Using WisLine Web

From her office in Madison, Erica Kauten, director of the UW-Extension Small Business Development Center (SBDC) can lead a statewide meeting on growing and developing Wisconsin's entrepreneurial climate. A daunting task, you might think, until you consider the method she uses. She manages the entire statewide meeting through the webconferencing system WisLine Web, connecting people across the state to consult with local governments and citizens interested in stimulating economic development. In effect, she is bringing her statewide network down home to the people of Wisconsin.

Counting on traditional marketing and outreach education practices no longer suffices in these days where information and technology intertwine at the speed of light. "If we don't share information with people effectively, then we start duplicating services," Kauten notes. "The challenge in public service today is to always let people know what we are doing."

UW-Extension's SBDC provides no-cost, confidential counseling to help clients manage and run their businesses more profitably and provides entrepreneurial training for startups. Located in 13 service centers on UW campuses and two specialty centers - the Wisconsin Innovation Center at UW-Whitewater and the Center for Innovation and Development at UW-Stout - the SBDC network provides key education, research, and development tailored to meet the needs of the state's businesses. This past fall, the SBDC, in partnership with the state Department of Commerce, launched the Business AnswerLine and Business Help Line for instant access to business startup questions and permitting and licensing information. Kauten is planning on using WisLine Web to help market the new service as well as other services the SBDC network can offer to local communities.

Two Birds - One Stone

"Instead of marketing with pencil and paper, we're counting on people to be curious about using WisLine Web technology," Kauten said. Her assessment is also based on a prior WisLine Web national meeting she hosted in which 80 people signed up to talk about the effect of state deficits throughout the nation. She notes the technology is especially good for updates, needs assessments, and marketing. This spring, she will combine marketing efforts and needs assessments on WisLine Web. She will promote the SBDC call center solution (called the Business AnswerLine) and other services to local communities.

" By keeping (participants) engaged, you really can create a dynamic atmosphere," Kauten said. She notes that although there is less interpersonal dialogue with WisLine Web, a skilled person facilitating the meetings will make the difference hardly noticeable. Taking opinion polls, using slides, and having concurrent "talking sessions" are just a few of the ways Kauten uses to charge up her WisLine Web meetings. Conducting straw polls throughout the meetings, where results can be tabulated anonymously, has a distinct advantage over opinion-polling in regular meetings, she added. "Normally, the most vocal or loudest people carry the day," she noted, "usually taking the entire day. With WisLine Web that isn't the case. Using WisLine Web is really good public policy," Kauten said.

This article was originally pulbished in the electronic newsletter DESIEN (Volume 8, Issue 4, April 2003) and is reprinted with the permission of the publisher.

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Last updated May, 2006