The following transcript has been edited for length and readability. Listen to the entire discussion here on The Broadband Bunch.
Craig Corbin:
For nearly three quarters of a century, NTCA has represented hundreds of independent community-based telecommunications companies advocating on behalf of its members in the legislative and regulatory arenas. Each year, a highlight of the NTCA calendar is RTIME, the Rural Telecom Industry Meeting and Expo. Courtesy of the global pandemic, RTIME Online Broadband Together will be a virtual experience. It’s a pleasure to welcome the CEO of NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association, Shirley Bloomfield, along with NTCA Board Chairman and CEO of FTC, Fred Johnson. Welcome to the Broadband Bunch.
NTCA RTIME ONLINE – Customizable Experience
Craig Corbin:
I was thinking back to the 2020 version of RTIME in February of 2020, which was just prior to the full impact of the pandemic hitting, and how wonderful it was to have been able to have that event in person.
Shirley Bloomfield:
Thankfully, we were able to get that one in under the calendar last year, because it has been now nearly a year since we’ve seen everybody. We are really anxious to be able to get back to holding live events. But in the meantime, we’re really excited and actually pretty proud of the online platforms that we’ve been able to develop, just to make sure that our members are able to stay engaged, stay educated, on top of issues and even do a little bit of virtual networking.
Craig Corbin:
That’s what we’re looking to explore in this visit – what is on tap, just around the corner, at RTIME Online Broadband Together. There are a lot of things that are exciting when we look at what the experience will be like for attendees to this event. Would you provide a 30,000-foot overview of what to expect with this year’s RTIME?
Shirley Bloomfield:
One of the things that I think is exciting about this platform is not only the content, which I’ll touch base on in a second, but actually the way we’ve structured it. Because as you know, Craig, of any of the events that we hold, RTIME has the widest variety and range of attendees. We look this year to be able to customize the experience. So everybody’s now gotten so used to doing online platforms. You kind of come in, whether you’re on a Zoom, you’re in a screen, you kind of go through a very flat, one dimensional experience. But what we’re going to be able to do with this conference is we’re going to be able to customize it. So for example, if you are a director from North Carolina, you are going to see a different agenda than let’s say a general manager up in Montana. You’re going to be able to choose your track. You’re going to be able to choose your time zone.
Shirley Bloomfield:
We’ll all be together for things like the general sessions and the Solutions eXchange live, which is our online expo, but people are going to be accessing the content as it works for them within their own time zones. Then the other really cool thing is they’re going to be able to go ahead and access that content afterwards. It’s kind of like, in my book, a buffet. Instead of running down a hotel or conference center hallway, you get to actually experience a lot of different content. To that end, I will say that we’ve got some amazing keynote speakers who I think really are going to resonate with folks. We’ve also got probably about 18 concurrent sessions that will range anywhere from talking about leadership to technology issues, to critical conversations in the boardroom, to what in the world is going on with these low Earth orbiting satellites.
Craig Corbin:
Shirley, what you’re really describing is the ability to customize the experience for those who attend RTIME Online. That’s extremely exciting. Fred, you will be providing a welcome to get things kicked off on Day One at the Opening General Session. I know you’re ready for that.
NTCA RTIME – Commitment to Members
Fred Johnson:
Shirley will certainly give me a lot of grief if I’m not, but I am looking forward to that. I’d like to add to Shirley’s comments by commending her and her team for the development of the program. This really is one of those cases where we’re making some really good lemonade out of the lemons that we’ve been handed. Because quite frankly, you’re not going to have conflicts about choosing between two sessions that you want to hear. Now granted, I’m always a firm believer that this is another one of those examples of you get out of something, what you put into it. But for those members that really want to engage, the content for this meeting is outstanding. Shirley and her team have put together a suite of relevant topics that are absolutely on point for what we’re dealing with right now, both as a pandemic, as an industry, across the spectrum.
Fred Johnson:
If you want to engage, there is plenty of an opportunity to do that. As far as my opening comments are concerned, aside from the normal housekeeping that you would expect, I hope to be able to really convey to the membership, the commitment of the board, the commitment of Shirley, the commitment of the entire NTCA staff towards meeting the needs of our members at this moment in time. And if I get that point across, along with assuring our membership of the board’s commitment to looking to the future and what that may or may not mean, then I’ll consider myself of having been ready for it.
