Somewhere on a country road in Iowa

Many people have weighed in on the conversation with National Geographic on why they should visit Iowa in their trek across the United States.  Here’s just a few comments received from blog posts, facebook comments and twitter.   

But none of the glitz and glamour found in the big cities feeds my soul like quiet times spent in the Midwest’s rural areas! That’s why one of the things I enjoy most about my job is traveling the countryside, visiting with Latham® dealers and farmer-customers. I’ve gained an appreciation for the differences in the landscape across six states. I enjoy the raw beauty of each area, whether I’m in the Loess Hills of Iowa or along the Mississippi River.….Shannon Latham  (read entire article here)

Making a living in this tiny town is simpler. Taxes are amazingly cheaper. The air is fresher. The pace, slower. I am forever savoring the bounties and blessings from nature that are ever at my back door. Children ride bikes together through town, and the city park burgeons with baseball players, soccer enthusiasts, and families grilling outside. Yet, sometimes Iowa’s rural beauty is its most poignantly refreshing when first arriving back home from our world-wanderings. ..Pamela Warwick  (read entire blog post here)

I have lived in numerous places(Germany, Japan, Colorado, Texas, N.D., Minnesota, etc.) and far prefer Iowa. I find life in small town America a wonderful place to live!! I enjoy the friendly people, the superior economy, good school system, strong work ethic, firm religious convictions, and a sense of community with safety. I hope I can stay here a long time!! P.S. I appreciate the continuing education from the community college too!! … Shirley Ostroot of Osage  (one of the NIACC students taking my Senior Boot Camp class and she is over 70 years old

‎@NatGeoTraveler, Iowa’s no fly over state!

• Iowa: home to the last designed Frank Lloyd Wright hotel in the world, and recently renovated! (Historic Park Inn, Mason City).
• How about those 76 trombones that led the big parade? Band Fest is coming up in May 24-26, how about a stop in Mason City to pay tribute to the famous Meredith Wilson!
• Love the food you eat? (I know I do!) Without the tractor, we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are today in our food system. Credit goes to John Froelich, visit his museum near Monona, Iowa.
• We built it, and they came! Iowa is home to The Field of Dreams. Guessing Kevin Costner would agree, it’s a must see!
• And how about that beloved computer you use to take down all your travel experiences, better stop at Iowa State University for that one! First digital computer was invented there in 1942. By the way, Iowa State University was also the first land grant college, and such a beautiful campus I might add.
• Bridges of Madison County, THE Iowa State Fair (Can’t be beat!)
• I could go on and on. The south, yeah that’s been done. Iowa is where it’s at! ….Laura Cunningham

• Worlds Largest Truck Stop: Walcott, IA http://iowa80truckstop.com/
• Antique Archaeology: Le Claire, IA http://antiquearchaeology.com/
• Effigy Mounds: Marquette, Iowa http://www.nps.gov/efmo/index.htm
• West Bend – Grotto of the Redemption http://www.westbendgrotto.com/
• Sergeant Floyd Monument: Sioux City, IA
• Villisca Axe Murder House in Villisca, IA (Kind of Creepy, but people like it)
• NASCAR racing begins in May at Newton’s Iowa Speedway
• Pella, IA and the Dutch Festivals and Tulip Time. http://www.octulipfestival.com/
• Decorah Eagles
• Ertl Toy Company in Dyersville, IA
• Amana Colonies: http://amanacolonies.com/
• Sullivan Brothers: Waterloo, IA
• Devonian Fossiles: Rockford, IA http://www.fossilcenter.com/
• Louisiana Purchase
• Charles City Oliver Tractor Company
• Herbert Hoover Birthplace: West Branch, IA
• Johnny Carson Birthplace: Corning, IA
• John Waynes Birthplace: Winterset, IA
• Ashton Kutcher was Born in Cedar Rapids
Just a few things that I thought of through out the day. …Amy Hild

Twitter conversation between KCEdventures and @IATraveler — this my friends, is a great example of long tail! 

Old Stone House outside of Geneva Iowa

I live in the Midwest. Along with 60 million other people.  That’s a lot of people.  Yet we often get referred to as the fly over states.  The payusnonevermind location.  The “why do you want to go there” states.

A group of us (Iowans) think the people that believe like that are wrong.  Just plain wrong.

We know how good the food is in New York, how spread out LA is and how nice it is to live on the lake in Chicago.  We’ve traveled all over the world and see how other people live.  We’ve lived all over the world.  And now we’ve come back home to Iowa.  There’s a reason for that.

Iowa rocks!

