I attended the Big “G” Conference today put on by the Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce. The “G” is for generation and as a small market Lynchburg is competing for the attention and vying for the talent of Young Professionals from all around the country and the globe. As the keynote speaker The Chamber brought in Rebecca Ryan, founder of Next Generation Consulting and voted Entrepreneur of the Year by U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship – needless to say she knew her stuff. (More Info On Rebecca) She presented data from over 20,000 surveys taken by her company of Young Professionals nationwide and the part I loved the most was that she kept asking the question, “What’s Lynchburg’s Game Plan?”. She elaborated on why young professionals choose a place to live as a key component to job selection and cities that are doing it right. Places like Denver, CO and Austin, TX have championed the idea that you’ve got to appeal to a persons life instead of just finding them a job.

I could hear the disbelief of many and the fear of others as she continued to share what areas Lynchburg needs to be focused on. This has become an increasingly interesting subject of late because of joining up with the Young Professionals of Central Virginia. They are a group that is really getting there act together and I’m a fan of action, not just talking about it. I’m also seeing the fruit of many people from the past year getting things in order and now by adding a director, it’s attracting attention. The next meeting of The Young Professionals Council is next week.. and right now I’m so raring to go – I can’t wait. If you’re a young professional in the Central Virginia area, (which is a funny term – because I don’t know if I’m young or professional) let me encourage you to sign up at the website for updates on whats happening or shoot me an email, dan@danportnoy.com