PIPESTEM, WV (WOAY) – The Grants and Impact Manager at the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority (NRGRDA), Allison Smith will be giving a presentation on the area’s potential for success.
She will be joined by the Executive Director of Advantage Valley and a professor of WVU’s College of Media for the “Power of Storytelling at Pipestem Resort State Park.
The talk is just part of a two-day conference, the Mountain State Land Use Academy. While one of the overarching themes of the statewide conference focuses on building resilient communities, Smith’s presentation will look at the communication behind creating them.
“We are going to talk about strategies for pitching a story or telling that story with wider audiences,” Smith says. “We’ll all be coming at it from a different lens, I’ll be looking at it through the lens of community-based economic development.”
The other two panelists will look at economic development in other ways, such as through a marketing background, or a more traditional approach.
All of them, however, will focus on the potential for success in the Mountain State and the New River Gorge region.
“For me, communities in the New River Gorge region have so much momentum and so much excitement right now, and the session is going to hopefully be helpful for communities who want to get on the same page about a path forward,” she says.
It’s an annual conference hosted by the Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic. Other sessions during the event will look at rural housing, and food and drink tourism, among other topics.
While the conference began yesterday evening, most of the events that are a part of it will be held all day today at the park. Smith will be speaking at 1:30 p.m. today.