In Franklin County, where 10,000 people live, we’ve got:

• 27 recreation areas (not including city parks)
• 12 Historic Places on the National. Register (Beeds Lake State Park, H.E. Boehmler House, Franklin County Courthouse, Franklin County Sheriffs Residence and Jail, Hampton Double Square Historic District, Dr. O.B. Harriman House/Harriman Nielsen Historic Farm, Maysville Schoolhouse, Leander Reeve House, and Herman Wood Round Barn),
• unique one of a kind shopping in Hampton, Latimer, Sheffield, Coulter, Dows, Popejoy, Geneva, Sheffield, Chapin,
• and No Wal-Mart.

Iowa leads the country in wind power – renewable energy at its best.

Iowa is ranked the 2nd most livable state.

Iowa is the 8th healthiest state in the nation.

Iowa has over 1400 miles of trails for hiking and biking within its state parks and recreational areas.

You can visit Hoover Presidential Library, Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area, Effigy Mounds, any one of five National Refuge Areas, follow the Iowa Wine and Beer Trail, attend the world’s best state fair, and travel scenic byways.

But the best kept secret of Iowa is it’s people.  You’ll never want for someone to help you, have a conversation with, a good belly laugh with and a personal tour guide.  We’ve been raised to be kind, treat strangers as family and to love one another.  

Aric Queen is on a mission for National Geographic.  He gets the opportunity to travel the United States and write about it.  But for some crazy reason, he’ll be staying all along the Southern states on his journey.  Good Lord!  Enough already!  Go north young man, go north.

So as Aric Queen travels the United States for National Geographic, we’ve invited him to join us here in the Midwest.  And we need your help. We’re asking you to tweet using the hashtag #TravelMidwest.  Tell us why you live in the Midwest, what you love about your home town.  Go on Facebook and follow me (Deb During Debworks Brown) and tell me those things.  We promise to get the information to Aric.  Because we are more than a flyover state and we want National Geographic to spend some time in our home towns.

Aric’s twitter description says “I’m on a road trip across America with @NatGeoTraveler to uncover uncommon stories of people who are bringing change to their communities. Help me find them.”  I say his search is over.  Come to Iowa.

(Visit Jody Halsted’s blog here and see how this entire conversation got started.)

In the next week, I’ll be sharing other presentations.  Let us know what you think!

But today, we need to thank the people that made the event possible — our sponsors.  If you’ve ever planned and hosted an event, you know that things don’t happen without the right tools and money to run them.  It’s easy enough to take the money offered and go on about your business.  Some events do that – they post up a banner and say ‘there’s your sponsor, thanks’.  We don’t think that is giving enough credit where credit is due.

Verizon Wireless has been a partner of the State of Now Des Moines since we began.  They make it possible for us to get the word to you – through some of the tools we test for them.  This year I used the Xyboard, a light weight tablet that made traveling so much easier.  We also gave away a Razor Maxx at the event.  You’ll hear from Val Plagge sometime this summer about how she’s using the phone, and how it’s working for her out on the farm.  Karen Smith, Verizon Marketing, also spoke at the conference.  She’s a local Iowa girl passionate about women’s sports.  We girls here in Iowa love our sports!  She talked about sports and communications but she also shared with us what project Verizon is getting behind.  We ask you to visit www.pavethewayproject.com, talk to #ptwproject on twitter, listen to the music.  Pave the Way Project is a teen dating violence awareness project promoting healthy relationships and empowering youth through pop music.  Take a minute – go to the site – and see how you can make a difference in a young person’s life.  Listen to the music!

The Franklin County Pork Producers are a local organization that supports pork producers and helps get the word out about pork.  They stepped up to the plate because we covered Agriculture and talked about pigs.  We spoke to their audience and they were a natural fit as a sponsor.  Locally, they are involved with events that bring pork to the attendees.  Yup – they feed us! We thank them for the sustenance and the support in getting the word out.

Country Inns and Suites in Clive offered us a special rate for attendees … and they also made sure we had comfortable beds, nice rooms, hot breakfast and great customer service.  But you know what?  THEY DO THAT FOR ALL OF THEIR GUESTS! They believe in treating you special.  I’m sure we’ll use them for future projects, and I’ll personally look for a Country Inns and Suites on my travels.

Internet Solver has also been a partner since we started the State of Now in Des Moines.  What do they do?  They make sure that everyone in the room has internet access.  Imagine 125 people tweeting, facebooking, shooting video and doing this all day long.  It takes the service that Internet Solver provides to keep everyone online.  They make this technology minded conference very happy!

