Here you’ll find bios, photos, videos, downloads, talking points and more. Need something I didn’t think of? Email me or use the contact form, and I’ll get it for you.
Bios, Photo & Links
Bio for Publications
Becky McCray is a lifelong rural entrepreneur, cattle rancher and co-founder of SaveYour.Town. Her own hands-on successes and failures as a retail business owner, city administrator, nonprofit executive and community volunteer—all in small towns—make her a sought-after expert on rural communities. McCray created the influential Survey of Rural Challenges, published biennially since 2015 and used by agencies, educators and businesses to better understand and serve rural people. She often collaborates on rural publications, initiatives, advisory boards, listening sessions and advocacy events including Oklahoma State University’s Rural Renewal Initiative, the American Independent Business Alliance, and the Harvard Kennedy School’s Reimagining the Economy Project.
Becky earned her BS in Business Administration and certificates in Facilitating for Results and Workforce Quality Leadership. She has presented at more than 300 rural and small town events in the US, Canada, UK and Australia, including Main Street America, International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and TEDx. She makes her home in Hopeton, Oklahoma, a community of 30 people. Her goal is to deliver practical steps you can put into action right away to shape the future of your town.
Bio for Convincing Others
(also known as the speaker “one sheet” or speaking brochure)
Need a bio to share with potential sponsors, a committee, or others helping plan your event?
Formal Headshot
If you need a formal photo of me for your publication, I recommend this one by Meg Hatch Photography provided with permission for promotional use.
Downtown Casual Photo
If you can use a more casual photo for your publication, I recommend this one by Meg Hatch Photography provided with permission for promotional use.
More photo options available. Let me know what you need.
Talking Points for Podcasts and Interviews
About Becky McCray
- Lifelong entrepreneur and cattle rancher. I don’t just talk about rural issues; I live them.
- Co-founder of SaveYour.Town (you say “Save Your Dot Town”–it’s our name and our website)
- Co-author of the book Small Town Rules
- Former small town city administrator, nonprofit executive, and liquor store owner
- Lives in a community of 30 people
The Idea Friendly Method
- The research-backed Idea Friendly Method helps communities thrive no matter what obstacles they face
- Put ideas into action with less formality, less overhead, no more committees, no more meetings, no more plans
- Small but meaningful participation by everyone
- Rather than voting, consensus emerges from action
- Community is our goal
Positive Rural Trends – Seeing the Small Town Future
- In an increasingly urban world, small towns still have a future
- The small towns that survive will be the ones that are open to new ideas
- Major trends in business, society and technology are positive for small towns
- Population is not the only measure of success for a town
Innovative Rural Business Models and Rural Jobs Creation Strategies
- You don’t have to settle for a normal business
- The 5 Ts of Innovative Business Models are Tiny, Temporary, Together, Traveling, and Tech enabled
- Small steps beat big leaps in business
- Shed businesses and divided spaces mean more opportunity for everyone
- Connect people with people for innovation, connect people with resources to capitalize on innovation
- No one creates jobs in a vacuum
Community Visits
- It’s not about gathering ideas or building consensus or writing a plan
- There is no pre-written plan, no master list of universal ideas, no checklist of one-size-fits-all answers
- It is more about noticing possibilities than focusing on problems
- It’s about unleashing people to take action
- Get started today with chalk, fabric, magnets, lights and crack art
Dealing with Opposition
- 99% of the best things you can do for your community don’t require anyone’s permission
- Negative people think they’re helping
- Pay the fine and do it anyway
- Small towns are really fluid networks of ever-changing alliances
- It will never go back to the way it was; you have to start from here and go forward
- Us vs. Them is a myth
About SaveYour.Town
SaveYour.Town believes small towns can be saved by their own people using their existing assets. Deb Brown and Becky McCray joined forces in May 2015 to help small towns and rural communities thrive. They deliver speeches and presentations internationally, lead site visits and community brainstorming sessions, and create online videos and short courses of practical steps that can be put into action right away.
About Small Biz Survival
SmallBizSurvival.com publishes practical articles for rural small businesses. It was founded in January 2006 by Becky McCray from Oklahoma. Over the years, it has achieved top ranking among small business blogs on sites like Technorati, Invesp BlogRank and BizHumm, and it continues to appear on lists of top small business blogs. For her work as publisher, McCray has been named one of the Power Players in Technology Business Media and a Small Business Influencer Journalist four times.
Other Useful Content
What I believe: the Small Town Creed
You can use this Small Town Creed to energize your people before or during your event. It’s available freely for download at IdeaFriendly.com
Bonus Downloads
Need a gift, download or informational item to share with your attendees? Offer them one of these PDFs.
Video
Want a video from me to add to your web page, share on social or generate more attention? Try one of these.
Articles Worth Sharing
Events that use the Whova app often want to share article links. Here are a few of mine.
Social Links and Other Sites
Keywords
- Economic development
- Chamber of commerce
- Local, rural
- Small towns
- Resilience
- Small business
- Entrepreneurship
- Community Building
- Community Development
- Community vitality, resilience
- Economic mobility and opportunity
- Jobs creation
- Network, capacity building
- Downtowns, placemaking
Funding Sources
Small towns have limited budgets. Get ideas for local sponsors, regional partners, grants and other Funding Resources here.
Logos
(Click any image to enlarge)
SaveYour.Town, my firm logo:
Idea Friendly, my signature method:
