaper ad.

"I'm an educator," Payne said. "I can educate with the best of them, but I'm not into marketing. The work they have done will assist me in marketing. I hate to guess how much it would have cost to hire someone to do all that."

bmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127