What Can Topeka Learn from Rural Communities?

As many of you who are in the social networking, social media biz know we had a huge social media forum in March over in Lawrence Kansas called the Free State Social. One of the things that strongly resonated with me is @prsarahevans talk. She talked about how to make your brand stand out online and one of the key points that stuck was her tip on hijacking conversations. Oddly enough I have always had a habit of doing this without even realizing there was even any kind of terminology for it. I am one of those people that if I am in an elevator full of people and I hear someone saying something that peaks my interest I will almost always pipe in and say something. It is just part of who I am, what makes me tick.

Today I happened to log on to Twitter and came across a thread on #ruralok in which a gal named @BeckyMcCray-one of my followers-was participating in. I instantly hopped on for three reasons.

• we are following each other, she has some insights that I have come to enjoy
• there was a business owner from Kansas @kansassampler participating in this session @marcipenner

• I thought there were gems from this thread that I felt my city of Topeka could utilize in revitalizing the downtown area.

Kansas Sampler has put together 8 elements of rural tourism that we as a city could utilize on our own to assess the unique qualities of the downtown area which still exist. I will take the first category in the assessment to show how this can be done. The first category is Architecture. As a downtown area we could look at the following questions:

ASSESSING THE ARCHITECTURE IN YOUR TOWN
To assess the architecture in your town look at such structures as residential homes, downtown buildings, churches, barns, the courthouse, post office, library, bridges, and mills.

Ask these questions to help see the story of architecture in your town. The answers may lead you to interesting findings!

1. What building materials were used and where did they come from?
2. Are these materials unique to the area?
3. What year or era was the structure built?
4. Who was the architect or contractor?
5. What was the original use of the structure?
6. Does the structure have a well-known nickname?
7. How is the building used now?
8. Is there a connection to similar structures around the state?

When I looked at these the first thing I thought of was the downtown post office, the old Crosby Place mall, what is now the TPD formerly known as the old Montgomery Wards Dept Store. I have always thought that our downtown post office was unique and beautiful inside and out. As far as some of the old buildings that are vacant why not find out about them and see what they may have to offer from a historical perspective. I admit I am a history nut and love to know where we have been as a community, where we are now and we have yet to go.

There is a generational shift in how people get out and explore Topeka that is going to prove to be tricky to strike a balance any time soon. We have the “boomer” generation that has embraced traditional technology yet some haven’t grasped the social aspect of it. My case worker at SRS is one of them. There is the gen x generation which is my generation. We have been through many changes in the technological front, everything from gaming to computing to how we listen to and obtain music has changed dramatically since we were born. Then, there is gen y and the millinial generation who have known nothing but computers, the net and social networking/social media. I for one am not entirely sure how we can bridge the gaps entirely but we have to be willing to think outside the box while still keeping the interests of those who are not tech savvy in the community so that their wisdom and experience helps to guide future explorers to our community.

I have a lot more to say on what I took away from this Twitter conversation but I will leave you with what I have just shared with you.

Furthermore what do you see in Topeka that you have always wanted to know more about but never thought to look in to??

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Filed Under: blogging • business

Tags: 30 Day Blog Challenge, Rural Communities, Topeka