Kum and Go made several people happy with the gas cards they gave out! Oscar and Felix provided lunch (delicious wraps!), Headway Themes makes sure I’m happy and can write on this blog about what I do, Civic Center of Greater Des Moines let us host this conference in the Stoner Studio Theatre and were there for every little need we had.

Sponsors really do make the conference world go round — and we are so happy to have partnered with our sponsors!

You can still order tickets.  As a matter of fact, use the code ‘verizon’ and get your $70 full price ticket for only $40!  See you at the 140……..

http://desmoines2012.140conf.com

Now for the fun part ………… tell me why you’d like a free ticket that I’m giving away!  Just post a comment and I’ll let you know Friday, April 20!

Des Moines, Iowa is having their second one in just two weeks – April 23.  Des Moines held the first local 140 Character Conference last year.  It was well attended, and well done.

So what’s the big deal?  That’s the first question I often get, quickly followed by ‘Why should I go?‘

Over 50  speakers come together and in one day give you this huge, gigantic, humongous look at how the technology of now has changed their lives.  Technology of Now – what is that?  It’s the real time internet (where you can read,see and hear about things and events as they are happening).  It’s Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, blog sites, web sites, Ning – anywhere people are talking to each other.  It’s grandma’s looking at pictures of their grand kids in a country far away.   It’s old friends reconnecting with past school chums.  It’s students in Iowa talking to students in Sweden – live on Skype.  It’s history in the making, and we are living and experiencing it as it happens.  That’s the technology of now.

Can you feel the excitement?  Imagine 50 people, talking at a clip of ten minutes a piece, telling you how this technology of now has made a huge difference in their lives.  It’s not a how to do it kind of conference.  It’s not a technical conference.  It’s a conference designed to get your blood pumping and your heart excited.  It’s a conference that makes you feel like a kid again – amazed at all the wonderful things in the world you can play with.

What kind of things will hear on the 23rd?  A story of how online connections saved a women’s life.  How a small town gardener now travels the world sharing her knowledge.  How restaurants in Des Moines are using the technology of now to bring in more customers.  Funeral home directors talking about using the real time internet.  Pig farmers riding in tractors finding forecasts and futures.  Students and teachers changing lives because they believe you matter.  50 different lives sharing with you the serendipity of living on this planet.  

So take a chance, get a ticket and find out for yourself why this 140 Character Conference/State of Now is so vital and important.  It just might change your life.  

http://desmoines2012.140conf.com

1. Agriculture.  If you live in a big (or any city), you’ll want to hear how farmers are using the technology of Now to feed the world.  Shannon Latham, of Latham Hi Tech Seeds will lead this group of speakers and we think you’ll find what they are talking about pretty amazing.   Blogging for farmers, being heard over a roaring crowd,  the farm to fork connection, connecting with consumers — just a few of the topics being talked about.

2. Education.  Angela Maiers leads a group of educators and we promise they’ll have you excited about how your kids are learning! How one class in Conrad connected with Sweden, tweeting in the classroom, and exciting ventures with other schools — just a few things you’ll hear.

3. Business. Josh Fleming leads this crew of business minded people who promise to delight and inform.  Dwolla steps into the future, Headway working on taking over the world, social media and funeral homes, ROI in social media – just a few topics you’ll hear about.

4. Food.  We have some of the best food in the world – right here in Iowa.  Enjoy listening about sustainable foods, local Des Moines restaurants, gardening nude and more.

5. Authors.  That’s right, we’ve got authors talking about how the technology of Now has made their lives easier (and harder). Croatia project, Shedding the Bitch Movement, #tweetsmart – are just three book projects being talked about.

6. Tourism  Jody Halsted will take us down the beaten path and lead attendees into hearing some very interesting Tourism stories.  Ireland, Northern Iowa, Des Moines and more — you’ll want to start packing your suitcase!

7. Reflections. Tara Litzenberger will jump right into the thick of things and you’ll hear about how technology saved a womans life, how one man stays in touch with his daughter, being a Bombshell and more!

8. Synchronicity — Jeff Pulver will talk about how things have come this far in the 140 World – and what a difference a little synchronicity has made in his life.

There will be a speaker just about every 10 minutes talking about how the technology of Now has affected their lives – both business and personal.   It’s not a time of taking notes and learning exactly how to do something.  It is a time of hearing how people have used this space to create a bigger world for themselves – and how you just might be able to do the same thing.  You’ll have the opportunity to mingle with speakers, eat a nice lunch, ear some live music and walk away with ideas on how you could make a difference in the world.

Find your tickets on the menu on the left hand side at http://desmoines2012.140conf.com/characters.  They are $70 for adults and $14 for students.  See you there!