As it turns out, site selectors pick a conference site for themselves using the same sort of criteria they apply to their daily work.
Site selectors, those consultants tasked with helping industries pick towns and states in which to operate, prefer locales with recreation and entertainment options. Incentives can help sweeten the pot. Transportation and infrastructure matter. Competence of the locals matters.
Which is why Little Rock will host about 200 site selectors and economic developers this week as part of the 2016 Site Selectors Guild Fall Forum. Little Rock beat out a city in the Midwest and one in the Southeast for hosting duties.
Acxiom Corp., Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Metova will be part of panel discussions during the two-day conference. Gov. Asa Hutchinson will speak. "Drink Like A Local" will highlight the state's craft beer offerings on Tuesday.
"The process shined a very favorable light on Little Rock and Arkansas," Don Schjeldahl, an Ohio-based consultant and guild member, said when explaining the criteria used in choosing a site for the site selectors.
Formed in 2010, the Site Selectors Guild has "an all-time high" membership of 42 people this year. While the number of members is small, the organization touts a group who have had a hand in more than $30 billion in capital expenditures annually.
Folks at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission are hopeful that getting guild members and others affiliated with the industry to visit Little Rock this week will help the state's prospects down the road. There are no guarantees, of course, but Danny Games, the commission's executive vice president of global business, said the two-day conference represents "five years worth of value."
"Nearly impossible," Games said when describing the difficulty in drawing that many site selectors to the state in one year.
As with any endeavor, the familiarity with people and places is paramount. Economic developers who know nothing about a state will have a hard time selling a client on locating there.
"I think in any business trying to market a product or service, the very first step is awareness," Games said. "This is a very targeted and very focused audience for us. Site selectors are a very narrow target for us, but they have a lot of value and obviously the better acquainted they are with our state and what we have to offer, the more they can, in turn, communicate that to their clients."
Games can point to a number of examples when the state has benefited from engaging site selectors.
A four-year search for a tenant to use the 200,000-square-foot Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Plant in Fort Smith was aided by a site selection firm. P.H. Glatfelter Co. will spend $80 million to purchase and upgrade the facility at Chaffee Crossing.
FMH Conveyors' decision to invest $12.5 million for upgrades and expansion of its Jonesboro plant was aided by a site selector. Arkansas was facing the prospect of losing its FMH plant to Virginia, but instead secured what is expected to be 110 additional jobs.
Schjeldahl, who once directed a business to Pine Bluff, said hosting the event very well could work in the state's favor down the road. Certainly, Arkansas isn't without its challenges. The lack of many direct flights is of particular personal and professional frustration for Schjeldahl, but he said visiting will do more to sell Little Rock than an email or phone call from an economic developer could.
"I read maybe one-tenth of those newsletters I get," Schjeldahl said. "My phone rings often. But to leave a lasting impression on somebody, they have to spend a day or two on the ground."
If you have a tip, call Chris Bahn at (501) 378-3518 or email him at cbahn@arkansasonline.com
SundayMonday Business on 10/23/2016