Mayor and EDC pleased with seminar turnout

WINSTED — Mayor Maryann Welcome and Economic Development Commission Chairman Bill Pratt said they were both pleased with the results of the “Re-Inventing Your Business” seminar at the commission’s special meeting held on Tuesday, March 6, at Town Hall.The seminar, co-sponsored by the commission and Friends of Main Street, was held at The Gilbert School on Feb. 17. According to Welcome, 30 people attended the seminar, with 10 of the attendees from Winsted.“It’s a good thing that we brought 20 people from out of town,” Pratt said. “That’s very progressive.”Welcome said the total cost to put on the seminar was $660 which included food costs of $380, $180 for postage to send out promotional mailers and $70 to hire maintenance workers.“We were supposed to pay $200 for facilities use, but instead we were given use of the building gratis,” Welcome said. “Also, we did not pay for electricity.”Welcome added that a total of $500 was made in admission fees.“The bottom line is that we cultivated an extreme amount of goodwill toward the town and the business community for a very low cost,” Pratt said. “This was a very cost-effective program.”Welcome said the biggest complaint she heard from attendees was that the seminar was not long enough.“Going into this, we knew that it was going to be the biggest complaint,” Welcome said.“Had we given the attendees enough time, it would have cut down attendance,” Pratt said. “They would have said ‘Oh, its going to take too much of my time because it will go on for a whole day.’”Welcome briefly discussed ideas for the next business seminar, but the commission did not formally schedule it.“If we use Gilbert again, we should be looking at a different time to hold it, maybe in the evening,” Welcome said. “The seminar should just be a follow-up to the first one. We don’t need a keynote speaker. It should just be a follow-up for businesses who are on the Internet to see what problems they might have and have people help them.”