Craig Corbin:
One of the things that will be looked at very early on in Day One on the agenda is the Smart Rural Community program, which has grown in importance as it has evolved. Fred, if you could touch briefly on how you have seen that effort change over the years.
NTCA Smart Rural Communities
Fred Johnson:
I really appreciate the opportunity to do that. I’m going to do it in an intensely personal way. FTC was fortunate in that we had a board that in 2007, (that’s right 2007, that many years ago), made the all-in commitment to make sure that the critical components of our network were all optical fiber based. And at that time, the commitment would have taken us to a 72% availability of optical fiber across our ILEC and a portion of our CLEC territory. The critical element in that plan was that we would leave no major business community and no industrial park anywhere in our service footprint, unserved by optical fiber. Now the ensuing 14 years have allowed us to essentially by the end of this year, reach 100% optical fiber availability. But early on, we had the commitment to the economic infrastructure, that we thought necessary, to make sure that all of our business communities were viable.
Fred Johnson:
I am intensely gratified that the economic development authorities in our area tell me that that since we made good on that promise, they are unaware of a single industrial recruit, not selecting the area because of communication deficiencies. They are always impressed when that particular box gets checked off immediately, anytime they go through that process. At a very personal individualized effort here at FTC, we’re seeing the economic benefits of having that kind of infrastructure in place. To the extent that we can continue as an Association to take those type of real world scenarios and brand them under the Smart Rural Community franchise, the more that becomes a national well-known standard that our members and their communities can use in attracting all kinds of economic activity, then the greater success that program will have been. My personal hope and dream is for SRC to become a very strong national brand, national standard of excellence. that makes the job of economic developers and other recruiters to the business community, much easier. I’ve got high hopes for it, and I’m delighted with the way it’s progressing.
Craig Corbin:
For those that may not be aware, in addition to serving as Chairman of the Board for NTCA, Fred has been, for last two decades, the CEO of FTC, Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative. And that was a wonderful example. Thank you so much for sharing that example with us as the Smart Rural Community initiative will be one of the first topics that will be discussed at RTIME. Shirley, you mentioned, a moment ago, a phenomenal lineup of keynote speakers. Give us a sneak preview if you would.
NTCA RTIME – Keynote Speakers
Shirley Bloomfield:
We’re going to kick off the first day with Scott Kelly, who is an astronaut who actually spent a year at our space station. Talk about somebody’s perfectly well positioned to share with all of us a little bit about what it’s actually like to live in isolation. I mean, it’s pretty timely in a kind of sad but motivating way. He’s going to share some really excellent insights and give us some tips. He’s a great speaker. I’ve had a chance to preview some of his work. A takeaway that we can all think about, is that our paradigm has changed and how does that feel? You’ve hit on the Smart Rural Community initiative and the only thing that I would add is we announce those SRC showcase awards on the first day.
Shirley Bloomfield:
This is an opportunity, and FTC is a perfect role model, for us to really take this moment in time and think about a rural renaissance. Isn’t this the time – as people are starting to think about why do I live in a high density area or why do I need to live in New York City – isn’t this a great opportunity to brand our communities that are served by NTCA members because they are so distinct about their communications? I am so looking forward to that.
Shirley Bloomfield:
We also have Ryan Avery on our second day, a terrific business innovator talking about different trends that he has seen out in the world. I always find that with these speakers, if I can take one or two nuggets away, I find that to be a successful meeting for myself. We’re also going to be talking a little bit on the second day about supply chain management issues. What is going on? [We will also be talking about] policy and now that we’ve got this new administration – what does that look like? What are going to be their priorities?
Shirley Bloomfield:
On our day three, our final keynote is Dr. Nadia West, who is the first African-American Surgeon General for the U.S. Army. She is an incredibly, impressive woman, who really talks about leading with your heart as you go through challenging times. She actually led the DOD during the Ebola response. Again, you hate to say that timing is everything, but I think that we’ll all pick up some interesting lessons from all of these different keynote speakers and, and all of the other sessions that we’ve got.
