Here at NTCA, you could feel the collective cheer from our team go up as we finished the 2nd week of our RTIME Online – our virtual annual meeting. While we had planned on being in Orlando and getting to connect once again with our membership, the amazing NTCA team pivoted quickly to not only move to an online format, but to also incorporate all they had learned about hosting virtual meetings over the course of the past 12 months to put together a program that was compelling, user friendly, interactive and even had virtual video hallways and discussion groups as well as a video enabled “expo” hall that allowed for real time engagement and video chats with our critically important vendor community. Last week saw our many membership committees gathering in the virtual Zoom formats that they have become accustomed to and accomplish business for the industry and association. This week was focused on our General Sessions with amazing keynoters and informative peer panels and then 18 concurrent sessions to choose from with a track for executives, directors and telco employees…so many choices. And the best part? The ability to view on demand at your leisure until May. Truly a buffet of learning opportunities. Next week, we’ll be hosting our business session along with our Excellence Awards….and then a wonderful private acoustic performance with Riley Green, an up and coming country star who won me over not only with his song, Behind the Times, but with his practical sense to film his music videos on his own land, with his own truck and with his own fabulous yellow lab.
I have thought of ways to recap this week but realized that my talented NTCA team had already done that as a daily recap so I am “cheating” and sharing some of their thoughts from the past few days….enjoy (or better yet, if you registered for this meeting and missed anything, check it out yourself. We’re hoping to offer an opportunity to other NTCA members to access this information under a separate package after we call this a “wrap”!
From the NTCA team…..
NTCA Board Chairman Fred Johnson kicked us off by welcoming attendees to RTIME Online with a call to action: “I want to challenge all of you to take advantage of the outstanding content that has been prepared for you.” He also spoke about the Smart Rural CommunitySM (SRC) program and gave an update to the board’s recent activities to ensure the future success of NTCA and Services Management Corporation (SMC).
After U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield then gave her keynote address. “We already knew that broadband service was important but never before has the service you provide been so very critical as it has been for the last twelve months,” she said. “You have all led the charge to getting rural Americans connected when life has been exclusively online.” She talked about the ways NTCA members stepped up to the plate during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she also discussed NTCA’s priorities for the upcoming year.
What makes a community smart? Josh Seidemann, vice president of policy at NTCA, led a panel on the SRC program with Craig Cook, CEO of Hill Country Telephone Cooperative (Ingram, Tex.), and Brent Gillum, President and CEO of LightStream (Buffalo, Ind.). Cook and Gillum talked about how their telcos have partnered with schools, law enforcement, community leaders and other local organizations to expand access to broadband and create opportunities in their communities.
Shawn DuBravac then joined us to offer projections for upcoming consumer technology and trends in the industry. Some trends to watch out for are the increased use of robots and virtual reality, as well as telemedicine, which expanded rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic as consumers are “taking our health care into our own hands.”
We closed the general session on Tuesday with astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent a year living in space. He talked about living life in isolation (a timely topic for us all!) and the lessons he has learned during his career at NASA. He gave us this advice: “If we focus on the things that we can control, and ignore what we can’t, if we test the status quo, and we work as a team… then the sky is definitely not the limit.”
Attendees were welcomed to Day Two of RTIME Online by NTCA Board Vice Chairman Keith Oliver, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Home Telephone Company (Moncks Corner, S.C.), before hearing from Matt Dunne of the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) about how their companies can engage in win-win efforts to increase economic vitality for rural digital economies.
Dunne shared that rural areas were still digging out of the Great Recession of 2008 when the pandemic hit, which took economic prospects to a new low. Dunne challenged NTCA members to help CORI reach its goal of rural America holding 15 percent of the nation’s tech jobs by investing in coworking spaces and accelerator programs, providing in-kind broadband to coworking spaces to show what is available to rural consumers, and working with real estate agents and local chambers of commerce to show rural America is tech friendly.
NTCA Vice President for Industry Affairs Mike Romano and Jonathan West, general manager and chief executive of Twin Lakes Communications (Gainesboro, Tenn.), discussed changes at the FCC and the advocacy issues NTCA will focus on for 2021, including the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) and Universal Service Fund (USF) contribution reform. Romano and West warned that the lack of due diligence on unproven technologies in the RDOF auction risks leaving people unserved and wasting billions of dollars and noted NTCA has made recommendations for the commission to increase transparency and accountability in its review of long-form applications for auction funding.
Romano said that the Emergency Broadband Benefit program (EBB) could show the FCC why a strong USF is preferable to temporary Congressional appropriations, which risk leaving providers and consumers unsure of how service will be paid for. Attendees were also encouraged to work towards Gigabit levels of service since high-cost programs may start requiring greater bandwidth.
“Will it make my business dissolve or evolve?” That is the question keynote speaker Ryan Avery asked himself last year as the reality of the pandemic began to set in. He realized he needed new strategies and new ways to lead and to sell, and he challenged attendees to quit hoping for a return to normal and to embrace their purpose.
Avery also touched on leadership and why being the leader is preferable just being a leader, and he challenged NTCA members to determine whether they are champions, coaches or cheerleaders in their organizations, and how they acknowledge each group in their workforce.
RTIME Online continued on Day 3 with an update from the Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) – time to start training for their Rural Run in June, a look at business trends for the coming decade from three leaders in our industry – Jason Miller with Delhi in NY, Ben Foster with Twin Valley and ISG Tech in KS and Ross Petrick from Alliance in South Dakota. Beer jokes aside, these visionaries really give me insight into how this industry has so much to look forward to in years to come. NTCA members were also able to hear remarks from newly sworn-in FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington and an inspirational message on leadership from the first African American Army Surgeon General, Nadja West, who shared her views on leadership, challenges and how the two coming together and how we all can be a part of moving our teams forward.
Whew. A lot to process and a lot to learn from and enjoy. And speaking of enjoying, I had a great time “bopping” into virtual hallways and comparing notes with NTCA members on everything from their deployment plans to best shows to stream. I miss our membership and this was the next best thing.