***Note to attendees:** Local media outlets often carry news about
professional development activities of community residents. To generate
publicity about your program, you can customize and distribute the
following press release to your hometown media. Simply insert the date
and your contact information and follow the directions in bold or
download this news release in a Word document available on our web site
at www.rurdev.usda.gov/tn.*

> \* \* \* \* \* \* \* \* \*

##  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

*Date*

**Contact:** *Name*

*Title*

*Organization*

*Phone number*

*E-mail address*

# Local Executive Attends Rural Development Conference

*(**Name***) , (***title***) of

(***facility/program name***) in (***city***) , attended the 12^th^
Annual Rural Development Conference on April 11-12, 2007 in Cookeville,
Tennessee.

Hosted by USDA Rural Development, Tennessee Technological University
College of Business and the Tennessee Valley Authority, the conference
focused on business and community marketing strategies, leadership and
economic development, with this year's theme: *"Growing Economic
Opportunities."*

Attendees had the opportunity to learn how to help their local
communities grow and hear from keynote speakers, Roger Brooks and Randy
Frazier. Brooks, a founding member of the award-winning Destination
Development team, has worked in tourism and economic development for
more than 20 years. Brooks kicked off the conference with his lively
discussion entitled, *"The Immutable Rules of Successful Tourism."*
Frazier joined participants as this year's conference luncheon speaker.
He is a nationally recognized motivational speaker and trainer with over
30 years' experience. Frazier is a professional member of the National
Speaker's Association and has been a featured speaker in 38 states and
two foreign countries.

Rural Development is committed to the future of rural communities by
assisting with financial and technical assistance through various
housing, community, and business-cooperative programs. In fiscal year
2006, Rural Development invested over \$288 million, which assisted more
than 467,575 residents across rural Tennessee.

Tennessee Tech University\'s College of Business hosted the annual
conference for its twelfth year.  Demonstrating TTU\'s commitment to
meeting the need for economic development in Tennessee\'s rural areas,
the university is engaged in both basic and applied research that has
real potential for improved products and services both in the local
community and worldwide.  This research focus results in technology
transfer through extension efforts from the College of Business and
particularly its Business Media Center and the Small Business
Development Center.

TVA is the nation's largest public power provider and is completely
self-financed. TVA provides power to large industries and 158 power
distributor customers that serve approximately 8.7 million consumers in
seven southeastern states. TVA Economic Development, working with
distributor customers of TVA power, Valley communities, and
regional/state economic development organizations, helped retain or
attract 53,000 jobs in fiscal year 2006 and leveraged investments of
\$4.2 billion in the region.

(***Insert paragraph about your organization***).

\# \# \#