Crowd of about 80 attends Thursday business conference

Among the attendees at Thursday's Kaysinger Business Conference at the Haidee and Allen Wild Center for the Arts at Cottey College were Carol Platt, of USDA Rural Development, who was administering a display and informational booth at the event, and Bates County Commissioner Donna Gregory, who was attending the conference in connection with the Butler Chamber of Commerce. Gregory, who was attending her first Kaysinger Business Conference, said it was a valuable experience, and she wishes more people had been able to attend. --Photos by Lynn A. Wade

The event, which closed with a panel discussion with four of the presenters, offered information on a wide range of business practices, from business plan to networking strategies to using Internet social networks and other technologies to promote and grow business. At the podium is Bob May, master of ceremonies for the event. Seated, from left to right, are Joe Mullens, manager of Marketing Applications for the Entrepreneurial Zone at the University of Central Missouri, who gave a presentation titled "Marketing Tactics on a Shoestring"; Patrick Tuttle, who runs seminars in workforce development and team building and presented "Leading the Way for Your Business"; Karen Bradshaw, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Missouri Southern State University, who spoke on the benefits of a business plan; and Kathy Macomber, business development specialist with the University of Missouri Extension Small Business Development Center in Barton County, who offered a presentation on ways to use the Internet.