NTCA RTIME Panels and Breakout Sessions
Shirley Bloomfield:
One panel, I just want to note that I’m really excited about, is a panel we’re calling the Soaring Twenties. We’ve got three folks that are real leaders in our industry – Ben Foster, who’s the CEO of Twin Valley Telecommunications in Kansas, Ross Petrick, CEO of Alliance Communications in South Dakota, and Jason Miller with Delhi Telephone Company in New York – that are young, up and coming, yet established leaders in our industry. They’ll be talking about what they are seeing, where are they going, where are they heading, and where are they putting their time and their energy? Again, I think that they will provide some nuggets that folks will have some real takeaways from.
Craig Corbin:
One of the hallmarks of RTIME has been the tremendous array of opportunities for learning. In addition to what you’ve just described regarding the speakers there are a number of breakout sessions. Fred, one of the challenges has always been when we were in person at RTIME was making sure that you hit everything that you want to. Last year at RTIME, we had to do some pretty good planning to be able to find a time to meet for your first visit with us here on the Broadband Bunch. But this year with RTIME Online these different tracks with numerous breakout sessions are available across time zones and time constraints which provides phenomenal opportunities for all the attendees.
Fred Johnson:
I and a colleague were just discussing earlier this week, about how much we miss those brief but intense conversations about the various issues that we are facing and how we’re responding to them. While that can’t be replicated exactly, when you actually look at the content panel here and the one that Shirley just gave notice of is a classic example of where we’re focused on trends and responses to those trends. If you take the time to pick and choose, while you can’t fully replicate the interactive dialogue, you can at least pick up on the critical components and critical focal points that you’re interested in, and get a good perspective. If nothing else, even if you’re just doing that privately in your office, it refocuses your mind. It gives you a chance to think about things in a stimulating way that probably wouldn’t happen without those catalysts. You’ve got to take the time to find the issues that are important to you, but they’re there if you look.
NTCA RTIME – Rural Broadband Mapping
Craig Corbin:
One issue that’s important to most in the industry is mapping the future for rural broadband and getting an update firsthand on where we stand with the FCCs mapping for broadband availability. That’s an issue that affects so much of our industry.
Shirley Bloomfield:
Obviously, developments are happening all the time in that arena. We will be able to bring to folks the latest of what is happening, particularly as we have new leadership at the FCC who will be guiding the mapping initiative that Congress passed and finally funded. We’ll be able to share some of those thoughts with you. The other thing that I want to add, that I think is really cool about this platform, is that while we talk about how it’s not the same and yeah, you’re at your desk, or you might be in your conference room, but we are going to, with this platform, give attendees the opportunity to connect through not just text chat and group discussion boards, but face to face video chats as well throughout the conference. We even will have a virtual hallway that even our staff will be in.
Shirley Bloomfield:
As people are kind of perusing around between sessions, the ability to in the moment say, wait, how are you reopening your office? Or what are you doing with your teams who are looking at X? Or how are you contesting somebody’s claim on where you have infrastructure and where you don’t? So it’s the best model I think we can come up with so far on making this not quite the same, because I’m not going to be able to buy you a beer at the welcome reception, but you will still be able to in that moment exchange thoughts on important things like broadband mapping.
Craig Corbin:
RTIME Online will kick off on Tuesday, February the 23rd, then finish up on Thursday, March 4th for the closing General Session and the Excellence Awards.
NTCA Excellence Awards
Shirley Bloomfield:
Fred will be hosting the business session, which is really important because in a virtual world, Fred has probably got more experience than we do at this point, having hosted his own annual meeting. The Excellence Awards are just such a wonderful opportunity for folks in this industry to recognize their peers who have really gone above and beyond, or whose careers have really just been exemplary. It’s one of my favorite parts of the meeting which is getting the chance to recognize these folks who have been submitted by their peers and their companies. So we’ve got everything from the heroism award to community engagement to management achievement.
