I rolled in Wednesday night from NTCA’s annual RTIME conference held in Dallas, Texas, this week, and while a little tired and with a suitcase that seems to have grown while on the road, I was really pleased with the content and connections we were able to share with our members over the course of nearly five days.
The conference kicked off on Sunday with a day of concurrent sessions, committee and board meetings, and culminated with a Super Bowl welcome reception. It was a wonderful opportunity for our members to gather and compare notes with so much going on in our industry these days as broadband is on the tip of the tongue for everyone, especially broadband providers! Our team at NTCA spent a great deal of time thinking through safety protocols including having on-site Covid testing available, and while no mask mandates were in place, we certainly gave an encouraging nod to wearing them. I personally matched each of my daily outfits to the color of my KN95 masks.
We also celebrated with cake and a toast to our Smart Rural Community providers as we celebrated having over 200 Smart Rural Communities in our membership, and cheered DTC (Alexandria, Tenn.), NineStar Connect (Greenfield, Ind.) and Paul Bunyan Communications (Bemidji, Minn.) as our Showcase Award winners.
The Opening General Session featured NTCA Board Chairman Keith Oliver of Home Telecom (Moncks Corner, S.C.) sharing his vision for unity within our industry and using some of his podium time to honor past chairman Fred Johnson of FTC (Rainsville, Ala.). I always relish having a few minutes to share my thoughts with NTCA members on the state of the association and where our efforts will lie in the year ahead, but particularly enjoyed being able to transition to an infrastructure panel with my dream team of Kathryn de Wit from The Pew Charitable Trusts, Matt Dunne from the Center on Rural Innovation and Matt Collins from Calix. We compared notes on the role of states in future funding, what public-private partnerships really mean, and how NTCA providers are well-positioned to be key players. To sum it up, their advice was: meet with your local/state broadband leaders, tell your stories of broadband deployment and community leadership, and be audacious in being part of the digital divide solution.
That was a perfect segue to the highly anticipated Broadband Funding Workshop on Tuesday with many fast-paced sessions focused on where to start, things to consider, what state broadband officials are thinking, and how to position your company and build. So many experts lent their voices to the discussion, and I am so grateful that they were willing to share their perspectives on the many moving pieces in the broadband deployment space.
Our Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) got everyone in a Texas state of mind with their fundraising event at Gilley’s. I had my turn at riding the mechanical bull last time we were in Dallas, and frankly, once was enough for me! The NTCA - Rural Broadband PAC made their way to AT&T Stadium for dinner and a chance to hang out in the home of the Dallas Cowboys. Our Women in Telecom group also gathered to hear some words of wisdom from Karen Cornell Reisman on how to handle all the craziness of our times.
In addition to conducting association business on our last morning, we also honored our eXcellence Award winners, one of my very favorite parts of the meeting. From local heroes to marketing achievements to lifetime recognition for directors and executives, these awards are a way to honor those who have really achieved so much in our industry and have been known to put a tear in my eyes. It is always a powerful way to end our time together.
I hope that everyone who made the trek found the meeting as timely and engaging as I did, and we’re excited to now have our eyes focused on our Telecom Executive Forum in March.
I also was pretty excited to find my “I love fiber” Valentine’s Day conversation hearts in the bottom of my suitcase.