I spent some time with our NTCA friends and providers in South Dakota earlier this week and always come away with so much appreciation for how incredibly engaged this part of our membership is and how collaborative they are with one another. Seeing them always recharges my batteries (even if I did find a way to sneak out during the murder mystery entertainment portion of the banquet with the just released FCC's Future of Universal Service Report calling my name).
Showing just how often South Dakota leads the way, they came up with a new NTCA initiative that they ran past me but simply implemented...the newly launched "Adopt an NTCA Staffer" program. It's my newest favorite retention tool for NTCA staff to better understand who our members are, where they serve and why we care as much as we do.
The "Adopt an NTCA Staffer" program was kicked off with our selecting two of our terrific staff - Jessica Dupont in our Member Engagement division and Makenzie Shellnut, our newest Director of Government Affairs - and sending them on the road in South Dakota for the week with the full support of our South Dakota companies and their state association, SDTA, who picked up the logistics, sites and construction to see, along with the tab for these two NTCA staffers to get on the road and get a better perspective of our membership. From Sioux Falls to Rapid City, Jessica and Makenzie kept busy, learned a lot and made new friends. But I'll let them share more in their own words!
From Jessica:
Makenzie and I started in Sioux Falls, where we visited SDN. The executive staff we met with there told us about SDN’s unique B2B business model and marketing, and its structure that includes the networks of many of the state’s rural carriers, which in NTCA Member Engagement parlance, results in a classification as an Alliance Member. SDN showed us its data center, which it is currently doubling in size with new construction, and gave us a tour of the Falls and picturesque downtown.
We next traveled just outside of the city into Alliance Communications territory, where we saw an active fiber build and stopped by the office to learn about Alliance’s latest branding and marketing operations and advocacy efforts. Then the real journey started as we traveled west out I-90 and into Venture Communications territory. We stopped through Chamberlain and visited St. Joseph’s Indian School and the Dignity Sculpture on our way to Highmore, where our generous hosts took us to their local steakhouse.
The next day was Rural Customer Day. We went out to a farm and learned about the impact that adding a few, broadband-enabled cameras has had on the operations there, from security and peace-of-mind for the family-owned business to livestock management. We traveled to the small town of Faulkton, where we met the staff of Walkabout Mother Bin, a company producing GIANT (yes that’s the technical term) grain bins supplementing farming operations all across the country. Walkabout can be based in Faulkton, where it employs community members down to high-school interns, because of the high-speed internet that Venture provides in its territory. This day will stick with me for a long time, because these visits illustrated the impact of connectivity in the lives of Americans in small towns in rural areas. Businesses are able to run, residents are able to settle down and work remotely, government operations can thrive - all because good internet is available to a small-town population.
We stopped by the state capital of Pierre next, where we got a tour of the capitol building, ate at the best steakhouse in Pierre, and then departed to see the crazy little town of Wall, where Golden West is based. We headed over to Custer to see a fiber build on the other end of the state. It amazed us how different the builds were – Golden West’s construction team explained that 500 ft of fiber laid in one day in the rocky terrain of the Black Hills is a very good day!
We finished the trip with some sightseeing to Crazy Horse Memorial where we got to walk out on the sculpture’s arm (you can see three states from Crazy Horse’s wrist!) and one more steak. We visited Mount Rushmore, Deadwood (where Makenzie only lost $20 in the casino), and Sturgis before heading out via Rapid City. We returned to D.C. laden with member-company swag and with a fresh perspective on the unique benefits that rural carriers bring by providing connectivity to their communities. The generosity of our hosts alone throughout the week was enough to illustrate how special living in a small town can be. The challenges that NTCA members face in securing funding and building out fiber to reach every single home possible in a remote area really brought to light the value of working for an association whose members are doing some good in the world. I left a little bit exhausted but ready to dive in again to serving the NTCA membership in providing tools and training to facilitate the work of providing broadband out across our vast country!
From Makenzie:
South Dakota has long shown itself as a leader in developing rural broadband, no matter what the cost, because they know that quality internet services can make the difference, sometimes the difference between life and death. I was able to see firsthand how reliable connection has helped first responders be quicker to the scene, or how it has enabled a company, in the most rural part of South Dakota, to deliver their goods across the globe. Every provider I visited was willing to go above and beyond to connect their communities, because they understand just how important reliable internet services are.