Shirley Bloomfield:
We do have two awards that are very key, our Lifetime manager award and the lifetime director leadership award. The NTCA board, just this last year, renamed both of these in honor of Jim Bass, our long-time founder and general counsel for the association who passed away this year. We will be honoring two significant leaders in the industry as recipients of those awards. Again, the awards are peer-driven, peer recognized, and it’s just fun to tell their stories. We’re sorry that Fred and I won’t be able to personally give them their awards, but we’re going to figure out a pretty clever way to make sure they get the honor that they are due.
Craig Corbin:
RTIME has always been so vitally important to the membership of the NTCA. If you would speak to the value of RTIME.
Fred Johnson:
I have always found that RTIME is one of those meetings, that for lack of a better phrase, serves a purpose all year long. What I mean by that is, I don’t know that there have been very many weeks in my career here during the year that were more productive than that particular meeting. For me personally, the RTIME experience usually consisted of the normal suite of activities and sessions, but probably anywhere from 10 to 15, sometimes perhaps as many as 20, individual meetings with business partners, and colleagues to discuss specific issues. In addition, the time spent in true fellowship and refreshment of friendships and relationships with our colleagues across the industry. To that end, we’re doing our best to replicate that as much as possible, but I do have a message for our membership there.
NTCA – Continuing Member Commitment
Fred Johnson:
I want to speak on behalf of the board as well as Shirley and her staff when we say we still understand what’s missing and we’ll get back to it as soon as it’s safe to do it. I want our membership to understand the amount of thought, care, concern, and carefulness that have gone into the decisions. Now, candidly speaking, when a hotel tells you, they’re not going to host you, that makes it rather easy. I want our membership to know that we miss the face to face as much as they do, and we’re going to do our best to get back to that point, but we’re not going to do it in a way that shows a lack of basic respect for their health and safety. That’s what it means, and that’s what we’re trying to get as close to as possible. We’ve hit a very good balance, a very good balance, I’m very proud of Shirley and her team for what they’ve done in that regard.
Craig Corbin:
One item that we didn’t touch on, is that there is some special entertainment to wrap things up at the Excellence Award ceremony. Tell us about that.
Shirley Bloomfield:
This should be right up Fred’s alley since we are having a rising country star, Riley Green, who hails from the beautiful state of Alabama.
Shirley Bloomfield:
He is going to do a private acoustic set for us. I have to share, I’m a pretty eclectic music lover, but did not really know a lot of Riley’s music and I’ve downloaded it and I’ve been bebopping along. And I have to say he’s incredibly talented and the idea, and I love that we’ve gotten so innovative on technology, the idea that he will kind of Zoom in and do this private acoustic set with us just shows how everybody’s adaptive. To be able to enjoy that from wherever you might be, to be able to have a chat opportunity in some ways makes what is a remote experience, actually a very personal experience. So I think it’s the perfect way for us to end this conference.
NTCA – Focused on Broadband Connectivity
Craig Corbin:
As we wrap up this visit, Fred, we’ll close with you looking forward down the line, both 2021 and 2022, on how the industry is being counted on to shoulder the need for connectivity, to handle distance learning, tele-health, so many different things… Talk about the importance of the organization and their role in this effort.
Fred Johnson:
The last few years have given us a somewhat unexpected, but very welcome period of some relative stability in our support mechanisms. Everybody understands that those mechanisms have a lifecycle. And I have never been more delighted in both our policy committees and the staff of NTCA as well as the focus of the board on looking down the road to what we need to be doing now to prepare for the time when those mechanisms approach the end of their life cycle. And Shirley alluded to this, but it’s a very important point to keep in front of us.
Fred Johnson:
This is a critical moment in our industry’s history. There has never been a time when our product was more valued or recognized more appropriately for its value. If we can’t sell it right now and make sure that we have good long-term fiscal policies at the federal level, supporting connectivity for all Americans in this environment, then we probably don’t stand a chance. And I’m delighted at the work that’s being done, the focus of the board, the focus of the committees, the focus of the staff towards that objective, the organization has never been more important to the industry and the industry has never been more important to the communities we serve.
Shirley Bloomfield:
All they need to do is go right to our website, www.ntca.org. Trust me, our RTIME materials are splashed all over the front page. It’s very easy to just go ahead and click register.
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